As we prepare for our children to return back to school in the next couple of weeks and businesses start to think about re-opening strategies, we may find that our new normal way of life looks a little different to what it did pre-COVID-19.

Perhaps, as businesses have now seen how effective and efficient working from home can be, you may have more work at home days in the future? Maybe, schools will ask children to stay home at the first sign of a sniffle? No-one knows what the coming months and even years will look like, but one thing is certain, it will be different.

As the My Night Light team work through the day to day struggles of running a business and helping our children to learn from home, we have had to figure out how to be productive and keep our children occupied/learning. In case you are in the same boat, we thought we’d share with you a few productivity tips and our favourite educational online tools that engage our children long enough for us to actually accomplish something during business hours!

Top productivity tips for working at home

• Plan your day the night before, making sure to schedule breaks
• Tick off each task you complete, this will help to motivate you
• Create a dedicated work space if you can
• Get some fresh air
• Get up and move around
• Work out what time of day you are most productive and do the most important task then
• Try to look at the task at hand and focus on that rather than looking at everything that needs doing, which will only lead to you feeling overwhelmed
• Don’t forget to make use of all the amazing productivity apps and ways to connect likeTrello,Asana, and Zoomto name a few.

Online tools to keep children busy

Here are some of our go to sites that always keep our children engaged:

• https://www.coolmathgames.com– the kids have heaps of fun playing these online maths games.
• TheBrisbane kids sitehas links to web cams from zoos and aquariums from around the world.
• Take avirtual tourof the Metropolitan Museum of Art in NYC and see some of their most iconic spaces.
• TheLego websiteis lots of fun with so many different things to do and look at.
• PE with Joe is fantastic. Here is hisYouTube page. I really enjoy watching my son get put through his paces, while I’m drinking my morning coffee, relaxing in my comfy chair! (I mean working!)
• We also find the how to draw pages on YouTube to be a big hit. My daughter especially likeshow to draw dragons.
• Explore some of the USA’s national parks with these fantasticranger lead toursof volcanoes, glaciers and so much more.
• You also have theABC Kids sitefor younger children.

We hope that our tips and favourite online tools help you to navigate through your days at the moment. What are your favourite sites to visit when you need to focus on your work and your children are at home?