Homeschooling hacks

How to help kids learn while you work

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:05):
Good morning. This is Laura. Welcome to the New Corner Office,
the podcast with strategies for succeeding in the new world
of work, where location and hours are more flexible than
in the past. Today's episode is about home schooling while working.
While I've worked from home for decades, my kids have

(00:25):
usually been in school during my work hours. That all
changed when school's closed due to the COVID nineteen pandemic.
I know a lot of listeners are in the exact
same boat. We need to get our work done, but
we also want to make sure our kids are stretching
their brains during the weeks or possibly months when school
is on hold. Fortunately, in my work writing about time management,

(00:47):
I've studied a number of homeschooling families, including those whose
parents work either part time or in some cases, full time.
As we often discuss in this podcast, work doesn't have
to happen at particular times and places, and learning doesn't either.
In the one sixty eight hours we all have each week,
there is enough time to work forty hours and direct

(01:08):
your kids learning. Here are a few strategies that are
working for us, and maybe we'll work for you too. First,
I set limited intentions for each day for me and
for my kids. Each school aged child gets a short
checklist of assignments for the day. This usually includes an
hour of reading, whatever distance learning assignments their teachers give them,

(01:29):
music practice, and maybe another project that I've dreamed up.
We've done everything from researching a particular stocks historic performance
to writing a story about a child in Wuhan when
the epidemic began. Second, we set a rough schedule. I
don't like having my life dictated minute by minute, and
my kids don't either. Instead, they know that they're supposed

(01:49):
to be up and dressed by nine am, and they're
supposed to finish the bulk of their work by lunch.
I don't care what they do first, as long as
they get to everything the word. To preserve my sanity,
they need to be as self directed as possible. I'm
not the one who needs to learn pre algebra. I
already did seventh grade. I can be asked specific questions,

(02:12):
but mom, I don't understand. This is not going to fly.
The world has myriad resources for figuring things out. If
you don't understand a grammar rule, well bet our Google
at first fourth, I am all about real life learning.
One of my kids has been helping with furniture assembly.
I taught him how to use an alan ranch and

(02:32):
now I don't have to use an Allan wrench. Recipes
are great for teaching about math and problem solving. Little
kids can sort laundry by color or count pairs of socks.
Planting spring flowers is as good a biology lesson as
anything else, and the upside is that it's less yard
work for you. Finally, we're trying to relax and enjoy ourselves.

(02:54):
My goal is that someday my kids will look back
on this as an adventure rather than a time of anxiety.
We will eventually be on the other side of this.
The kids will be back in school and family lynches
won't be so easy to pull off. So if something
that is supposed to happen on Wednesday actually happens on Thursday, well,

(03:14):
oh well it will probably be okay. I'd love to
hear any homeschooling tips that you've learned these past few weeks.
You can reach me at Laura at Laura Vanderkam dot com.
In the meantime, this is Laura. Thanks for listening, and
here's the succeeding in the new Corner Office. The new

(03:37):
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