How To Work from Home and Homeschool

Are you trying to work from home and homeschool?

Hey y’all, Tiffany here.

I have a confession to make.  I have spent the last two years counting down the days until my five-year-old daughter started kindergarten.re

At ages 3-4, she did preschool two days per week from 9 am to 2 pm. We did a little bit of at-home preschool things, but mostly she learned outside of the home.

My then-two-year-old son, also napped for two hours every afternoon. Since the kids woke up around 5:30 each morning (I know, I know), they went to bed around 6-7 pm.

I’d had a lot of free time to blog during preschool, naps, and after bedtime.  But I was really looking forward to having even more time with one kid at school every day.

Deciding to Homeschool While Working From Home

Until we moved and our new school only offered full-day kindergarten from 8:20 am to 3:50 pm each day. With only two 15-minute recesses.

And if she took the bus, she would leave at 7:20 am and return at 4:20 pm. Yes, that’s 9 hours!  That’s how much time my husband spends at work!  Ridiculous, right?

After a lot of thought, soul-searching, research, and prayer, I decided to homeschool my daughter for kindergarten.  Oh, and did I mention that my son has decided to outgrow naps the same week?

Is it wrong of me to be mourning the loss of my free time?!

I knew this decision was going to make it difficult to keep my blog profitable.  It wouldn’t be easy to work from home and homeschool.

In order to keep my blog alive and competitive, I had to buckle down and become a lot more frugal with my time (no longer just my money!).

Tips to Work from Home and Homeschool

More and more people are working from home and trying to homeschool at the same time. Between the COVID pandemic and the fact that the jobs of the future will most likely be remote positions, it’s important to learn how to find balance.

Here are some of the things I have learned about how to have a profitable blog while also being a homeschool mom.

If you’re trying to decide whether or not to homeschool, check out our post on Pros and Cons of Homeschooling.

Set a Schedule for Breaks

One thing many homeschoolers try to do is avoid having strict schedules.  After all, that tends to be one of the pitfalls of public education. However, what you can do is set a loose schedule that allows for breaks in between so I can work from home and homeschool.

For example, we typically spend 30-45 minutes each day on math.  However, our schedule shows one hour of math. This gives us a window of time to complete that day’s math without rushing, and then whatever leftover time is free play for the kids and work-time for me!

Our family has also grown since then. We now have four children, and it was difficult to learn how to homeschool with toddlers and preschoolers. There are a lot fewer breaks during the day – but they are there!

If you are a writer, you might find these tips on a work-life balance helpful.

Change Your Priorities

One of the biggest things I have had to do with this new way of blogging is to change my priorities.

Before homeschooling, I was able to blog at my leisure and also spend a lot of good quality time with my children.  With that mindset, it’s easy to tell your children to wait “just one minute” while you finish a thought.

However, now that my primary role is as a teacher, not a blogger or a playmate, I need to adjust the way that I think about my time.

It’s more important for me to use that hour of math as first a quality math lesson and second blogging time.

Before, I could easily wrap up playtime even if the kids weren’t finished playing with me. Now, I need to make sure the math concept is understood and then I can work on the thought bunny that’s hopping around in my mind.

I still have the same priorities, but they have been rearranged in order of importance in my head.  When I use that approach, my blog seems to do better.

How it Works

This is similar to an object lesson that I used to teach my students about volume (back when I was a middle school math teacher).

 If you have a jar that you want to fill with rocks and with sand, then you need to put the rocks in first, and the sand will fill in around it.  If you try to put the sand in first, the rocks will sit on top and won’t fill in.

Similarly, the size of my jar has changed.  In the past, the “rocks” (time with my kids) and the “sand” (blogging) had plenty of room in the “jar” (how much time I have each day).  It didn’t matter what order I put them in.

But now, I have more “rocks” (homeschooling) and those have to go in first, otherwise, the sand will take up all the room.  I can only make it work if I put my kiddos first!

Categorize Your To-Do List

To help make the most of the breaks in between subjects, I have a to-do list that is sorted by time.  Each item is sorted into 5-minute increments; all of the things I want to accomplish are sorted and/or broken down into segments of 5 minutes, 10 minutes, 15 minutes, and 20 minutes.

This allows me to use my time as effectively as possible!  For example, if we complete our math for the day in 35 minutes, then I have 25 minutes to get things done.  I could do a 5-minute project and two 10 minute projects in that time. I don’t waste time thinking, “What can I fit into this time?”

This is also the most helpful if I only have 5 minutes before the next activity.  I can use it productively instead of wasting time, thinking that there’s no way to get anything accomplished. This way I can homeschool and work from home at the same time.

I also like to keep an ideas list to the side of 1 minute and 3-minute ideas.  These include things like responding to emails, update a Pinterest board description, etc.  These are also things I can do on my phone while sitting in the car at a drive-through (don’t judge!) or even while in the bathroom.

One of my favorite short-time activities is to submit my blog posts onto linkup parties for other bloggers to help share!

Supplement with Educational Resources

One way I find some extra time during homeschool hours so I can work from home is by supplementing with educational television shows.  

Now, I am kind of a snob when it comes to the TV my kids can watch.

PJ Masks? Forget it.

Sesame Street? Even that’s pushing its bounds.  

I mean real education.

Some Of Our Favorite Educational Shows Are:

• Curiosity Stream (science, history, social studies – similar to National Geographic shows)
• Team UmiZoomi (math)
• Cyberchase (math)
• Magic School Bus (science)
• Daniel Tiger (for social skills)
• Little Pim (foreign language)
• Schoolhouse Rock (science/social studies)
• Liberty Kids (history)
• Super Why (reading)

Make Time for Yourself

Just listing all of this out is making me tired!  Don’t forget, in all of this busyness and schedules,make sure to write in some time for yourself.  I personally schedule about 30-60 minutes each night before bed that I can read a book, take a bath, do a pedicure….whatever it is that I need to feel like “me.”

This is the time I put away my laptop, put away the lesson plans, and just let myself do whatever it is that I want to do.  It helps keep me sane, and it refreshes me for the next day. It gives me the rejuvenation I need to keep going strong.

One last sanity-saving tip: make sure to keep finances organized for taxes!

We may be moms.  We may be bloggers. But we are also ourselves!  And that side of us needs to be cared for just as much.

Note: if you have a Facebook group associated with your blog, check out this post on how to block people from the group who aren’t members.

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