By Maasi Wajo
So now that Ramzaan is officially over and Eid has come and gone, life has or is supposed to come back to normal. It is a little hard thinking that most of us only have around a month of vacations left to enjoy, not to mention, get done with kids’ homework— which in this case hasn’t even taken off as of yet. I am struggling with time and motivation and what not. How do I manage kids’ holiday homework, start preparing for the school year ahead and keep myself sane along the process? That is the million-dollar question that incessantly presents itself to me every year. Since procrastination has been a personal predicament since time unknown, I have managed to come up with a couple of time management tips to make the most of the little time that I’m often left with… especially in this case.
- After I finish this write up and post it on the blog, the first thing that I am going to do is to prepare a (realistic) plan for the kids’ homework…. keeping our regular activities in view. I don’t know about you but I am a very paper and pen kind of a person. Planning is imperative for me. In a way, all I do is plan but that is a story best left for some other time. Lol. A good way would be to divide all the homework according to the days left and do two/three pages per day (in case of younger kids) and in case of the older ones, ask them how much time they need for each assignment. Write that down and hold them to it. Make sure they achieve their day’s target before they indulge in anything else.
My planner. - For doing holiday homework my tried and tested segment of the day is Morning time, hands down. Kids are at their freshest, mommies are at their happiest and well, there’s a joyful aura to mornings, which is simply unmatched. My strategy is to just get done with the day’s homework right after breakfast so that I have rest of the day to myself. I work from home and seriously need a little chunk of time to myself to concentrate on my own assignments. I’ve also realised that once I am done with the hardest task first thing in the morning, I can spend the rest of the day anyway I want.
Books, books, books! - A SEPARATE PLACE for the kids to work. My kids know that when mommy gets serious about holiday homework she moves that big coffee table (the one we don’t use much) to their room. There is a designated corner in their room for that table. I set all their homework stuff on it. And the day I do this, my kids know mommy’s serious about their homework. We’ve been doing this for the last two years. It is science at work here you guys, nothing less. Hah! So yeah, make sure you can get them to study somewhere they can easily concentrate and a place they can associate with homework.
Kids at work! - I will also try and prepare a few meals ahead in the next two/three days; refrigerate them in small portions so I do not have to worry about khana— especially when I’m helping my younger daughter with her Urdu homework. Lol. Trust me, this can be very handy at times.
Last but not the least,I try to reassure myself that this too shall pass—that I have managed this before and I will be able to manage it again; and that I will survive. I try to stick to this little régime of mine, I do. This year we aren’t travelling. Last year we were and we left after Ramzaan, hence I couldn’t really do all this fancy stuff. I literally had less than a couple of weeks to get done with all the kids’ homework and don’t ask how I managed it all without going absolutely crazy. Seriously, the earlier you get done with it the better it is, but this write-up is mainly for those of you lazy mommies out there(like myself) who wait till after Ramzaan and Eid to get started with the terrors of holiday homework. We still have a month left if we start from today (presuming you guys aren’t travelling) and well all we need is a little bit of time management, thing that I have literally been struggling with all my life. But. We’ll get there, we will!
Let me know how you guys are handling the pressures of homework. I can definitely use a tip or two!
MAASI IS TRYING! 