Home schooling – interior hacks for more motivation
You often look forward to the New Year with a lot of energy and an extra drive. But for many, this lively mood is somehow missing this year. Because the rule is: new year, old chaos!
Again it means juggling between home office and home schooling, between back pain and nervous breakdown. The mood at home is tense, the motivation to cope with schoolwork is modest and the frustration because of the lack of a working space and the resulting chaos continues to build up.
As an architect, I know that the space that surrounds us always has an influence on us – consciously and, above all, unconsciously. If we have rooms in which we feel comfortable, in which we can breathe deeply, a place of retreat where we can find peace, dealing with stressful situations is much easier for us. It calms us down, gives us new energy and strength for the challenges of everyday life. It should be said right away that the size of the room itself plays a subordinate role. It’s rather the inharmonious design and poor spatial organization that have a negative impact on our home and cause us unrest.
A lack of structure and insufficient storage space cause clutter. And clutter creates dissatisfaction. In order to lighten the mood a little and perhaps bring a little fun to homeschooling, a few design changes can make a big difference. It is good if they are practical and relax the situation at home and make work processes easier.
Here’re a few tips and hacks for your home schooling to make it more fun or at least easier for you.
1) Welcome to the co-working space! Short distances and good company
It can be quite exhausting to walk from children’s room to children’s room in order to support the teaching units and at the same time have to react to the emails of your own colleagues.
My tip: Turn the large dining table into a co-working space, with everything that goes with it! Fresh coffee for the parents, tea for the little ones, tapped and drunk in the (tea) kitchen, so that no drinks drip over the work materials.
Of course, there are a few rules here. At the start of the working day, for example, there could be a short exchange at the big table, a morning meeting. Each team member explains what their current tasks will be and where they’ll need support. Then it’s time to concentrate on work. Everyone for himself, but nobody alone. That fact alone can make it a lot more relaxed. And you are always there as soon as someone needs your help.
The point here is not only to minimize paths, but also to give a feeling of togetherness and mutual support.
2) 1, 2, 3 – again your table’s free!
Yes, the co-working idea has the small disadvantage that the dining table is full of stuff. The constant cleaning before lunch gets annoying and takes too much time. But you can also counteract this with little tricks.
It makes sense, for example, if everyone has a large box or tray on which important work utensils can be gathered. Pencil cases, handicrafts and exercise books are always kept in one place and at the end of the day the box or tray is quickly and easily carried back to the children’s room. Everything in its place and the table is cleared again in no time.
If you need more space for storage and want to keep the work surface as free as possible, you can use a small trolley that contains office supplies and papers. This can be simply pushed to the table and work can begin.
3) The eye learns too – create an inspiring environment
As already written in the introduction, the rooms that surround us have an enormous influence on our well-being and thus also on our motivation. So create a pleasant working atmosphere in which you feel comfortable. A nice bouquet of flowers for you, placed away from the table if necessary, a pin board with the children’s favorite motifs – cool quotes or postcards, for example. Make it your inspiring place, your little think tank. But try to avoid too much visual disturbance. Get structure and order in the surrounding area to maintain concentration as long as possible.
