As most of use who can, are working from home, it’s going to take some settling in. Both my partner and I are working from home and as we are moving house in a matter of days it’s going to be like balancing a seahorse on a football but we’re up for the challenge. Below are some great hits and tips on how to many working from home a breeze.
All the gear and no idea – setting up for working at home
If you’re working from home, it’s really important you are set up right. That doesn’t mean working from bed or the sofa. I know it seems appealing but your back and neck will not thank you for it after a couple of days. Instead here’s my top tips for getting set up right:
- Create a dedicated space – whether it be your dining table, Kitchen island or desk. This is now your work space. If you can, you want to keep this space set up so you can treat it like your desk at work.
- Ask for what you need – if it’s a phone, monitor or mouse, your work should be equipping you to work from home.
- Check you have the right software – because you are remote you need to ensure you can share files and keep conversations going. Ensure you have the right software such as Dropbox, Slack and Zoom to keep connected.
- Get dressed – by getting dressed you’ll feel like you have finished your morning routine and started a day at work.
- Maintain regular hours and breaks – There is more flexibly working from home but, on the whole, keep to your hours so when you need to return it wont be such a shock! It’s also important to have regular breaks as we tend to sit still for longer when we work from home.
- Keep hydrated – As we are sitting still for longer, we’re also not drinking enough water. Make sure you have your water bottle by your side and fill it up on a regular basis.
- Leave the house – If you are not in isolation, make sure you leave home. Go for a walk at lunch, you’ll feel more productive in the afternoon. Why not create a competition between workers as to who managed the most steps that week.
- Stay connected – schedule virtual coffee breaks with your colleagues who you’d usually catch up with. It’s going to be a couple of months before you get back to the office. Zoom is great for face to face meetings.
Lunchtime madness – lunch recipes from your store cupboard
Niki and I don’t usually think about lunch. Niki buys his in Leeds and I am lucky enough to be treaded to a slap up meal at Taylors Staff Cafe ever day. So I’ve found it heard to think about what to have every single day.
Having followed The Culinary Bee for many months now I dream of her soups and lite lunch bites. Annie Mae is a recipe developer and shares many of her recipes on her instagram. She has kindly let me share some on here.
Spinach, Chickpea and Pesto Soup
One of Annie Mae’s most recent recipe is a store cupboard meal that is perfect for using LOADS of tinned and dried cupboard ingredients and it’s super simple! This is also dairy, gluten and meat-free.
Ingredients (serves 4)
- 1 tin of Chickpeas
- 100g Dried Green/ Black Lentils
- 1 Litre of Vegetable Stock
- 100g Spinach
- 1 Tsp Garlic Powder
- 2 Tbsp Green Pesto
- Salt and Pepper
- 3 Tbsp Extra Virgin Olive Oil
- (Optional) Chives to serve
Method
- Add all of the ingredients together into a large stockpot. Cook on a low/medium heat, stirring occasionally. Allow to bubble for 20 minutes, or until the lentils are soft.
- Using either a hand blender or a regular blender, blitz 3/4 of the soup until smooth. Pour pack into the pot and stir. Serve with chives.
Garlicky Mushroom and Butterbean Hummus on Sourdough
This is my perfect lunch, I can’t get enough of anything that’s garlicky and on sourdough.
Ingredients
- Sourdough Bread
- 250g Chestnut Mushrooms, chopped
- 3 cloves of garlic, chopped
- Salt and Pepper
- 1 tin of butter beans
- 2 tablespoons of tahini
- 1 tablespoon maple syrup
- 50ml Extra Virgin Olive Oil
- 10g Dried Oregano
- To top, fresh lemon thyme and oregano
Method
- To make the butter bean hummus, simply drain the tin and pop the butterbeans in a blender. Then add 1 garlic clove, dried oregano, tahini, maple syrup, olive oil and salt and pepper to taste. Blend until completely smooth. (should take around 1-2 minutes).
- Meanwhile, in a frying pan, add your chopped two garlic cloves to 2 tablespoons of olive oil, allow to fry for 1 minute, then add the mushrooms. Stir until they have reduced in size and are softened. Season with salt and pepper.
- Pop the Sourdough slices in a toast until crunchy and browned.
- Slater on the bean hummus, then the garlicky mushrooms and fresh herbs. Serve immediately.
Follow The Culinary Bee for more amazing recipes including:
- Cauliflower Cheese and Bacon Soup
- Sweet Potato Falafel Pittas
- Messy Meatball Sub
- Zingy Chicken Sandwich
- Vegan Oat Breakfast Bars
Having to Home School during Covid19?
There’s loads of ideas on my Keeping Active and Social page but for specific home schooling and parenting ideas see the list below:
#HappyHourAtHome with Girl About Blog Squad
Are you looking for online groups to join filled with daily craft activities for the kids, competitions, weekly bingo, virtual fitness classes, life drawing glasses and LOADS more? Join the Happy Hour At Home group HERE >> https://www.facebook.com/groups/HappyHourAtHome/
The Girl About Blog Squad (which I’m a member of) are here to help you make the best of the weeks and months ahead. We’ve got every covered in the coming weekend and months to give you plenty of hours of happiness at home.
Educational Resource
Sarah Chapter, who contacted me on Twitter, is a trainee teacher hand has created an online resource using Google Docs, fee free to use: Free Home Learning Resource
Facebook is a wonderful place. Kim Percy offered advice on what to do if you are need to home school your children. Here is what she has shared with me:
Do not use Wikipedia to educate your children. This can be edited by anyone and sometimes the information isn’t relevant and occasionally it is incorrect. Instead read the Government’s guidelines on the national curriculum here. This will give you an over view of what you should be giving your child access to. Remember, this is short term. Any educational support is better than none.
Other resourse includes:
Twinkl – offering free access during the coronavirus outbreak. These are designed by teachers who have qualified teacher status (QTS), so the quality is high and they are linked to national curriculum guidelines. These are for ALL key stages and all subjects.
BBC Bitesize – In the last 18 months, the BBC Bitesize team have updated the whole website through consultation educational practitioners and teachers to ensure high quality learning, revision and activities are available. This covers all key stages and doesn’t require much to enable learning. This a perfect resource for all years and for parents who may not feel confident delivering content.
Tes – Is a teaching resources website. It may take some searching but you can filter to free resources. More often than not, they are power points that are lessons a teacher would deliver. There are paid resources and full schemes of learning that would enable a full unit (topic or subject) to be studied.
All of the below are subscription based, however there are free PDF worksheets that can be completed:
- https://www.teachitprimary.co.uk/
- https://www.teachitlanguages.co.uk/
- https://www.teachitscience.co.uk/
- https://www.teachitmaths.co.uk/
- https://www.teachithistory.co.uk/
- https://www.teachitenglish.co.uk/
There is a wealth of YouTube channels to aid learning for those studying GCSE and A Level courses. These are some utilised by teachers and therefore endorsed by QTS practitioners.
