Back-to-School Amidst COVID-19: Family Organization Tips
Photo by August de Richelieu from Pexels
It’s hard to believe we are headed back to school in the midst of a pandemic. If your children attend Austin ISD, they will not be starting back to school until September 8th. Students at other schools in the City of Austin or Travis County will be doing remote learning until at least September 7th. It is unclear what will happen beyond September 7th/8th. To help support your family in this “new normal”, I have created an updated and expanded post with back-to-school family organization tips specifically focused on prepping for back-to-school amidst COVID. This is not your typical school supplies, back-to-school clothes, lunch ideas type of post. I focus on a variety of information and resources specific to back-to-school in a pandemic, such as: setting up an ergonomic work or school station for all members of the family; supply recommendations for working and learning from home; how to ensure that you have sufficient internet bandwidth to handle all the Zoom calls; setting up the kids’ annual appointments and vaccine booster appointments (and options for this if you do not have insurance); tutoring and learning pod options; setting up the back-to-school schedule; household organization tips; strategies to support the dual career balancing act; and support groups for parents and teachers. As always, all information provided is based on Enriched Family’s independent research. Enriched Family does not receive any kick-backs or payments from any of the resources included below, nor do we accept advertising on our site.
If you are looking for information on alternative schooling options, check out our previous blog post, Enriched Family Roundup: Alternative Schooling Options for the Fall. As always, use the ideas that seem like they would be helpful to you and your family, and disregard those that do not. And bear in mind, you do not have to finish all of your organizing before the first day of school. Prioritize the most important things for your family and then ease into the rest as time allows.
(*Please note, the following is provided for informational purposes only; the information is accurate and true to the best of my knowledge, but there may be omissions, errors or mistakes, and no guarantees are made.)
Work Spaces for All Family Members & Other Supply Recommendations
It is important to set up a separate work space for all family members that is relatively quiet and decluttered, and conducive to concentration, learning, and working. Of course, we all have different space restrictions, so some creativity may be required. If you do not have a desk for every member of the family, you could use a kitchen table or bar counter, dining table, or even a card table. Investing in some headphones for the kids (and adults) is a good idea as well. Check out these Wirecutter headphone recommendations for kids and adults. For a less expensive option for when you need to concentrate (and are not on Zoom calls), ear plugs can go a long way to minimizing sound distractions. These have worked well in our house for both kids and adults (I know they will not work for everyone). Wirecutter also has a great roundup of recommendations on all your back-to-school gear, whether you’re sending your kids to an in-person classroom, organizing a homeschooling pod, or planning for online learning (or preparing for a mix of the three).
Setting Up Ergonomic Work Spaces
As most of us will be working and schooling from home again this fall, here is a quick tutorial on setting up an ergonomic work station. The source for this information is the Mayo Clinic.
Key points for setting up an ergonomic work/school station are:
Chair & Body Placement:
Your feet should be able to rest flat on the floor or on a footrest (a stack of sturdy books would work). Thighs should be parallel to the floor. Your arms should rest easily on the armrests and your shoulders should be relaxed.
Reach:
All objects used regularly - such as your keyboard, stapler, or printed materials - should be placed close to your body to reduce reaching.
Keyboard & Mouse:
Place your mouse on the same surface as your keyboard and within easy reach. Keep your upper arms close to your body, your hands at or slightly below the level of your elbows, and keep your wrists straight.
Telephone:
When making calls, use the speakerphone or a headset.
Desk:
Keep the area under your desk clear. Raise your chair as needed so that your feet are resting on the floor or on a footrest.
Monitor:
Place monitor directly in front of you, about an arm's length away, and behind your keyboard. The top of the screen should be at, or slightly below, eye level.
Sufficient Bandwidth Capacity
With everyone in the house on Zoom meetings, WebExes, Google Hangouts, and other online learning apps, you may be concerned about whether you have sufficient internet bandwidth. According to a March 12, 2020 Popular Science article by Stan Horaczek, “if you’re curious about what kind of upload and download speeds you’re actually getting, you can try a website like Speedtest.net or Netflix’s Fast.com, which will give you a real-world look at your device’s performance.” In addition, Horaczek recommends conducting the test a few times from different places within your home to see if there’s a considerable drop-off from one spot to another. Included below are the bandwidth requirements Horaczek listed for Zoom and Google Hangouts.
Zoom
2.0 Mbps up and down for single screen
2.0 Mbps up, 4.0 Mbps down for dual screen
2.0 Mbps up, 6.0 Mbps down for triple screen
Google Hangouts
Minimum bandwidth for outbound & inbound: 300 kbps
Two-person video calls
Outbound: 3.2 mbps
Inbound: 2.6 mbps
Group video calls
Outbound: 3.2 mbps
Inbound: (5 participants): 3.2 mbps; Inbound (10+ participants): 4.0 mbps
Appointment Scheduling: Annual Appointments & Vaccines
Go ahead and schedule annual doctor and dentist appointments for your kids and the rest of your family, if you haven’t already.
Be sure to keep up to date with your children’s annuals, as well as vaccine schedules and flu shots. CDC data has shown that routine annual pediatric appointments and routine pediatric vaccine ordering and administration is down in the United States. The last thing we need for public health is an outbreak of vaccine-preventable diseases, in addition to the impact of COVID.
Direct Primary Care Option
According to Families USA, a leading national, non-partisan voice for health care consumers, about 5.4 million Americans became uninsured between February and May this year due to job losses, and a separate study predicts that the number of Americans who lose their employer-sponsored health plans could reach 10 million by the end of this year.
If you have lost your insurance benefits due to job loss or do not have insurance as a self-employed worker or simply want to better control your health care costs and are not eligible for need-based insurance or care, direct primary care might be a good option for your family. Direct primary care is a membership-based model of healthcare delivery. According to the American Academy of Family Physicians, “The direct primary care (DPC) model gives family physicians a meaningful alternative to fee-for-service insurance billing, typically by charging patients a monthly, quarterly, or annual fee. This fee covers all or most primary care services including clinical and laboratory services, consultative services, care coordination, and comprehensive care management. Because some services are not covered by a retainer, DPC practices often suggest that patients acquire a high-deductible wraparound policy to cover emergencies.”
To be honest, I always associated the idea of DPC with “concierge medicine” and assumed it was out of reach for most families. However, I recently had the opportunity to talk with Dr. April Calderon about Euphora Health’s Direct Primary Care membership-based plans and found that my assumptions were wrong. Overall, I found Dr. Calderon to be very knowledgable and friendly. She is committed to affordable, high-quality patient care. Euphora Health currently has two locations, one on 38th street in Austin with Dr. Chris Larson and one in Cedar Park with Dr. April Calderon. With Direct Primary Care, patients have a month-to-month subscription for their doctor to provide high quality, personalized, and full spectrum primary care. Euphora Health offers relatively affordable Direct Primary Care plans & pricing for individuals & families (for example, the monthly fee per person for a child 0-19 is $39/month; ages 20-39 is $69/month; ages 40-59 is $79/month; and ages 60+ is $89/month; plus a one-time registration fee of $79 per individual or $109 per family). This monthly fee covers all the care provided by the doctor, both in office and virtually as well as during office hours and after hours. There are no copays. Labs are given to the patient at wholesale prices. Examples of services not covered by the DPC monthly fee include hospital and surgical services.
Tutor and Pod Options
In my previous blog post, Enriched Family Roundup: Alternative Schooling Options for the Fall, I included a number of pod-style learning group resources and nanny placement agency recommendations. Below, I include a few additional one-on-one and learning pod tutoring options.
Club-Z! In-Home and ONline Tutoring of Southwest Austin
Details: If you are looking for an in-home or online tutor for your child for the upcoming school year or need a tutor for a small learning pod, check out Club Z! They provide in- home and online tutoring services in Austin, West Lake, Circle C Ranch, Barton Creek, Bee Cave, Lost Creek, Rollingwood, Oak Hill, Shady Hollow, and Manchaca. In addition to one-on-one tutoring, they also offer small group learning for students in the same subject, grade, or family.
Vivian Best Tutoring
Details: Vivian has been a private tutor for over 20 years and was a classroom teacher for nine years at both private and public schools in Honolulu, Hawaii. Her specialty is working with twice exceptional students (dyslexic/ADHD/gifted) and she loves teaching arithmetic/pre-algebra/algebra to 3rd-8th grade students, and can also work with students on spelling/writing. She also offers modular origami as math enrichment. Vivian has a gift for working with kids, establishing trust, keeping their interest, and helping them build their skills and self-confidence. She loves being a compassionate adult for students and to help them recognize their strengths beyond any challenges that they're having. Vivian has worked with students needing remediation and enrichment. She is offering in-person, outdoor tutoring sessions in the Crestview area, as well as virtual sessions over Google Hangouts and Zoom. Sessions are $75/hour, and $40 for 30 minutes. Contact information for Vivian: cultivatingpossibiliities@gmail.com or 808-282-0053.
*I personally know Vivian through a networking group I am involved in for women business owners in the Austin area who are also mamas. I have found her to be a very friendly, trustworthy, calm, and grounded person.
wEdDucate
Details: wEDucate is a new business brought to the Austin community by a familiar face, Mandee Klenk, the former owner of Poppy: Child Development, Co-Working, and Celebration Services. Mandee started wEDucate to create a solution for Austin parents, including parents administering online or home-based learning themselves and searching for lesson plans; parents who are looking for a local, certified teacher to provide one-on-one learning support; and parents looking to be matched with a small learning co-op or pod.
*If you are considering a pod, microschool, or tutor, I recommend you check out the NY Times article, “Pods, Microschools and Tutors: Can Parents Solve the Education Crisis on Their Own?”. Also, if your child will be distance learning, take a look at this other NY Times article, “How to Proactively Prepare for Distance Learning”.
Back-to-School Schedule
Put all the dates for the new school year calendar in your family calendar (holidays, “early release days”, etc.).
If you don't have a family calendar, I highly encourage you to start one! This has made our lives so much easier. We publish a shared "Family" calendar to iCloud that syncs across all our devices. My husband or I can set events and appointments which appear instantly on our phones and computers in a special color for Family.
You can use Google Calendar for a similar, shared calendaring function. There are also free calendaring/family organization apps you can use such as the Cozi Family Organizer (it has a shared calendar, schedule tracker, activities list, grocery store list, and to do lists).
The week before school starts (or at least 3-4 days before), I recommend setting the alarm and getting the family up at whatever hour you will need to get up once school starts so that everyone has a chance to get used to waking up early again.
Household Organization Tips
Do a full clean out and organization of your kids’ rooms, ideally with their assistance. See this previous blog post for some helpful tips on organizing kids' rooms with their help (scroll down to the bottom of the post).
Get your weekly meal plan organized. Check out this previous blog post on meal planning for ideas.
Create or update the kids' daily routine/chore chart. Example here. Include their online learning schedule as well, once released by their schools.
This is an all hands on deck time. Be sure to include all family members in sharing household tasks and chores. I include some ideas/suggestions in a variety of areas below, based on what we do at our house.
Cooking
Divide up meals and assign each family member a role. For example, in my house, during the Spring online schooling phase, my kids (8 & 10) usually made their own breakfast. I would handle snacks during homeschooling. My husband or I would make lunch, depending on our work responsibilities that day, and my husband was in charge of dinner. During the fall, breakfast and dinner will remain the same. However, we will have a trusted babysitter coming daily to support the kids with their online schooling so that my husband and I can work. She will be responsible for snacks and lunches.
Dishes
Our kids are in charge of unloading the dishwasher each day.
I am responsible for loading & starting the dishwasher.
Laundry
Try to do a load of laundry everyday, if possible. I usually do this.
Consider folding laundry while watching Netflix or listening to your favorite podcast.
Each family member is responsible for putting away their folded clothes.
Surfaces
Kids are responsible for cleaning surfaces, like the kitchen table and counters. I usually take care of the other household surfaces.
Clutter Bins
All family members are expected to clean up after themselves and not leave their stuff around the common rooms.
Nevertheless, sometimes things get left out. To tame this clutter, put a bin, box, or basket in a couple of the key common rooms of the house, like the living room and kitchen.
Throughout the day, put family items left out in common rooms into the bins to reduce clutter.
Have a designated time each day when all family members are responsible for putting their stuff in the bins away. Make sure everyone knows that items left in the bins after a day will be donated.
Dual-Career Balancing Act
If you are a dual career household with kids during these crazy times it is now more critical than ever to sit down and talk through work schedules and division of labor with your partner. If possible, divide up the day into blocks of work time/office hours for each partner. During one partner’s designated office hours, the other partner is the “designated parent” or what I like to call the POD (parent on duty). This doesn’t mean the POD can’t work during this time, only that they are the designated parent if the kids need anything. Once you create this schedule, share it with your children so they know which parent is the POD at all times. Some additional tips:
Creativity and flexibility in work (really all things) is key these days. Talk to your supervisor about your need to work somewhat flexibly during COVID (ie, not necessarily the standard 9-5), if doable. For example, in addition to working flexibly during the regular work day, I have a friend that also wakes at 4:30am to get a jump start on her work. Meanwhile, my husband often works at night, after we have put the kids to bed. I, on the other hand, have carved out a four-hour time block on Saturday afternoons to catch up on work.
Consider Time Blocking your schedule as much as possible. Here is a quick Time Blocking 101 summary to guide you in this effort (please bear in mind that these are general time blocking recommendations. You will, of course, have to modify them to current realities and allow plenty of time for breaks and engagement with the kiddos):
Categorize your main job/business priorities into 4-5 buckets. (you can use more categories if you have to, but the idea is to boil these down to the essentials).
These might be direct client work; administrative work/billing; social media/outreach & networking; and research/developing new offerings.
Figure out realistically what your available work hours are each day.
Better to underestimate than overestimate.
Divide your schedule of available work hours into blocks of time for each of your main priority buckets.
e.g., a direct client work time block, social media/outreach time block, etc.
Mark each of these time blocks a different color in your calendar.
If the category has certain recurring tasks, write these in the notes section of your calendar entry.
The time allotted to each category will vary depending on your available time and the prioritization you give each category (more time on higher priority areas).
When working on a categorized time block, only do work related to that timeblock and turn off all notifications and distractions.
If working on social media, time yourself so you don't get caught up in the social media rabbit hole.
Support Groups
I recently came across a number of new and innovative support groups being offered by Austin Family Counseling this fall. With all that is going on in the world, Austin Family Counseling hopes that these groups can be a safe space to find support from people who are going through the same things you are all while being guided and validated by one of Austin Family Counseling’s caring counselors. They hope that by building this community of support and giving you helpful tools they can help you to feel better equipped to handle whatever life throws at you. Fall Groups offered:
Support and Wellness Group for Teachers
Support for teachers (of children of all ages) focused on encouragement, community, and wellness.
Support for Moms of Littles (0-5 year olds) during a Pandemic
Support for Moms of children 0-5 during COVID.
Support for Couples Who Are Also Parenting
Support for couples wanting to maintain a healthy and connected relationship while parenting children 0-10 in the time of COVID.
Support for Parenting Teens During a Pandemic
Support for parents and caregivers of pre-teens and teens in the time of COVID-19.
Support for Working Moms in the time of COVID
Support for moms who are also working in the time of COVID-19.
Men’s Support Group
When: Various dates and times. Groups run from September-November, 2020.
Cost: The cost of each group is $240/per individual and $400/couples. For more details and to register, click here.
High five, parents! You are doing an amazing job even if you don’t always feel like it. These are hard times, indeed. We are all going to need lots of planning, organization, luck, and grace to get through the fall semester and beyond. All the best, Esha/Enriched Family. And don’t forget:
Image Credit: @psychedmommy on IG.
Enriched Family is a unique, family resource and organization business dedicated to providing families with the information, tools, and systems they need to live more organized and joyful lives. Services include: Custom family-focused research (child care, education, health and wellness resources, camps, and enrichment activities), family organization solutions (stuff and systems), and productivity consulting for busy professional parents (planning and prioritizing, productivity coaching, and time management coaching). I offer a free, 20-minute initial phone consultation to all new clients to discuss matching your needs and priorities with my services. I invite you to check out my services and click the "Let's Get Started!" button below to contact me with any questions.