Ideas on how to find balance with working from home and distant learning [sponsored]
/Jasmine’s daughters know who really runs the home routine: Mom does.
by Jasmine Byrd
Owner of Party Time STEAMing Engineers at 205 Upshur Street
guest contributor
As a community, I am sure we can all agree that these last five months have turned our lives somewhat upside down. From distant learning, to virtual meetings and virtual celebrations to limited socials gatherings, what a job we have just balancing it all! Now here is the start of a new school year, and where’s the balance?
The ability to work from home while our children engage in the not-so-public-school-home-school approach. We are all in need of effective strategies to guide our children to academic success. Our spring test run was not so bad, right? The kids survived, didn’t they …or do you feel there’s room for improvement?
In my house we definitely needed a solid routine and some order that worked efficiently with my workload and their schoolwork. If your children are not school age but will be home, don’t worry, we have you covered. Our shared working space order is grounded in communication, schedule plus routine, and mental breaks (free time).
Communication is the key to success, and it may seem odd, but you can have a promising conversation with your 3-year-old before nap time. We just have to set the stage by modeling positive communication skills and create tools for success. It’s important to have conversations with your children on how to improve their experience at home. Trust me you will be surprised by their feedback.
A “Slime Sensory Experiment” from a Summer Camp participant.
Create a useful communication system
If you’re working from home and your little one is in distant learning, it’s best to create a communication coding system. This coding system can be created with color-coded cards with smiley faces — this tool is best used when you're on a conference call. The cards can be placed throughout the house and on the room door using three cards such as red, yellow, and green just like the traffic light system.
The red card is a visual reminder to be quiet (level zero) and to hold any questions until the parent is free to talk.
The yellow card can be used when working on a project and in need of a quiet house wanting your little roommate(s) to DL or play in the house at a respectable sound level.
Of course, the green card means all things are a “go.” When introducing this system to your little ones have a family talk and let them make suggestions for the code usage and you can even let them decorate the cards!
Routines
Establishing a sound routine or schedule is also a great strategy to sharing the space with our underage roommates. With my daughters, we have a morning meeting session prior to the start of the school day. This helps us all warm up after breakfast and gives us time to all work together on a common task or project. I was surprised when they suggested we have a close-out session as well. I created emails for the girls (ages 7 and 11), and every week I send out a schedule including a cafeteria menu for lunch and dinner. I even call the morning meeting session “Homeroom,” which amused them since we’re already at home. When creating the weekly schedule, include mindfulness breaks, any additional programming, and “me” time.
Register for Fall programming using PETWORTH for a 15% discount.
At Party Time, we will be providing virtual courses this fall to create an at-home Makerspace. With the Virtual Makerspace you will receive an activity box with the materials to engage in the programming. We’re offering a Sensory experience for ages 5 and under, and the STEAM Experiment focus for age 5 to 10.
Register for Fall programming using PETWORTH for a 15% discount.
If you are in need of activities, we also offer subscription mailer Makerboxes as well as one-time purchase experiment boxes. Each Makerbox includes a lesson plan, questions to support the lesson, and required materials. We have also updated our website to include free downloadable activities and videos to our YouTube Channel.
Come see how using routine, and STEAM, can help make the work-from-home and school-from-home a little bit easier!
(A pre-COVID party...)
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