It’s the age of distraction. So many things fight for our attention. Example: I’m heading to write an essay. I have ideas and I’m stoked! Then I get an alert on my phone and I feel like I must respond. Later, when I can finally return to writing, someone interrupts me with an urgent question. My "important" gets overshadowed by someone’s "urgent." Does this happen to you? By the time I’m back at the computer, I’ve lost all of my mental momentum and must rethink my topic. Those interruptions are intrusions: natural obstacles to productivity.
But honestly, I’m very good at getting in my own way, too. I'm an excellent procrastinator. In fact, I could be licensed! How about you? Even my own brain interrupts my thought process. And often, the important tasks loom so large in my mind that they seem nearly insurmountable.
This putting-off-tasks happened in our homeschool, too. How about yours? Math time, for example, always seemed to sprout distractions and interruptions. The mind wandered. The conversations sidetracked. Hands kept putting pencils down. My kids and I could easily take turns interrupting our tasks and accomplishing literally anything else until “math time” either dragged on for hours or fizzled out completely.
I’ve realized I should and can improve. I want to work on my focus. So, I’ve been trying a simple-to-implement productivity approach that may work in your homeschool: the Pomodoro Technique. If you’d like a new method to help accomplish learning tasks, I’d recommend giving this one a try. This method was developed by Francesco Cirillo in the 1980s and named after his tomato-shaped timer (Pomodoro is Italian for tomato). This simple process involves four basic steps:
- As you set up this system, choose a time frame first. Adults using this method typically use 25-minute increments. I started out with 20 minutes and worked up. Your child’s focus time will be less. As a general guideline, a 2-year-old can focus on a task for 4-6 minutes; a 6-year-old, 12-18 minutes; a 12-year-old, 24-36 minutes. There are indeed individual factors that affect focus lengths, but this provides direction as you begin.
- Look at your to-do list or your school schedule. For starters, choose a single task that could be finished within your time frame: finish your assigned reading, research for an essay, or complete one page of math problems.
- Set the timer and work until the timer buzzes. Focus, and when distractions come, don’t engage. A tip for you as the parent or for your older students: when ideas or other to-dos interrupt, jot them down to accomplish at a later time (excluding emergencies, of course).
- At the buzzer, take a 5—and only 5—minute break. If a necessary interruption comes, use that as your 5-minute break. After this break, repeat this process four times.
The Pomodoro Technique retrains your brain to focus on a task and give your concentration and abilities to it more fully. After completing your fourth work period, take a 15–30-minute break. Each of the five breaks should recharge and purposefully restore: a snack, a walk, a quiet activity, unstructured play time or exercise, or a power nap. This break should feed you mentally, emotionally, or physically. My temptation is to use the break to get something else done, but the "restore" is crucial! Without a balanced cycle of focus and rebuild, our concentration ability diminishes. For me, screen time does not restore, so I’m making a habit to not use screens during this time.
Try this out for your family and tailor it to your individual needs. Experts recommend not using the timer on your phone since your phone can be distracting to have nearby. You might want to try a modified timer for your children and/or classroom, which will help teach them the concept of time. I love the Time Timer because it visually shows time passing and helps children grasp time management. Or you might want a Lady Bug Kitchen Timer that adds a little fun to your next productive time.
We are living in an age of constant interruptions. Fighting these is especially crucial for our children whose brains are still developing. We have to train our brains to be intentional with the task at hand. A deliberate focus on how we use our time makes us more productive, reduces stress, helps us break down complex tasks, and changes our viewpoint from “Where did the time go?” to “Look what I achieved!”
~Ruth
