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How to Structure the Day at Home

Call a Family Meeting – Establish Expectations and Agreements

• Gather your children together and begin the conversation about what the next few weeks will look like. (It is okay if you’ve never held a family meeting before.) An extended period of time at home is a big shift for everyone, so it is important to hold space for sharing feelings.
  • Ask, “What are you looking forward to and what are you worried about?” Record ideas on a piece of paper; this helps children (and adults) feel validated. You can use these responses to guide your plan.
    • Example: A parent may share they are looking forward to family time together, including more opportunities to play games and see each other, but worried about getting their work done while also managing their child’s school work, sibling fighting, added noise in the house; a sibling may share they are excited to have more playtime, but is worried they will run out of books to read and they will miss their friends.
  • Set some rules. Tell your kids you are going to establish expectations and agreements about this new experience so that everyone can feel successful. These will provide a rough framework for your days. Pick and choose what feels right for your family from the below:
    • We will go to bed, wake up, get dressed, eat breakfast and do chores as if it were a regular school day.
    • We will create a space for learning that we will all work to keep organized. This will hold all of our materials that we will need for school.
    • Parents will also create a space where they will work. This is a space for parents, so children should respect this boundary. If there is a sign posted saying that a parent is on a call or needs quiet working time, your child should respect that and not interrupt, trying to problem-solve on their own.
    • We will work together to keep the house clean and organized, and we will pitch in to help with various responsibilities.
    • If you haven’t created Family Agreements, this is prime time to do so. Taking a bit of time up front to establish behavioral expectations will be worth it.

Create a Schedule

• Come to the meeting with a rough plan, but solicit feedback to ensure buy-in; children are more likely to agree if they feel part of the planning process.
• Depending on the partnership with your school, your child’s days may already be structured. If you need a general structure for your day, we recommend either of these schedules:
  • Time-oriented
  • Task-oriented
  • Some families may want more flexibility, while others may want to know that reading happens every day from 8:45 – 9:15 am. You know your family best. Children’s brains are typically sharper in the mornings, so consider handling academic or harder subjects then.
• Guiding principles:
  • Whichever approach you go with, post your child’s chart in a central location.
  • General expectations for structured learning times:
    • Ages 2 – 4: 1 to 1.5 hours
    • Ages 4 – 6: 1.5 to 2 hours
    • Ages 6 – 8: 2 hours or more
  • Add unstructured play throughout the day – a lot! Children need brain breaks to be able to focus on the heavier subjects.

Time-Oriented Schedule

(PRINT ME!)

Use our template as a general guide to frame your time and then choose activities for the day. For more inspiration, try: easy 15-minute activities and 24 project-based learning ideas. This is not a rigid plan, but simply a guide to help break up the day into manageable, bite-sized chunks, and to align schedules among multiple-aged siblings. General Tips:

• Bake in time for transitions.
• Keep the timing fluid and flexible. It is likely that an activity does not fill an entire time slot. That’s normal and expected!
• Planning beforehand helps. If you can, decide which activities your child is going to do in each activity session, from which activities you want them to have open choice, etc. The more prepared you are, the easier both your and your child’s day will be.
• Prioritize playing outside. Research proves that there are plenty of benefits to playing outside. Don’t skip it (even if it is raining)!

Task-Oriented Schedule

(PRINT ME!)

Use our visual chart to keep your child on track and motivated, as timing may be more flexible with this approach.

• Establish daily tasks from a list of activities – These are big bucket task areas that your child must do daily, assigned by you or by school, in key learning areas.
  • Tasks should last 20 – 30 minutes each, but can be shorter or longer based on developmental age or assignment.
  • Notice that we include free play as a task. Including self-directed time is critical, especially when interactions with your child over these weeks will include more directives than usual. Your child will need and want time and freedom to do what they choose.
• Create a list of activities – For children with assigned schoolwork, enter those assignments in this second column. For those without clear assignments, brainstorm 1 to 3 activities for each key area that you and your child have agreed upon. (We’ve included some sample ideas in the chart.) The list of activities could be the same or different each day. You and your child decide!
• Consider adding in specific time slots if that helps your family – If it feels more sanity-maintaining to edit the schedule to include specific time blocks, do so.

Consider Motivation and Rewards

• For some children, checking-off the tasks may be satisfaction enough; others may need external motivation.
• Since the goal is to complete all tasks daily, link an incentive to the list as a whole. For example: completing all tasks earns 20 minutes of screen time, or 30 minutes at the park, or a sticker (and then five stickers earns a new book or puzzle).
• You know your child best. Decide what motivates your child and go from there. Even if you are not generally a fan of extrinsic motivation, this new extended time at home paradigm might require mental flexibility for everyone.
• Praise the completion of individual tasks and the self-motivation your child demonstrates.

Helpful Tips for Execution Success

• If you notice that your child is resisting, revisit the list and discuss what your child feels is doable. They may need more physical help from you, shorter activities, a new incentive, etc.
• Every child learns uniquely. Some children want to get everything done right away; others are keen to complete a task, play, move on to something else, then re-commit to another task. Respect their learning process, but also remind them that adhering to a schedule or plan is helpful.
  • After a few days, your child will likely remember the routine of consulting their chart and completing tasks in the order they choose.
  • Setting a timer can help develop a sense of time and accountability.