Survival of the Fittest…How to Work from Home with ‘gulp’ kids!

“You must be “super mom!”

“You must have the patience of a Saint!”

“I could never home school. ” (ooohhh how the pandemic has changed that!)

OH! Oh….my favorite one that makes me feel ON TOP OF THE WORLD….no but for real….”There is a special place in heaven for you.”

bwahaha…people comment I’m a Saint…they definitely do NOT know me well!! But in all seriousness…..if you are considering home schooling but “need” that extra income know that it IS possible! After the hubs and I began our family our goal was always to get me home with the kids. Boy was God laughing at that goal….I guess next time we need to be a little more specific in our prayer requests.

I have been a full time online teacher for give or take 10 years. When I first began this journey we had 6 fewer kiddos and home schooling was NOT on our radar. I have learned a lot along the way. I have tried down to the minute schedules, chore charts, reward systems, even allowing mass chaos to take over the house and a mad dash to cover up the evidence before the hubs got home tactics. Over time, I have found a few key things that have worked for us.

~ Block Schedule: when I tried the schedule route I was so stressed because I was stuck to “time” constraints. 30 minutes for this, 30 minutes for that, 30 minutes for lunch etc. But what happens when a wrench gets thrown into the plans, kids throw tantrums, your meeting lasts longer than expected and all Heck starts to break loose? On top of that you are now panicked because you’re are “behind schedule.” Again! With a “block” schedule it blocks out the length of time-ish. Here’s an example of our block routine:

• Wake up, get dressed, brush teeth, fold bed, eat breakfast. (completed by 8:30 a.m. at the latest 8:45 ~~ This means all breakfast food and dishes are put away by 8:45…if you snooze you loose! I try to wake the kids around 8 to ensure they have time to get around for the day.
• Free time (8:30 – 12:30) ~ This is my non-negotiable work time. I am required to be online and live! The kids have a set of “Free time guidelines to follow.”
• Lunch time (12:30ish-4:30ish) Everyone is up from the table by 1:00ish and starting daily lunch chores.
• Nap time for littles and School time for middles and Bigs. This is where the block schedule REALLY comes into play. (12:30-4:30). All school work is packed away at 4:30. If school work is not completed it will be moved to the next days work load. (more on this later)
• Quick clean up
• Free time/ get ready for evening activities if they have them. Mom or dad make dinner.
• Family Dinner
• Activities
• Bed time

Notice there is over lap of time. This gives me some time to let the kids know we are transitioning to the next block. IF we aren’t done by 8:30 because we burnt breakfast….that’s ok. We have a few extra minutes built into our block time. When it comes to routine it doesn’t change for weekends with the exception of school work. Since our kids are used to the morning routine it is much easier for them to transition from weekends and weekdays as there is consistency in the expectations.

~Red light – Green light – Yellow light:

Do you remember that game?? Oh what fun! Use it and abuse it Momma!! When I am working we use the red light green light system. If your kiddos are really small you could consider using smiley faces, the sssshhh emoji or some other visual that may help your kiddos. Here’s what we use:

• Green light: Momma is free to be distracted. You may ask me questions, beg me to “watch this”, make noise etc. Yes I am still working. But I may not necessarily required to be “engaged” in what I am completing.
• Yellow light: Approach mom quietly but wait to be acknowledge. This is usually during my live teaching times when I have the ability to mute myself so that my kids could ask a question.
• Red light: I am super engaged in what is going on….a meeting, intense/hard concept live session etc. Someone better be dying or bleeding if you are interrupting.

~ Organization: There are a couple of things we have put in place to help us organize our day.

• Days of the week: Each kid has a day they are responsible for their laundry and planning and preparing breakfast, snack and lunch. They must get up in the morning and ensure break fast is set out for everyone. This is for everyone from our 12 year old down to our 5 year old. Rotten can put out 7 bowls for cereal, grab the milk and point at the cereal dispenser for breakfast. At lunch time they are making the sandwiches or cooking the pizza tortilla rolls. Since the kids pick the food there is less complaining. They know on their day they will get what they want. To get them started and avoid OFF the wall request….say peanut butter, banana tortilla wraps with shredded cheese GROSS! I started by making a “Menu” the kids chose from. Once we were in routine then we started allowing them more free reign in choices.

• Snack boxes: Since I am required to be online and active from 9-12 and depending on meetings sometimes 8-1….we have set up Snack boxes. Each day has a snack box that we put the snacks in on Sunday night. Whoever’s “day of the week” it is, will grab the snack box for the day and pass it out to all the kids. Reminding them to eat at the table. Snack at our house is at 10:30am. What all processed not always healthy. Think again!! We even write notes in the box that will say “carrots and humus” just as a reminder. Then the day of the week kiddo grabs the already chopped veggie and humus!
• Laundry: (for a MUCH later post) but for the short version – each kid is given a day that their laundry is washed, dried, folded and put away… they do this on their own. Yes, even my 5 year old brings down their COLOR coded laundry basket, tosses it in the washer and hits the start button. One of the older kiddos chore is to supervise the younger starting the washer.
• Keep little’s activities low (within reach) so that they can play independently. All of our puzzles and children’s books are within grasp of our kids. This allows them to entertain themselves. We are still working on reminding them everything must be returned to its place…..in due time.
• Hiding the choas mess: We deep clean the house on Sunday’s after church. We also do a mid-week clean up on Wednesday’s. I have a shelf by our front door that has bins in it. These bins are for those times we are too lazy go upstairs or need to do a mad dash straighten up before people come over. We throw everything in those bins in a mad dash to make our house presentable then when we have time we will put it all away.

• Food prep: we have a weekly schedule that we use for meals. We keep them simple and enlist the help of our Instapot quite often. Contrary to how I hear others plan their meals we plan around our SCHEDULE! With so many kiddos going different directions….we have to ensure we are not making time intense meals on days we won’t be home. The meal plan is always posted on our Fridge so that anyone home can start it. On Sundays we try to cut up all the veggies needed for the week.
• Plan our homeschool AROUND my work schedule!! I am writing a whole post on that….just CLICK HERE!
• Use Quiet boxes and “only during work” activities to keep the little kids occupied! More explanation on that coming soon!

Ok….so honestly THAT was ALOT of information!! It is all really about trial and error! There are going to be messes and a whole lot of Momma tears!! But in the long run it is so worth it! It is worth the balancing act and the time I get to spend nurturing and developing my lovies.

Just know that it is not going to be easy! It will not always be fun! You may gain a few pounds from hiding in the bathroom eating a jar of peanut butter with chocolate chips…..or lose a few pounds because you forgot to eat breakfast and lunch for the third day. in. a. row!!

Whether you got thrust into this due to this pandemic…..or you might be slightly off your rocker and chose to do this (like me 😉 ) just remember. YOU. GOT. THIS. and YOU Are what your babies need!!