It can be hard to separate school from home for many teachers. But it’s so important that we take care of ourselves and attend to our personal lives.

So in this post I’m sharing 5 ways to disconnect from work after school and on the weekends.

Delete your school email from your phone and home computer.

It’s so easy to get on our phones and check our emails to make sure we stay in the loop. 

Believe me. Been there. Done that.

But there is nothing waiting for you in your school email that is so important that can’t wait until you check it at work the next morning.

If there’s an emergency or something dire that you MUST know then your school should be contacting you by phone. 

So go ahead and delete that school email from your phone and enjoy the freedom that comes with it.

Only check email while you’re at school. 

This goes with deleting your school email off your phone. Of course, it’s a lot easier not to check it on the phone if it’s not on there in the first place. 

But it’s also easy to get on our home computers and check email. 

But what happens when you open up that work email and it’s something you feel you need to take care of right away? There goes your personal time.

So check your school email at work only. 

Set boundaries with coworkers. 

Do you have coworkers that ALWAYS want to chat about school after hours? 

I get it because sometimes it’s hard to shut off our teacher brains. 

But in order to disconnect from school, we need to stop talking about it during our personal time.

Set boundaries with your coworkers and explain it to them. Tell them NOT to text you about school after school hours unless absolutely necessary.

They’ll understand but even if they don’t, it doesn’t matter. It’s your life. You get to set that boundary.

Do ALL your planning and grading while at school 

In order to be able to disconnect from work during your personal time, you’ll need to do all of your planning and grading while you’re at school.

This may seem like an impossible task because we don’t have a lot of time during contract hours. 

But check out these two blog posts I wrote about planning and grading that will give you some ideas for getting it done during school hours.

If any of your planning or grading doesn’t get done during your contract hours, it can wait until the next day. 

There will always be something for you to do anyways. 

You deserve to disconnect from school during your personal time. You work so hard and need that time to get refreshed. 

Take back your nights and weekends!

Do at least one thing you enjoy at least once a week.

With all the freed-up time from not planning, grading, or checking email, you have time to do the things you enjoy!

Because we have home responsibilities it can be hard to do all the things we enjoy all the time. 

But is it possible to find time one night a week or on the weekend to do something you love? Even if it’s just for 30 minutes, doing something for ourselves is important for our well-being. 

Whether it’s reading a book or going on a hike find something to do that brings you joy and don’t feel guilty about doing it. You deserve it!

Let me know in the comments what you like to do in your free time!