A visual schedule

Day schedule with clocks and corresponding times on the left and three columns for activities on the right.
A couple of days into this coronavirus-induced co-working situation a few things became apparent.

  1. My coworker is very excited to start the day's work at 7:15 a.m. So we start at 7:15 a.m.
  2. A constant dialog is expected.
  3. We take 11 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. off to go outside or move our bodies in the basement, regardless of protests, and eat lunch, not necessarily in that order. #meltdownAvoided
  4. No more naps. Don't even try, Mom.
  5. We operate on 5- (reality) to 30-minute (wishful) intervals.
In order to teach reading time/numbers and spur more independent play, I created a calendar with set activities on the left, work activities in the middle, and self-directed play on the right (we had a show and tell zoom call overlap snack this day so we snacked before and after). This is our version of the Kanban for Kids (or "How I used agile to become a homeschool parent in 24 hours"​).

We change the mini post-it notes up each day (and throughout the day, sigh) but the post-it notes help me generate ideas for things to keep him going beside me while I do my work. And post-its work well for some of the Montessori-style activities (in baskets or trays) we collected from school. We have TV scheduled for our normal after day care time, but I move it to during meetings when I can't have interruptions.

Honestly, the first two weeks were HARD, but this third week has brought on a lot more independent imaginative play. Sometimes he's sick of me and my activities, but sometimes he asks to do particular ones he's ready to engage with (Montessori!).

Here is an almost blank version of the schedule. If you have Acrobat you can delete or move the parts that don't pertain to you. Or just keep the clocks!

Blank visual schedule pdf (Google Drive)

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