Here we are - new year, new school, and, well, virtual learning! Sounds very “on trend with 2020.”
Our son was in a full day preschool last year (2019 - 2020). Like just about everyone else, we transitioned to a loose virtual learning situation once COVID shut everything down in mid-March. My husband and I needed to work while also parenting and “teaching,” so we filled his time with adhoc reading and math instruction, learning apps, online art videos, and lots of outdoor time.
My sister is an elementary school teacher and while I knew she was amazing before, I realized she - along with all teachers - deserves sainthood after 14 weeks of virtual Pre-K. I thought potty training was hard. Teaching to read the English language is so.much.harder. Why are there so many exceptions???
We will be starting virtual Kindergarten right after Labor Day. The school district is planning to reassess in mid-October, but my gut says we will be virtual at least through the end of first semester. Then hopefully, we will have a vaccine and schools and businesses can all safely re-open.
As the stay at home orders became extended earlier this spring, I kept hearing from families and teachers that 1) it felt like school items exploded throughout the home and 2) there seemed to be no clear boundaries on the start and end of the school day. *Note that everything in this article can apply to those working from home for the first time too!
Earlier this summer, I offered a free virtual organizing workshop to support you in setting up a temporary workstation for your kid(s). This workshop will help you whether you have a dedicated space for school, such as a desk in your kid’s room, or a temporary space, such as your kitchen counter, where you want your kid(s) to pack up their school stuff everyday.
As I’ve mentioned before, my goal in life is for things to be simple and easy. With school starting soon (or perhaps it already kicked off), I recommend taking 30 to 45 minutes to set up a temporary school work station for your kid(s). Designing a system for all things related to school will:
provide clear boundaries for the start and end of the school day
provide a clear location where all things related to school “live”
You can access this free workshop through 8PM ET on Monday September 7. Scroll down to the “Course Curriculum” section, then you will find this workshop under the “Home Work Space” section. Carve out 34 minutes and click the “preview” button.
Here are the contents from our spring temporary workstation. We were able to quickly grab his bin each morning and work from our location of choice (kitchen counter, living room floor, porch, etc). We had all of the supplies we needed. At the end of the day, we packed everything back in the bin and put the bin in a cabinet.
We haven’t yet packed our fall work station as we are still waiting on the supply list from our school. I imagine we might need more things and am considering how I can combine the bin system I used in the spring along with this rolling cart that we already own and I can repurpose. Updates will be on our instagram account once we are packed!
We are in an unprecedented time, but hopefully this workshop will help you design a system to streamline and simplify!
If you have kids at home and need to wear all of the hats, we created daily schedule printables to help you plan each day around your work commitments. Identify the one that works best for you and print as often as needed!