Hi! I’m Rachel, Director of Recruitment for Teacher Time To Go. I’m excited to spend the day with you and give you a glimpse into a day in my beautifully chaotic life. 😊
A little background before we get started to set the scene. I work part time from home for TT2G but it is not my full-time position. That job is working for 3 of the best tiny bosses around, as a full time Domestic Engineer (my new favorite title for Stay at Home parents)
Every day is totally different no matter what kind of routine I try to set, due to previously mentioned bosses who are constantly changing my work environment and job description. 😅
I used to the be the type of person who LOVED and THRIVED in the early morning hours. I’m 5 years deep into motherhood, and I can honestly say, my children are now my alarm clock. My middle kiddo (3.5 yo) specifically plays the role well, and is closely followed by our Cavapoo, Waldo. Usually they wake me around 6am give or take 20 minutes. Which is when we (read: I) roll out of bed, and head downstairs. Grab some milk & snuggle time on the couch until his sisters wake up and join us between 7-7:30am.
That’s when mom duties really get rolling because the tiniest human wakes up demanding breakfast almost immediately. 7:30am-8ish are usually a whirlwind of getting tiny humans fed, the dog breakfast & his morning time outside. I usually linger on our back porch to soak in some morning sunlight and fresh air, as well as to ensure Waldo doesn’t wake the neighborhood by barking at the kids waiting for the school bus on the corner, thinking they are there strictly to visit him.
8am-8:15am is always the first glimpse of my work day. We have a phone call with the admin team every weekday in order to make sure we are keeping up with all the new things that come in daily! As my kiddos are content eating their breakfast and a good cartoon, I am checking my emails & texts that I missed since “logging off” the day before. My role is more of an on-call position that navigates around my family’s schedule & those of the people I interview, or when tutors need me! I usually have my work phone handy throughout the day, but set boundaries of turning the volume off during family events and from 7pm–8am the next day. This really helps since I don’t follow set working hours and want to be available when needed, but not working around the clock!
I started working for TT2G when I was 7 months pregnant with my third baby. All 3 kids are very used to “mommy’s phone calls” at this point and don’t even blink at it any more. I’m very blessed to work in small pockets of time during the day, in which I’m only on the phone for 15-20 minutes at a time. There are many mornings where our admin calls are often graced with tiny humans who find me in whatever quiet corner I sneak off to, but they are actually pretty great at following the expectations that we have established during “mommy’s phone calls”. The kids are always aware that I am stepping away (but always within earshot) and we review the expectations of “best behavior”. For our family, this looks like having a quiet voice, working on a “quiet” activity (reading a book, coloring, a puzzle or watching a tv show). My oldest daughter loves to be “in charge” of keeping the littles entertained and setting an example for them of quiet activities. She’ll often say she is “working” too, and sets up her craft table like a command center decked out with a play phone, note book & keyboard. It’s adorable! There are many times while she is immersed in imaginary play when I hear her tell her siblings “everyone on their best behavior, I have a phone call with Miss Jenn & Miss Sarah.” It’s that ingrained and normal for them in our daily routine, that they even pretend to do it, too! However, there are MANY times where I have 1-3 kiddos coloring quietly beside me or even on my lap as I do a phone call. Like I said, my day is completely dictated by them and we just make it work!
My morning phone call is the most consistent part of our daily routine. Once that is over, the kids really set the tone for the rest of the day. I schedule most of my interviews either right in the morning, or during natural quiet times in our day (usually around meals once the kids are settled eating) or nap time!
Around 9-9:30am most days, I am finally getting myself dressed and ready to tackle the day.
9:30am-12pm is spent entertaining the kiddos and trying to run out as much energy as possible before lunch. I try to keep lunch around the same time every day because we do a “family nap time” right after. This concept was born out of desperation for some kind of quiet time or “break” for myself when the toddlers were all on different nap schedules. Naturally, I spent most of my time fighting at least one of them to rest the whole time, until one of the others woke up. In order to curb the FOMO (fear of missing out), we ALL rest at the same time. Or at least my kids think I nap with them until everyone is asleep and I sneak out to get some work done! This is not flawless as my 2 bigs are on the brink of dropping naps all together. In recent days, they often follow me downstairs where it turns into “Quiet time” where they have to either rest on the couch, or entertain themselves. We’ve established the expectation that quiet time does not have any “requests” (i.e. no asking for snacks or things like that). It has to be quiet, independent play time. Which they are surprisingly good at when “we can’t wake the baby!”
This is my crunch time. I spend 90% of this quiet time checking emails, finding the right tutors to work with families and conducting interviews for new tutors to join our team.
My bosses wake up in phases starting around 2:30 until about 3:30pm (on a good nap day). From there we fuel up with a snack, then head outside whenever the weather lets us.
My husband is a pilot, so I am often solo parenting as well. These weeks are when my schedule usually becomes extremely flexible, but with more boundaries to make sure that I am not burning out on both ends.
We wrap up our evenings with a solid night time routine full of cleaning up toys, baths, snuggles & stories!
Then this momma usually “puts the house to sleep”. No matter how tired I am, the kitchen at minimum is “reset”, dishwasher is started, and I do a general clean up. My kids help immensely and clean up their toys each night, too. When my husband is home we catch an hour or two of quiet time before bed connecting about our day & making plans for the future! When he’s traveling, I quite literally crawl into bed 30 minutes after my kids and pass out! 🙃
I hope you’ve enjoyed a little glimpse into a “typical” day of balancing tutors & toddlers! I absolutely love what I do being able to support my kiddos full time and stay connected to my education roots helping support families!!
Be Silly, Be Honest, Be Kind 💜