HISMD: First Grade Teacher

2 kids - 5 yo & 3 yo. Works in the classroom. Partner (firefighter). Wilmington, NC.

Each Thursday, the “How I Structure My Day” series features women from different industries, with and without kids, with and without partners, with family living with/near them and not, wfh to 1+ hour commutes, etc. I hope you enjoy reading them as much as I do!

Before we get to the good stuff…

Know that if you’re ready to learn a time management system designed for professional working women, the 10-week Bright Method program is open and ready to get you results! Learn all about it here – and send any questions my way. Happy to talk out whether I think it would work for you, your main concerns, timing, etc. Send me a message, and I hope to see you in there!

The Snapshot

• Partner: Yes (in office as a firefighter)

• Children: Yes – 3 yo. & 5 yo.

• Wilmington, NC

• Works in office at an elementary school

Typical Morning:

• Alarm goes off at 4:00.

• I head straight to the coffee pot where I had my coffee timer pre-set. I grab a cup of coffee and I head out to the garage.

• On my way to the garage, I switch a load of laundry from the washer to the dryer (that I had set on a timer from the night before).

• I exercise in our home gym.

• At 5:00, I get in the shower and get ready for the day.

• Once I’m ready, I pack my car.

• At 6:00, I wake up my Kindergartener and get her ready for the day.

• At 6:20, I wake up my 3-year-old and get her ready for the day.

• My husband is a firefighter with 24-hour shifts. If he is on shift, the alarm goes off at 6:35 to leave.

• I drop my Kindergartener off at her friend’s house (where she has breakfast), and I take my 3-year-old to daycare (they provide breakfast!).

• I have a 15-minute ride from daycare to work. I arrive at my school at 7:10, and students start coming in at 7:15.

• If my husband is home, he takes our Kindergartener to school, but the rest of my routine remains the same.

Morning "Make Life Easier" Hacks

• I have alarms go off for each move I need to make (wake up, finish workout, get showered, wake up daughters, 15 minutes until we have to leave, and go time).

• Night before prep:

  • One load of laundry set on a timer to go off 40 minutes before I wake up,

  • Coffee prepped and timer on,

  • Lunch boxes packed,

  • Water bottles filled and in the fridge,

  • Breakfast made for anyone who needs it,

  • Bags packed and sitting at the front door.

Transition into Work Mode

• I have a short drive and I use it to listen to a podcast, music, an audiobook, or an audio message to a friend. When I get to work, I set up my room for the day (lamps, essential oil diffuser, computer on).

What my work day looks like

• Teaching is mostly laid out for you. I follow my school’s master schedule.

• I have a 45-minute planning block each day, and my Google calendar has my to-do list for my planning period, so I remember what needs to be done and by when.

• I have a digital and paper planner. I write my to-do list and look at my calendar often to make sure I am not missing anything.

• During my 25-minute lunch break, I clear emails, schedule doc appointments, and handle personal items.

Lunch/Snacks

• My class has lunch from 11:30-11:55. I have to walk them to the cafeteria and through the lunch line.

• I then have to use the bathroom and warm up my lunch if it applies that week.

• I have to pick them back up.

• I am lucky that I don’t have to sit in the cafeteria during their lunch!

Breaks

• My schedule is made for me.

Leaving work

• My students dismiss at 2:45. We are required to stay until 3:00. Depending on the day, I will reset my classroom for the next day or attend a meeting.

• I like to have my room ready for the next day before I leave: to-do list updated, calendar updated, lessons checked, emails cleared, any anchor charts or posters created and ready, objectives for the next day on the board, lunch choices for the next day prepared.

• On Wednesday nights, I use after my girls go down as a catch-up night. If I haven’t written the following week’s lesson plan, this is when I’d catch up, so I don’t have to work over the weekend.

Transition out of work mode

• On my best days, I head home around 3:15/30 and take a quick 20-30 minute walk. I listen to a podcast or chat with a friend.

• If I don’t have time or the weather isn’t cooperating, I go home and reset everything I need for the next day.

• Then I go pick my kids up.

• If my husband is off, we either tag team this or go together.

After work/evening hours

• I love to get an afternoon walk in.

• After that, I pick up my kids. Ideally, I get them outside and playing before dinner.

• If my husband is home, he is the cook. If I’m solo, we are typically having leftovers or something easy. We like to eat in the 5 o’clock hour.

• One day a week, my daughter has gymnastics, so we have to go there, and on those nights dinner is always planned to be easy or leftovers.

• At 6:30, my girls take a bath.

• At 7:00 we start the bedtime routine. Ideally, their doors are shut by 7:30.

• I do a quick tidy of the house and prepare anything for the following day that I hadn’t yet. (Coffee is prepped, laundry is prepped, lunches prepped).

• I fold the laundry from the morning load.

• I hop in bed with a good book as close to 8:00 as possible. Lately, I’ve been pushing 9:00.

• If my husband is home, we will hang out and maybe catch up on a show before bed.

• Before bed, I pick out my workout clothes.

• (On Saturdays, I pick out my clothes and both of my daughters’ clothes for the week, so that’s already done.)

Evening Non-Negotiables

• Clean the kitchen

• Prep the laundry

• Lay out workout clothes

• Double check the weather for the following day and make sure clothes are ready

• Prep the coffee and all meals for the next day,

• A hot bath on my best day, shower on my medium energy day, or if I did an afternoon workout, and right into bed.

• Skincare and oral care are non-negotiables before I sleep.

Afternoon/evening “make life smoother” tips

• I have my phone on do not disturb starting at 4:30 PM.

• I love listening to 432 hz or jazz music to set the tone of relaxation.

Sharing the load with a partner

• My husband is very Type A and hands-on with dividing the house load, but he works three 24-hour shifts per week. When he’s home, he does a lot of cleaning and cooking and taking care of life to-dos. We share a Google calendar, and we both use it religiously.

Exercise/Body Movement

• I exercise 6 days a week. I don’t work out on Wednesday mornings. That morning is used for life catch up and relaxation.

• I typically do 30 minutes of weights and 15 minutes on my Peloton. Some afternoons, I can squeeze in a walk or run!

Outsourcing

• Nope, a teacher and firefighter salary with a child in daycare doesn’t really allow for it.

Anything Else the Sharer Wants to Share

• I do a load of laundry a day, and it looks like this: M, W, and F - my husband and mine. We have the most because we both workout daily. Tu - Daughter 1. Th- Daughter 2. Saturday - Towels. Sunday - Sheets.

• I pick our clothes for me and my two daughters on the weekend for the entire week.

• I meal prep and plan each week. My husband and I have our entire week’s menu shared on Google Keep along with our grocery list. If my husband is off on a Friday, we love for him to get the groceries done then so we have everything for the weekend.

• I have enforced quiet time for my five-year-old, so during her sister’s weekend nap, she is also in her room playing independently. This time allows for me to use as I need (a breather, exercise, meal prep, cleaning, etc!)

That’s a wrap for this one!

Thank you so much to this woman for generously sharing. These publish every Thursday!

A reminder of the ground rules to ensure women continue wanting to share about their days and feel safe doing so.

• Encouraging comments always welcome!

• If you have questions or even hang-ups about what someone shared, you are welcome to ask a question for the sharer in the same kind, genuinely curious way you would if you were looking at that woman in her eyes. She might respond through me.

• If comments are judge-y or mean-spirited, I reserve the right to delete comments. I can handle being criticized about my own work here (and even still, to a degree – I’m also a person), but I go into full mama bear mode when people come after my people – including women who are being vulnerable and sharing in the first place.

• Thanks to the vast majority of people who are so kind!

New here? Welcome!

I’m Kelly Nolan, an attorney-turned-time management strategist and mom of two. I teach the Bright Method, a realistic time management system designed for professional working women. In addition to this fun new series, I share bite-sized time management strategies on Instagram. Thanks for being here!

After experiencing overwhelm as a young patent litigator in Boston, I figured out a time management system to help me show up in the ways that I wanted to at work and at home – without requiring my brain to somehow magically remember it all. I now teach other professional working women how to manage their personal, family, and career roles with less stress and more calm clarity using realistic time management strategies. My system, the Bright Method, has been featured in Bloomberg Businessweek, and my work has been published in Forbes, Fast Company, Business Insider, and more. Learn more on my website, come learn bite-sized strategies with me on Instagram, or jump into my free 5-day program.

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