How do you tame young kids stuck at home? Give them a schedule.

Nine-year-old Jemma Pearl and her brother, Noah, 7, are a handful under normal circumstances.

Their dad, Chuck Pearl, works from home in Elgin. He's a project manager in the finance department of a health care company.

Their mom, Jenn, is a surgical nurse for a hospital in Rockford who works a lot of night shifts.

She found a schedule on the internet for the kids to follow during the day while they are home from school, Chuck is running teleconferences and Jenn is sleeping.

The first day home from school did not go well.

“It's been rough,” Jenn said Monday afternoon. “I had to sleep during the day. They don't understand boundaries, so they come in and bother me. It's a me, me, me mentality. It's a pain, but they're kids.”

The color-coded schedule includes time specifically for meals, exercise, academics, creativity, chores, TV time and bedtime.

It's very regimented.

“Kids need structure and they need guidance. You have to walk them through it and remind them.

“Chuck manages quite a few people. But they're 40-year-olds. They remember what you tell them to do. Little kids ... they are another story.”

Jenn said she will gather up materials related to each of the activity types and put them in labeled bins in one spot, brief the kids on what to do and then merely refer them to the schedule they've agreed to keep.

“This has to get better,” she said.