Look around. Does your house look more like a school and less like the home you once loved? Does your husband stub his toe each morning on your makeshift document camera on the way to the coffee maker? Is your dog chewing your math manipulatives? Is your son using your attendance record as a napkin at the dinner table?

STOP THE MADNESS!

Here are a few tips to create an engaging and efficient   workspace when teaching from home, while still keeping your home a home:

1. Create a separate space in your home for work. As many of us struggle to find a place in our homes for a makeshift classroom/office, not everyone has a whole room to devote to teaching. If you have that specific space, close the door at the end of the workday and WALK AWAY!
2. If you don’t have a dedicated office space and have taken over the kitchen or dining table, be sure to clear your work materials away at the end of the day. Leave a tote bag, small box or container next to the table and place all items in this container at the end of the workday. Out of sight, out of mind. If you are trying to set the table for dinner and are unable to place plates on the surface, let alone eat, due to your laptop, planner and teaching aides scattered across the table, you haven’t transitioned from work time to leisure time. You work hard and deserve a break!
3. Do not let educational visual aides and anchor charts become your new wall décor throughout your home. Consider an easel or poster board (those 3 fold science fair boards work well) to display visuals of student reference materials or to create an educational background for video conferencing rather than cluttering your walls with makeshift bulletin boards.
4. Only pull out materials for the week and keep other materials stored. This will help you focus on the lessons for the week without getting distracted by visual clutter.
5. If you are conducting a live lesson or recording content, consider posting a “do not disturb” sign by your work area, on your office door, and/or on the front door of your home or classroom door to avoid unnecessary disruptions. Don’t have time to find one? Print the one attached!
6. Set clear work versus leisure hours and communicate these hours to parents, students, and co-workers. THEN STICK TO THEM! SERIOUSLY. Especially when working from home it is easy to check email or grade one last assignment. In order to have true balance and to feel home during non-work hours, make it a point to not check email, organize materials, or check grades during the hours you have set as your leisure time.

What strategies or tips are working well for you? Do you have any tips to share to help other teachers separate home and working from home?