I have been thinking a lot about the past year and how we deal with the juggle of homeschooling and working from home. It is really tough and a lot of parents are struggling. We have tried 2 different tactics during this time, the first lockdown was different to this time around. Here are my tips on how to manage the juggle and some interesting stats from parents who are currently trying to master the juggle!
So, not only is it a struggle homeschooling and homeworking, altogether, in the same house. It is a complete mess too.
The first lockdown we took it very seriously and if I am honest, we put a lot of pressure on ourselves. Daddy would start work in the early hours of the morning until lunchtime, whilst I play teacher with the kids. Then we would swap over and I would work through until the late hours in the evening. It didn’t feel sustainable, and the light at the end of the tunnel kept moving further back. We managed to keep that going from 23 March 2020 right through to the end of July. It was tiring. The relief of the school holidays, but the panic of “what do we do with the kids now”. We managed lots of beach days, long walks and outdoors times.
This time around we haven’t got the luxury of splitting our days up like before. I am in a job that requires my attention and Hubby is rounding down his job as he starts a new one in April. He is very excited about this. We are also working in a smaller, more confined space, as the conservatory isn’t available because of the cold. We are literally having to work, and keep the kids controlled at the same time. It is really hard work, I definitely feel guilty to both the kids and my employer. It’s a horrible mental juggle everyday. The teachers have told us to get the kids to push back any questions to them, so that’s what we do.
I received these stats the other day and I thought they were really interesting. Glassdoor® conducted a survey of 2,004 parents who are doing the juggle. I completely relate too as I feel the first 2 are completely how I feel.
- 43% of employees working from home and homeschooling feel that they are not doing a good job for their employer
- 39% of employees admit they often ignore their children while working from home
- Typical homeworker interrupted 6 times per day by children
- 20% of employees working from home lock themselves in a room in order to cope with the stress of having children in the house all day
I am really hopeful that lockdown will start to ease soon and we will have a little more freedom, oh and the kiddies will go back to school. We should find out relatively soon whether the restrictions are going to be lifted which will hopefully ease of these pressures that parents are facing right now; ease the juggle of homeschooling.
And I can see you have a piano: who is playing? 😉
Certainly been chaotic ! Hoping for more normal mow shools are back
This was tough. This mamma learnt some new school skills though lol
It was certainly a juggling act!
I am so glad that all the homeschooling is over, it was soo hard
I’m so glad homeschooling is over, it seemed almost impossible to work and do homeschooling at the same time
In some ways I miss the days of the children being at home during the school lockdown, although I think we can all agree that we are far more productive whilst they are at school
It’s been tough I got a new job in the middle of lockdown which I found hard working from home new job and home school
I absolutely feel this! Home schooling was hard enough.. But working at the same time…
I’m fortunate not to be working, we decided it worked so well for us that we deregistered our children and I’ve carried on home educating. There’s a 40% increase in home Ed in my area alone
I was so lucky because my foster son has special needs and was allowed to continue attending his school
Lock down was so hard for all of us but I’m glad you got through it all OK x
I really hope home-schooling doesn’t come back, I felt like buying my daughters teacher the most expensive hamper I could find because I could not imagine that x 30 every day – they really are heroes!
It is so hard to get the balance right. I struggled with homeschooling because my son required alot of one to one help.
Homeworking and Homeschooling together is really challenging, glad I don’t have to do it anymore.
I really could not home school im really hoping it never happens again
My husband is constantly working from home and it’s so hard working, eating and sleeping in the same place. If you don’t enjoy the job you’re in (which my husband doesn’t) then it’s hard to switch off after work and enjoy time with the children. We’re trying to find new strategies to cope with this new lifestyle
I’m glad we had the opportunity to try home schooling these last two years, but it’s definitely made me realise it’s not for us.
It’s certainly been a disruptive and challenging 2 years, Things are slowly getting back to normal.
I had to do it again briefly this year when my daughter’s school were striking, I don’t want to ever go back! lol
Since lockdown my husband works from home and with my daughter only in nursery for 15 hours a week, he does have to confine himself to the bathroom to work sometimes as we do not have a spare room. Most of the day he’s working in the open kitchen but every time I’m busy doing chores, he does find my daughter disrupting one way or another because she demands his attention. It’s a hard balance and he’s very stressed. Recently he’s resulted to going to IKEA to work just to get some work done and to get out of the house so he doesn’t associate home with work.