Moms. Take a Breath.

Find fun free activities we’ve posted in our Corona Stay at Home Activities Facebook group that are fun and that your child will enjoy.

These are crazy times. In just a little over a week’s times the world has turned upside down. Grocery stores are empty, schools are closed, churches are online now, many of us are working from home now instead of the office, some of us are getting laid off, we are washing our hands even more diligently than before, some of us have spouses that are self quarantining after being out of the country (ahem, that’s me).. I could go on and on. Having my VPK aged daughter and first grade son home has been both wonderful and overwhelming. This week was supposed to be spring break so even without Coronavirus my kids would have been home this week. The difference is now I know my kids will be home not just this week but at least a few weeks longer and I predict that they will end up being home the rest of the school year. It’s overwhelming for me to think about the future and how to keep them on track academically while also letting them be kids and really have fun during this time. I’m wondering if it’s overwhelming to you too.

Giving ourselves grace is so huge right now. As parents (especially us moms who multitask things in our brains) we already have so many things running through our brains. I’m having a hard enough time not stressing, not predicting the future, not burying my head and not overthinking things.

It’s hard to figure out how to get my kids (especially my 1st grader) back on track academically so I’ve stopped thinking about it for a while reminding myself that even if Corona wasn’t here, this would be a vacation week and I don’t worry about schooling during vacations.

If you are like me and trying to figure out how to start teaching your child, I’ve followed homeschooling groups for years and one popular word that they use a lot of times is “unschooling”. Many families unschool their kids for weeks, months, etc before starting a home school curriculum. The unschool time is a time that lets their child be a child, play and get out of their regular public/private school routine of being in the classroom all day. Instead of putting so much pressure on yourselves to keep your child academically where you think they should be, perhaps look at this time as a period of unschooling. Once you get used to our “new normal”, you can start thinking about how you are going to homeschool your child or use your child’s online schooling through your school district (if your school has that as an option).

We just need to take a breath to be able to destress. If we aren’t centered there is no way our kids will be centered. Besides, they already do WAY too much schoolwork while in school. Now they can actually be kids and learn through play and activities which will help them destress. So give yourselves lots of grace. Find some fun free activities we’ve posted in our Corona Stay at Home Activities Facebook group that are fun and that your child will enjoy. Don’t worry about your child learning or forgetting things from school. They learn every day doing simple things like playing. When it’s time to start worrying about academics, you will know. It will be when your brain is destressed and when your child is emotionally ready. Hang in there moms. Take a breath.