For parents and children starting to feel a little stir-crazy, here are the crucial steps to help you refresh and maximize your productivity at home:
Organize, organize, organize!
You’ll never be fully prepared for all of the challenges that may come up as you work through this process, but the best defense you have here is strong planning and organization upfront. Sit down with your family and write out your schedules, your individual needs, and use that as a jumping-off point to create a homeschool/work schedule best suited to everyone’s needs. If your work schedule is more inflexible, develop your child’s homeschool routine around what times work best for you and designate study times or independent work for the children to line up with times you need to work at your computer or sit in on a meeting.
Give yourself time to adjust
Deciding the best way to educate your child can be an ever-changing process, and big changes in your routines will require an adjustment period. What a child needs at one age will certainly change as they get older and discover the ways they learn best. And for parents working from home at the same time, your schedule might need a little tweaking once your children start homeschooling. There’s no need to put pressure on yourself or your children to work perfectly through this process. Accept that there will be hiccups and learn to roll with the punches and you’ll have better success both with work and school.
Make time for yourself
One of the biggest benefits of homeschooling your children is spending more time with them and building a strong family bond. To do so, it’s important to set some family time that doesn’t involve any work or school. Setting schedules with breaks throughout the school and workday, and a specific start and end time, will help you establish boundaries between work time and family time.
It’s also important to set time for solitary activities. Breaks throughout the day help fight off fatigue and can even help establish a sense of independence with your kids as they learn to work and spend time alone.
Consult the experts
The most common misconception about homeschooling is that the parents are in this alone. That couldn’t be further from the truth, and parents feeling drained from both working from home and raising a homeschool child can find relief in knowing there is an entire community of homeschoolers and so many resources available.
For parents in South Carolina, the South Carolina Association of Independent Home Schools gives you the road map to homeschool success. Our trained counselors are here for you and your child, to provide expert advice and insight through every step of this process. Each homeschool experience is different, and SCAIHS knows each deserves care and attention. If you’re looking for help in this process, reach out today.