“I complain a lot about the schedule, but I kind of like it” my teenager commented in our fourth week of quarantine.  After I picked my jaw up off the floor, I realized this was a breakthrough. She was seeing the value of planning out the day.

One thing they don’t teach in schools is how to organize time. Kids follow a bell schedule and sometime in upper elementary school, a daily planner is tossed their way.  That’s about it.

When coronavirus made me a homeschool teacher overnight, I grabbed onto this school day routine that was making the rounds on social media. 

It was too rigid for my crew but it got us through that first week.  More importantly, it opened up conversations about time blocking.

“The idea is simple,” best selling author Cal Newport explains, “Assign specific times on your schedule for when you want to complete specific tasks.”

It creates a rhythm for the day.  Both the kids and the parents...