Here I am, almost one year later, writing up another blog post with our covid-19 schedule, more specifically, an online schooling days schedule.

Even though we are one year + in to this terrible situation, my mental health is much better than it was one year ago. Anxiety used to creep in at various times during the day. At least now I am very much used to living in the unknown, and adapting to the situation. It’s still worrying and scary, but I’ve learnt how to live with it.

Routine has always helped me thrive. The first thing I did when we were in precautionary quarantine just before this semi-lockdown, and recently when semi-lockdown was announced was create a routine.

What you see below is a time blocking technique, where you divide your day into ‘blocks’ and assign different tasks to each block.

Before I share our online schooling schedule

If it’s the first time you’re creating a similar schedule, I suggest you start here. Do not expect too much of yourself and give yourself room to experiment and change what’s not working. I wouldn’t be too ambitious either. Keep in mind that the whole family needs to adapt to a new routine and way of life; and if your kids need you to constantly monitor them while they are being schooled, that’s another challenge in itself.

Our schedule

Some more detail

  • In the ideal world, Nina wakes up at around 7:30am. When she’s up earlier, which she is quite a few days, and Neil is home, he takes her to our bedroom so I can work in peace (in the open plan), or I put on a movie for her so I can finish my work.
  • I choose not to do a lot of cleaning. Thankfully our home is tiny, so it’s always decent. The robot vacuums/washes the floors, or I use my mop sometimes. I manually take the robot to the rooms where the kids are not schooling in in the morning, and I clean a different room each day. Then I focus on a specific task, such as wipe down all kitchen cabinets, and I continue where I left off the next time the same room is due.
  • I have to attend virtual meetings a couple of times a week. 4pm on is my ideal time, so I can make it be that Neil is home. In that case work takes priority. Same goes with Facebook live sessions for my Dinner in a Flash students.
  • Yanik is 15, so he is independent when it comes to schooling. Nina has her good days and her bad. Some days she wants me to work near her, and is totally distracted, other days I manage to work at my desk in our bedroom (a few metres away, I listen to everything so I can make sure she is fine), and other days I get called over every 5-10 minutes. I do my best, and when I do not keep up with my workload, I work a little more in the evening.
  • I should go for a fast walk, alone, daily when Neil comes home. But most days I have a meeting or work needs to take priority. If I am done with work and have no meetings then everything else takes a backseat and I go for my walk. I practice yoga 2-3 times a week though, in our bedroom in the evening, so that keeps me moving (and sane!)
  • We tackle laundry by keeping a constant watch on the laundry baskets, and throwing in a load/s when there’s enough clothes. We have two washing machine and a tumble drier so that makes this task much easier.

Parting thoughts

The kids will be on Easter holidays soon, and to be honest, I’m not looking forward to them. As challenging as online learning is, at least the kids have a schedule and their mornings are full. This online schooling schedule seems to be working. I cannot imagine how I will entertain Nina, while working, for 2 weeks.

I will be creating another schedule for sure, and I will have to tweak and change it a couple of times before it works — and then hopefully they’ll be back in school.

I hope my blog post helps you create a routine of your own.

Love,

Nakita xxx