Today is a hot topic! What are we going to do now that our kids are trying to head back to school? Are your kids headed back to school like normal? Or are you doing something different this year?Here’s the thing I want you to know, though. Whatever you choose, good job. You made a good choice. This has not been an easy choice for anyone. I know everyone is trying to make the best decision for them and their kids. For most of us, our kids will be home at least partly for the foreseeable future. To help all of us, here’s my 3 tips for working at home with kids. 

What School Will Look Like for My Family

I live in California, and our schools have been pretty much shut down for in-person schooling as of the beginning of August 2020. I had a few choices when it came to what to do for my kids this year. We could homeschool on our own, participate in the school district’s virtual school, or opt for in-person schooling when that option becomes available again. For my kids, we chose the in-person option. However, because the schools are still closed, we are doing the virtual schooling until the schools open again. School will still be at my house for the time being. 

Because the kids are home for now, we need to make some adjustments when it comes to work schedules. I know that things are difficult or tricky right now for all of us. However, I’d love for all of us to make a little bit of an attitude adjustment and remember that there are some really cool parts of having the kids home all the time with us. Let’s go into this new school year with a positive attitude. This will be a time that we look back on and remember how much time we spent together and what a blessing that was in our lives. 

My Hope for All of Us

I hope with our kids being around more, it will help us to be more deliberate about the time we are using to build our businesses and the opportunities to make deep relationships with our kids and families. This is part of why I started the #3before9 challenge on Instagram. (Have you joined the challenge yet? Find out more about it here) I knew I needed to be more deliberate in how I spent my time and in how I was taking care of myself. By starting this challenge I’ve been able to utilize my mornings better. And it’s helped me to show up better for my business and my kids. 

Make Working at Home with Kids Easier with My 3 Tips

Ok, so you know I have 5 kids from 13-4 years old. They’re the best. They’re wonderful. But we are busy. So I have to make some changes for myself and my kids so we can make everything happen like it needs to. To help me and any of you who are having similar discussions in your families, here are my 3 tips for working at home with kids. 

1- Create a Schedule

First, you need to create a schedule for everything you have going on. A schedule is so important when you are working at home with kids. Here’s what I want you to include in this schedule-

• Kids
• Content
• Business
• Family

Now, I will tell you that a rigid schedule isn’t necessary here, in fact I prefer block scheduling. But really, just take a look at what needs to get done in a day with your family and your business, and be intentional about using your time to accomplish it all. I divide my days up into blocks of time and devote those blocks to certain tasks each day. 

Last spring we had school, activity, and cleaning times in the morning. In the afternoon, the kids had their chill time and I had my work time. This worked well for us and I could work in the evenings also if needed. I want you to take an honest look at your business and your life. Maybe you’ll be able to get done with school before lunch, and you’ll be able to block off time to yourself after that. Be realistic! Don’t be over-optimistic about how much time certain tasks will take. You will be able to make better decisions if you know how long things take and what needs to be done. 

The importance of planning ahead

Every month I plan my meals for the month. It really doesn’t take long, and it makes my life so simple. If you take time to plan some meals that you will always have the ingredients for, you will be able to wake up in the morning and know what food needs to be prepped for dinner that night. 

This is true for your content as well. The worst thing is having to create content quickly. There’s a different energy when you’re creating without urgency. For my podcasts, I try to create them a month in advance so I don’t have to worry so much about having them done. 

2- Create Your Content in Advance

Whether or not you are working at home with kids, I recommend doing batch creation. If you can have all of your topics for the month ready to go, you will be set up for success. Whatever it takes to get your content done before the time that it’s due, it is worth it to do it. It will stress you out if you are constantly trying to meet deadlines at the last minute. If you are following me on Instagram, then you have seen that the last week of the month we do content planning and creation. I talk about this on episode 58 of my podcast, too. Find it here. 

3- Separate Your Tasks 

You need to separate your daily, weekly, and monthly tasks into 3 categories. List out all of the things you have to do, the things you want to do, and the things you’d like to do. Separate each of these into one of the following categories:

1. Must do
2. Good to do
3. I’m not going to do that

There are going to be some things that you have to put on the shelf for a minute. That’s ok. Maybe you started a YouTube channel but it’s not your core content. You may need to put that on the shelf for 6 months while you take care of life around you. That’s fine. It will be ok. Focus on the things that are driving sales the most. Take an honest look at the things that are getting new clients, new audience members, new sales, etc. Double down on those things. Those go on the must do list. 

Put a few things on the good to do list that will be great to do if you have time and energy. And then the there will also be a few things will need to be put off for a bit. 

To help you with your ‘Must do’ list, be sure to put a lot of energy and focus on your core content. Really stretch this out so that you are not going crazy with trying to come up with new content ideas constantly. To get the most out of your content, get my core content course here. 

Working at Home with Kids Can Be Easier

So those are my 3 things to make working at home with kids easier. I’m curious, are you struggling at all with how to manage your time with your kids at home all day? It’s been a huge change for me and my family, and I’m sure we aren’t alone! 

If you are feeling alone in your business endeavors and want a business coach who understands how crazy your life can be, check out my Money Makers Coaching Group here!