Homeschooling + Remote Work During COVID-19

Hi Friends, it has been a minute since I posted on Social Sector Titan. The COVID-19 virus onset and its ripple effects have gotten me thinking about how to best prepare the family and our life/work to ride out a disruption in the normal routine. Each of us has a unique set of circumstances from which we must approach our work.This is our best attempt at making a new routine happen during the COVID-19 social distancing effort. 

At Social Sector Titan we have a deep set of strategies, tactics, and  mindsets that we use to design a high performance and impactful life in the Social Sectors. All sectors of the economy are taking a big hit right now, but those of us working on the pillars and systems that help society function, have a unique role to play. ​

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We have the opportunity to help in new ways, while getting the chance to live through a live scenario where we test the ideas and systems. The systems we set up during steady state times, are now coming into a period of stormy volatility. The ideas that we hatched in the sun, are heading into a thunderstorm. How do they react in the tempest? We now have the opportunity to find out, and adjust based on that learning.  

Virus preparation has put our professional work and our two kids (ages 5 and 9), in fully remote mode. This means that our work and school communities have chosen to close in-person  operations to stop the spread of this pandemic. We support this choice as we all figure out the true risk and evolution of this new challenge. 

My partner Kristen and I have a unique perspective as international disaster response professionals. We have experienced life and work together in disaster settings in locations like Liberia, Indonesia and Kyrgyzstan. The first decade of my career was spent living and working in resource constrained and dynamic disaster zones around the world. Since 2008 I have been based in the USA with extensive travel to these locations, mostly in a ‘remote work’ context. This means that the majority of my engagement has been from a home office, working with remote teams based around the world. Before embarking on a disaster response career, I was homeschooled for grades Pre-K through 9th grade in Virginia. This combination of early homeschooling and international disaster management gives me a unique perspective on how to set up life and work for the next few weeks.

Here are a stack of mindsets, strategies, and tactics that the remote professional can use to perform at a high level, while also being there for family, and getting the homeschooling process in place for the kids. These are the approaches that are working for our family. Everyone faces a unique set of circumstances in work and life. Kirsten and I have made some good choices, and had good choices to make, along with a healthy dose of luck along the way. Everyone starts in a unique place with a special set of circumstances. Figuring out challenges  like how to work from home with kids who need homeschooling is never easy. I’m sharing how we are attempting to do so.

Strategy
Here are a few strategic frameworks that we can use to set up our homeschooling and remote work scenarios. I’m sure this will change (and I’ll update our learning) but this is our best guess and process at the moment: 

Our scenario is unique - Every professional, family, parent and child is different and has unique needs. Your specific configuration has to match that reality.  Are we planning for a two adult household where both parents are working remotely during this phase? Is one person on full time childcare and house management as the other parent does paid work? Are we planning the new routine for a single parent professional household? How old are the kids and how many are there? All these factors will make a massive difference in the configuration of the plan. Our plans below are for a two parent household with two kids ages 5 and 9 where both parents are doing professional work as the children homeschool. 

We are dividing the workday for each parent into ‘deep work’ (writing, analysis, creating graphics, problem solving + an athletic training blast) and ‘light work’ (phone calls, administration, emails, chats, project management). Each parent does deep work for half the day, and light work for the other half of the day. The parent doing light work is responsible for occasionally supervising the homeschooling or other independent activities for the kids during those hours, while the other parent sequesters to the extent possible and does
deep work.

Our approximate ideal schedule looks like this: 





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​The plan is written in erasable marker and bound to change, but creating a firm starting point and working with the family to start and stop the different zones at clear points throughout the day can help ground everyone during the new routine. The day never unfolds exactly like this diagram, but we have a place to start planning and adjusting. 

Scenario planning - Discuss and write out a wide range of COVID-based scenarios for family, work and school systems. What is the best case scenario? What is the worst thing that could take place? What is the likelihood and impact of each scenario on that wide range? We found that we are well prepared for the best case scenario (nothing happens) and also well prepared for the worst case scenario (the adults get sick and die/we all get sick and die) since we ha ve our wills, arrangements for the kids, and power of attorney docs in place. We needed to do a lot of preparation work on the mid-range scenarios (system disruption, fully remote work, homeschooling).  Our preparations involved laying up food, activities, and canceling work travel. 

Homeschooling Strategy - Our kid’s school is coming out with an e-learning plan that will guide our homeschooling strategy. Each child has basic instructions and assignments, but requires supervision and planning. We write out a detailed plan for each day. The parent doing the light work block supervises the assignments to the extent possible.  We will also add additional layers to supplement the formal instruction.  Video calls with grandparents for live reading and remote-visiting with friends help break up the day.  Dreambox is a useful math app that scales up learning based on progress. We are planning a long term project that each of the kids will have to work on each day, (current possibilities are a script and video, a new garden bed planned & planted, and making a trail). When the system falls apart we scale up screen time as needed. 

Fear setting - There is a lot of fear going around the web and in our minds. Fear setting means writing down the worst case scenarios that are knocking around in the mind, and exposing them on paper. Once they are written out we can see them on the page, and then move on to the right set of actions to mitigate the risk or to simply acknowledge that the risk is there, and then live our lives in  freedom & tranquility. This practice helps reduce fear and anxiety. Idea credit to Tim Ferriss’ fear setting article. 
Tactics Remote workers have the advantage of accessing a deep well of learning and approaches on how to get work DONE in a remote work context, so we can switch off later and be there for the kids and our partners. Many of the distractions and inefficiencies are stripped away when we work remotely. If we can establish the right approaches, we can do the most important things, guide the kids on their homeschooling journey, and also enjoy the ride. Home education provides for a particular closeness in the family, that can rarely be duplicated.  Enjoy it.

Workspace - As in a disaster deployment scenario, the home is now our workplace and kid’s school, gym, eating place, collaboration space, and recovery zone. How can we set up the space to be multi functional? New learning shows that a balance of privacy and connectedness makes for the most productive and enjoyable workspace. How can each of the parents and the kids have their own private workspace? Can we create this in a separate room, building, tent, or create a symbolic space with a stack of books and headphones? Which areas are for private work, and which are the common collaboration spaces?

Defining Maker vs Manager - Are you a maker (writer, programer, designer) or a manager (project lead, project manager, administrator)? Most of us mix the two in our own special work recipe. Figuring out how much time you need to spend on each type of work can help to structure the day in the right way. 

Batching - Putting like tasks together with other similar activities can accelerate your workday. Checking email at set times, while making unbroken segments for writing, can make the workday more enjoyable. 

Deep Work - Every Social Sector professional has their own unique mix of interaction with people (management tasks, emails, meetings), administration (forms, bills, time tracking), and creation (documents, graphics, analysis, problem solving), through deep and focused work. These creative ‘deep work’ products are things of substance. They are the tangible and indisputable items of value that move us toward our ultimate work and life goals. Yes, administration and meetings can help us progress. These are sometimes necessary, but without conscientious attention, our professional time is often skewed toward the lightweight tasks, at the expense of deep, productive work that matters most over the long run to advance our Sector Mission.

Move your body - The COVID crisis brings this into stark relief: without health we have nothing. As a remote worker, you have the unique opportunity to schedule your work day to match your needs. Take care of your best asset (yourself), by moving during the day. This is a great moment in history for athletic movement out of doors. And don’t forget to recover like a pro. 
Mental FrameworksAdopting a strong mental framework in the face of this new challenge is essential. What work have we done already on developing a philosophy or set of principles that we can apply as the world drastically changes? How can we build on that work to develop a strong mind that helps us manage homeschooling while remotely working? 

Test the system - Whatever philosophy we have in place is heading into a heavy test period. Remote working is tough on its own. Parenting is one of the greatest mental, physical and spiritual tests that we face as humans. We are now entering a real-time laboratory where those difficult things are crashing together in our homes and family scenarios. But this is a wonderful opportunity to see what happens when we take on something difficult. In the same way that an athlete pushes past a previous perceived limit, we have the chance to explore new territory in the coming weeks. Hard, but good.  

Obstacle is the way - The Stoic School of Philosophy offers the thoughts of Marcus Aurelius about life challenges :  “The impediment to action advances action. What stands in the way becomes the way.” What is happening now with remote work, disruption and homeschooling, is not a distraction from the work, it is the real work. Ryan Holiday’s work Obstacle is the Way is a great read for COVID times.  

Coming out stronger - A well designed system can come through volatility even stronger because of this disruption. With the right approach, the experience that we get, and the ways that we can come together as a family, community, nation and world can outweigh the steep costs that we’ll all bear during this crisis. 

Unstructured Learning is Valuable -  As a homeschooler I learned that unstructured living and learning can be wonderful. The freedom to get bored, pick up a new book, pursue an unusual project or simply to be outside in nature can provide a wonderful education. This open time will be uncomfortable for highly structured kids, but the truly free time is an opportunity for kids and adults to connect in a new way, and for the kids to have more down-time that leads to creativity and self learning. 
The TakeawaySetting up a new work and life routine takes time to plan, and much adjustment. It will be painful and require several shifts until we find something that works. 

Every disruption is an opportunity. The right mindsets, strategies and tactics can equip us to ride through any disruption, adjust our systems, and come out the other side more connected and aware. Let’s not let this crisis go to waste. Practicing clear thinking, good strategy and smart tactics, can make us more tranquil, free and able to do good in the world. 

We are all in this together. What approaches are you using to work and homeschool during COVID? Share what you are finding out! Please email me at [email protected] or leave a post on the socialsectortitan.com blog. 

Happy trails!

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