Sorry for not getting back to you earlier.
I’m not a mom, but time is a critical resource for me as well. If you don’t mind I’ll share my little (probably highly subjective) insights.
My tips and insights for saving time with WK:
- Learning grammar before level 14 was stupid - I wasted most of the time for learning new kanjis, while WK was packing them into my memory at an avg pace of 5 per day (wkstats.com), which is pretty incredible.
- As you know, when something becomes a routine after some time it doesn’t feel hard anymore - just usual stuff. WK has a cycle of 7d/level minus 4h just in case. I recommend to keep this pace at least for the first levels - it’s pretty easy with a routine.
- Make yourself a schedule. For example:
I level up on Saturday mornings because it’s a holiday (reviews at 10:00, 14:00, 22:00), Guru these kanjis and radicals on Wednesday evening and learn new kanjis immediately (reviews in 20:00, 00:00, 10:00 in the morning). As you can see I have the only busy evening which I cannot postpone - Wednesday. I do vocab a bit later to free up the evenings and have all the time I need for socializing and drinks. Very convenient. - Use Double Check and Ultimate TImeline scripts to track and quickly accomplish “critical reviews” (which affect level up time) and fix kanjis if you really need and don’t allow them to affect your pace - you’ll have a chance to fail and repeat them the next level.
- This one could be controversial for some people: I DON’T recommend spreading lesson through the day to much. I’m learning my critical radicals and kanjis ASAP, then I do all of the kanjis at one take as well (this part takes about an hour - I read through them very carefully). The vocab I usually do in one of the next 2 days to ease my schedule, BUT I do them all at one take - they’re much easier than kanjis and it allows me to watch carefully for the SRS intervals (4h, 8h, 1d) and memorize everything very efficiently. If you learned the lessons - stick to SRS intervals! It works like magic.
The results:
- I learn 45 out of 50 words from the first take. All the way to master and enlightened.
- my reviews are coming in bundles of 50 or even 100, which sounds scary at first, but with the right tracking of SRS intervals it results in a very high review speed with great concentration and accuracy. Take a look at the screenshots: 101 review in 23 mins - not that long. Also, if it’s not a 4 or 8h review - you can postpone ad spread them just a bit without the damage to memorization if you need.
- the f***ed up words (the complicated ones) come back to me during the day in portions of 3-5 and I review them during the day whenever I’m bored - I can pay lot’s of attention to them, which is awesome. I usually work out my own mnemonics for such words, otherwise they just don’t stick.
- my reviews+lessons take about 1h per day on average. It’s a small price to pay for a new language (excluding grammar).
- Start learning grammar after about 14-18 levels (I’m currently using bunpro) - you’ll enjoy how kanji aren’t a struggle anymore.
- 7d/level requires some discipline - you can work out a cycle of 14 days just by spreading lessons, for example. Should be easier, but with all the benefits of SRS method and repeatable schedule.
Hope it helps 