As Australia continues to face ongoing challenges in relation to COVID, many states across Australia have been forced to enter back into lockdown as cases continue to rise.
Although lockdown provides a chance to spend more time together as a family, it can also prove very challenging when everyone is working from home, completing home-schooling and under the same roof day-in-day-out.
To help you through these difficult times, we’ve got some working from home tips both yourself and your children, that you can try and implement over the coming week/weeks.
One important thing to note and remember, is you aren’t expected to take the place of your child’s teacher! Just like they can’t do your day job, don’t put pressure on yourself to do theirs and be a stand-in teacher whilst your children complete their school work from home.
Tips to work from home with kids
- If you have a partner working from home as well, take turns in scheduling work times and breaks.
- Complete your focus priorities and anything that requires more time, first thing in the morning so you have as less interruption as possible.
- Set your boundaries and stick to them. For example, door closed means you’re working and need no interruptions. Consider putting your phone on loudspeaker so your kids can hear you on the phone. You can also consider putting up signs to let them know you’re in a meeting and to re-consider whether it’s worth interrupting you.
- Space out the smaller tasks, like reading, and emails through out the day so you can spend some time with your children and assist with school work.
- If you have screen time rules, consider relaxing them during the lockdown period, it will give you some reprieve!
- Set some activities up at the beginning of the day. Set up different stations around the house like colouring, play doh, beads and string, some puzzles. Don’t tell them to do it, just have it set up and they’ll discover it on their own.
Create a plan for everyone
- Have a family meeting with your children to set the family agreements around how this is going to work for all of you.
- Explain that you will have work to do on your own, and at the same time there will be things they have to do on their own too.
- Let them know that you will be taking some breaks. and during these breaks they will have your full attention.
- Plan something for them to look forward to when you finish your work so they can work towards it as a reward for their patience and good behaviour.
- When it’s time for you to start work, set up the children first, so they have everything they need to be engaged for the time you have planned.
- Be very positive and encouraging when they do the right thing and try to be independent without interrupting you.
Things to remember when your kids are learning from home
- Your children’s education will be okay!
- Don’t forget that as the first educator of your children, you are naturally in partnership with the school in the education of your child.
- This doesn’t mean that while they are at home you need to engage in formal classroom type learning.
- There are many things you can do at home to provide educational experiences and foster positive attitudes towards learning.
- Set up an area with equipment so children can access everything they need to.
