One of the biggest challenges many of us work at home moms (and dads!) have is kids in the house. Working from home can be a great blessing, but sometimes it can be difficult to get anything done because, well, the kids. Happily, there are some things you can do to increase your productivity when working from home. Web Worker Daily offers some work at home tips, and I’ve picked out my favorites:

Be an early riser. This isn’t always a lot of fun, but I am more alert in the morning anyway, and it gives me time to get a lot done. You’d be surprised how much you can get done in half an hour.

Take turns. If you have a spouse, take turns with the kids. Get your work done while your spouse handles the kids. A truly supportive partner understands that you each have things you need to do without the kids.

Stay up later. If you can’t get up early, this is a great solution.

Teach the kids to entertain themselves. Ever since he was little, we’ve been teaching my son to play by himself for hour clips at a time. Often, all that is needed is for you to play one board game with them, and they are content for another 45 minutes or so.

Let them enjoy the great outdoors. Send the kids outside to play. Sometimes I even take the laptop out with them and get some work down outside (even at the park!). And it’s amazing how little your kids need you when they have the world of nature to entertain them.

Another thing you can do, especially if you have school-aged children, is to prepare ahead of time for the mornings. This is one of the busiest times for me, but I find that if I have everything set out the night before, I can get more work done while the kids take care of themselves.