School Term 2 & Working From Home: Stressing less with these Aussie Inventions.
As a working mother of three children Covid-19 has thrown a spanner into the works for the coming term. I am not a magician but I’m going to need to pull some tricks out of my hat in order to get through it. I think the Life Sorted app and the Incharge box are two of them.
Life Sorted App
I have three children, two in primary school and one in high school. They all have different tasks and ways of learning being provided by their teachers. I have started thinking about how I am going to be able to manage keeping tabs and scheduling what they will be doing, whilst also keeping on task and on schedule with my own work. Whilst the Life Sorted app was devised as family assistant for the much more normal times we were living in, I think this app will be helpful for the different times we are now about to be facing.
It was designed to be an organisational tool. To basically keep everyone in the family in the loop of what is happening, when and by who. My primary school aged children are more than happy to follow a written schedule I can put up for them on paper , but my teenager wants her own independence. Trying to keep all of this sorted in my mind is going to be tricky. In the finally weeks of last term the girls had to stay home as they were not well. I however made them continue schooling when they could.
I had to constantly check and ask my teenager what she was doing, as it was super hard to keep up to date with what the school wanted and what she was actually doing on her computer. She didn’t enjoy me checking in and asking what she was doing. I tried to solve the problem by getting her to write me her own schedule each day. Reluctantly she did this. With the Life sorted app, I could get her to put her schedule in herself online, I wouldn’t need to ask her what her schedule was for school that day and I would then be able to check in with her and see how she was going without needing to ask too many questions. It would also be a tool she could use to keep herself accountable. This app empowers her by getting her more involved and taking some ownership over her own activities and schedule. It would also help avoid teenager daughter/mother clashes.
With three differing ages and stages of schooling, being able to manage online school as well as working seems like it could be tricky. However, if I used the Life Sorted app to schedule in what lessons and times each child would be completing them and if they were quiet work, or required my help work, I could arrange each day in such a way that I would be able to get them doing their quiet work, when I would be doing zoom meetings. At a brief glance at this Life sorted app calendar I’d be able to see the best times to book in my meetings and phone calls.
By having the entire family with access to the listed below great features I can get the relief from the stress and overwhelm that comes from running a family and online schooling during this stay home period.
If you would like to try the Life Sorted App for your school/work life use the discount code BOSSY10 which will give you an exclusive $10 discount on an annual subscription making it just $49.99 for a whole year for everyone in the family. Note: you must log on to the web version https://www.lifesorted.com to apply this code. Valid until 30 April.
Incharge Box
During this stay at home period I have also noticed screen time slowly increasing and creeping into our daily routine. I am reaching for my phone too many times to check the news and the children are reaching for their iPads a few too many more times than I would prefer.
I recently sat down with my kids and had a discussion about needing to find other things to do other than just playing ipads. I noticed, even though I was limiting screen time they seemed to be just walking around bored waiting for when I would let them play their iPad again. We discussed other things they would like to try do during the holidays and weekends when they were not doing school work. They listed, playing their games with their toys, reading, dancing, drawing, cooking, playing dress ups and playing board games.
We decided to go cold turkey for one day without devices. We locked everything away in the uncharge box so they and I wouldn’t be tempted. Here is what happened. In the morning there was a lot of “i’m bored”. They shuffled around the house complaining for about two hours. Then their imaginations kicked in. The games they created and played were so creative and imaginative. That night when I put them to bed, the girls thanked me and said they really enjoyed just playing. I have even noticed an improvement in their relationship with each other. They are learning to get along better than they did when they were iPad zombies.
My teenager was also sneaking her phone back into her room late at night to watch youtube. Once I started placing her phone in the Incharge box at night she started to get a better nights sleep and was so much less grumpy (as much as a teenager can be) in the morning. She also thinks its a good idea for the In charge box as she says it is just too tempting for her, if she cannot sleep to reach for her phone and get no sleep.
I must say I have slowly built back up the iPad time back too 2hrs a day just for some down time for everyone. However the girls are now just as happy to play without them. They are the ones that get the key, and lock the box now once iPad time is up. They are taking control of their own habits and I couldn’t be more proud of them.
During this time where we are at home, the Incharge box has really helped this family grow closer and learn the value and lessons of real play.
You can read more about the Incharge box here: https://www.inchargebox.com.au
ADDITIONAL HELPFUL FEATURES of LIFE SORTED
SHARED CALENDAR
Central family calendar so that everyone always knows what's happening at all times.
It’s easy to see at a glance who is supposed to be doing what.
SIDE-BY-SIDE DAY VIEW
View your calendar the way you like it – choose from month, week, day or list views. See what every family member is up to at any given time using our side-by-side day view
CHAT
An easy way to chat with the family
NOTES
REMINDERS & NOTIFICATIONS
Life Sorted will send you reminders and notifications to help you stay on schedule.
SHOPPING LIST
Shared shopping lists, which allows anyone to add items, and whoever gets to the shop next knows exactly what to buy.
TO-DO LISTS
Total control over your to-do lists and priorities by keeping track of everything that needs to be done.
Combined to-do lists, which are the perfect way to keep your family organised, and you can sort things the way that works best for you, either by categories or due date.
SYNC CALENDARS
A central place for your work and home activities combined by syncing your work calendar with Life Sorted.
Imported calendars allowing you to see your work/school AND family activities all in the one place so you don’t have to check multiple places to see when you’re free.
FILTER FAMILY MEMBER EVENTS
Life Sorted lets you easily show and hide specific family members on the calendar, so you can declutter if you need some space and time just for you.
BIRTHDAYS & ANNIVERSARIES
Keep a track of all the birthdays and special anniversary dates and choose which family members need to be ‘in the know’, then they will receive reminders.
EVENT CLASHES
Alerts that warn you if you try to create an event that clashes with another event, allowing you to either accept the clash, or choose a new time.
PRIVACY
Keep things private when you need to and choose to hide event details from others who are not attending.
PRINT OUTS
Print out your weekly schedule and pop it on the fridge as another reference for the family throughout the week (especially for the little ones who don’t have devices yet).
OWN LOGIN & PERSONAL SETTINGS
Each member of the family can have their own login and personalised settings so they can set their own preferences.
Give older children and teenagers independence with their own login to manage their own time, and keep you updated with their plans.
ACCESS ALL DEVICES
Access on desktop, tablet and mobile so everyone can access and update, no matter where they are.
You get all this for a whole year for less than it costs for family dinner delivered by UberEats.