How to Easily Balance Working at Home and Homeschooling
Trying to homeschool your kids while working from home can be a challenge. Even if you have older children who are pretty independent, finding how to balance working at home and homeschooling can be tough. Finding dedicated space for everyone to work, making sure work and school assignments are completed, and figuring out what to feed everyone for dinner can overwhelm you quickly.
I have been a work-at-home mom for years, and during pretty much that entire time, I’ve been homeschooling my kids. What I’ve learned is you don’t have to give up your day job to homeschool your kids! Here are my best tips and strategies for how to balance working at home and homeschooling at the same time!
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Be flexible
One of the best tips I can offer any parent trying to work and homeschool at the same time is to be flexible.
Rearrange your schedule
Organize your work around your family as much as you can if you have the flexibility. This might mean waking up before the rest of the house. Or reserving some time after everyone is in bed for work.
If you have strict work hours, then you need to be flexible with your school time. And hey, that’s one of my favorite benefits of homeschooling – flexibility!
We find that early morning is the best time to homeschool. But, when needed we can rearrange our school time to evenings or even weekends. This allows me to complete time-specific tasks for work and not lose any learning time with the girls.
Share responsibilities
If possible, share responsibilities with a spouse or partner. Divide and conquer your work and schooling, so you don’t have to do it all yourself.
Although I love doing school with the girls, sometimes it makes more sense for someone else to work with them. My husband and I will take turns arranging our schedules around schooling. This allows us to both have time for work and work with the girls on their lessons.
Prioritize important tasks
Save the tasks that are critical for when your kids and yourself are less likely to be distracted. I make up a list of tasks that I need to complete distraction-free. These are the tasks I work on while the girls have free time. This ensures I’m not needed to assist with their lessons so I can complete my tasks with no distractions or interruptions.
The girls also know to work on subjects that need support when I’m available. If I’m in my office working, they know they shouldn’t attempt to start a science project on their own (although I know they want to…).
I also make sure that the girls know which assignments or tasks take priority over others. This is part of our homeschooling routine. When they know certain things must be completed before moving onto another task, they are able to prioritize their day.
Making sure I have this priority task list created each morning helps balance working at home and homeschooling tremendously. I make sure it’s at the top of my daily planner page and written on the girls’ whiteboards.
Give your children tools to help themselves
We try to keep our homeschool room organized so the girls can easily access everything they need on their own. This helps give them a sense of independence. It also decreases the chances they need to come and ask where something is located.
All of their daily books, supplies, and manipulatives are on their rolling cart so they know exactly where to look. If they are using any web links or resources, I drop those into Google Classroom for them. Then, I’ll make notes on the whiteboards above their desks about any specific assignments or projects.
If the kids come across something that needs your guidance but you’re in “no interruptions mode” you can have a list of go-to activities for them to do while they are waiting for your help. We have created a basket where I keep books, worksheets, and puzzles that they can grab and engage with while they are waiting.
Set up a routine for both work and homeschool
Putting a routine in place will not only help you structure your day to allow time for both school and work but give your kids some structure as well. Set aside times during the day when you will get work done and when you will put your time toward homeschooling.
Instead of making a strict schedule that you have to follow down to the minute, make a routine of things you want to do during different times. For example, your morning routine could involve homeschool lessons, while your afternoon routine might include work and busy work for the kids.
I can’t stress enough how switching from a schedule to a routine has benefited our family. Now that we aren’t trying to follow a time-specific schedule, it’s so much easier to get things completed and be flexible when needed with our schooling.
Work smarter, not harder
You don’t have to work harder to get everything you need done, you just need to be smart with your time. Here are some ways you can ensure you’re using your time wisely.
Plan properly
Do your best to be as organized and efficient as you can be. This means you might need to bulk plan lessons and use a planner to help you keep track of your to-do list.
I use a teacher planner from Erin Condren to outline our weeks and plan ahead. I ordered it with some extra inserts and checklists which help me stay organized on paper. If I’m busy and my husband needs to step in with schooling, he can quickly find what the girls are working on in my planner.
Outsource your lessons
I try to create a lot of our lessons and resources myself. But I’ve found that trying to balance working at home and homeschooling while creating your own resources and lessons can lead to burnout very quickly.
Now I lean on the resources that are available to me when possible. You can utilize websites like Teachers Pay Teachers, Education.com, and Khan Academy for worksheets, lesson plans and unit studies.
We also absolutely love Outschool. We use it quite frequently for additional support in certain topics. The girls also love choosing electives on Outschool. Consider scheduling a class or two each month. This will reduce planning on your end and give the kids some variety.
I also plan a lot of virtual projects and activities that the girls can do on their own that correspond to their current studies. We love You Are An Artist with Nana for art lessons. They are very easy to follow and use very few supplies, so the girls can set up and complete the art project on their own.
Batch your tasks
Plan more time for each task than you think you need to have some wiggle room in your schedule. Set aside specific time blocks or days to batch your tasks. I plan days every few weeks to print all our resources, save any links or web resources to Google Classroom and gather supplies needed for projects or hands-on activities.
By working on one type of task at a time, instead of hopping around from thing to thing, I find I get much more completed. Schedule a print and prep day into your calendar periodically so you can stay ahead on your planning. Our printable planner sheets will help you keep track of items that need to be printed and prepped.
As you can see, you really can be the mom or dad who does it all! Homeschooling and working are two things that really can go together with the right tips and tricks! Hopefully, you found this post inspirational and will help you on your homeschool journey as well!
