Homeschooling Three Kids and Running a Business

Homeschooling children and running a business at the same time has not been easy, as I’m sure anyone reading this who also has children can attest. The first few weeks of quarantine were messy, to say the least. Schools piled on the online “learning” in a desperate effort to remain relevant and justified in continuing to cash tuition checks all the while our spotty at-home internet just couldn’t keep up with our multiple, simultaneous Zoom meetings. Once we emerged from the apocalyptic fog of pandemic alarm, my wife and I looked at each other and wondered if this way of existence was sustainable. We agreed it was not. Six humans, 6 computers, 4 cell phones, 3 animals and 1 dining room table would soon bring us to our knees.

Everyone at Bond Moroch is working remotely, so our office has just been sitting here empty. We are fortunate to have a sizable and comfortable space that is bright and cheerful and recently upgraded with some badass fiber optic internet cables. After a quick risk analysis, my wife and I decided we would brave the outside world in an effort to save our souls and maintain sanity. We set an alarm for something before 10am, made everyone put on clothes, packed our lunch boxes, piled in the car and headed to the empty office.

This was our game changer. Everyone now has space and purpose. Our days once again have a beginning and an ending. We were able to create a new rhythm to our weekdays and a sense of not-normal normalcy. Also, the amount of time the kids now have to destroy the house and consume anything edible creating a vicious cycle of having to return again and again to the grocery store where my wife complains of being mask-shamed was reduced by 50%.

No solution is perfect and we have new challenges to contend with like trying to keep the kids from helping themselves to the coffee/hot chocolate machine 6 times a day.

I don’t have much to offer in terms of advice. Your situation is different from mine. Not everyone has a spare office at the ready. I get that. However, no matter what you have (or don’t have), we are all being invited to get creative and come up with solutions to new challenges. What new ideas have emerged for you? How are you handling work-life balance in a time of quarantine?

Skipper Bond is a Partner at Bond Moroch.