Homeschool Mom?

Just like many of you, our days and weeks for the past ten days have been interesting to say the least. The virus known as COVID-19 changed our daily lives, especially the lives of our children.

In two weeks the girls have gone from attending one of the best preschools in the state, to being homeschooled by, well, me. Ask all my friends, I've always said that I was not meant to be a homeschool mom. However, I've always said I'd never say never. (I learned that I long time ago because we've eaten our words thousands of times!)

One of my girls is in kindergarten and the other is in 4K. Their brains are little sponges right now, and honestly I just want to keep some normalcy in our lives. So we are having school every morning. Technically this week was supposed to be Spring break for them. It was going to be my Spring break, too. They were going to my parent's house and farm to have some fun, and I was going to get a much need break so I could spring clean, etc. But, alas, the COVID-19 quarantine happened.

We are still having a few minutes of school every morning. I'm talking thirty minutes to an hour. And this week we are taking time to go over things they've already learned this year. I honestly just want some routine for them, and me. We haven't been enforcing bedtime, and we do sleep in. I feel like we need it to keep our bodies well. So we make sure we are getting at least ten/eleven hours of sleep. I say we, but that does not include Terry. He is still going to work daily.

Avery has absolutely loved her kindergarten year with her friends and her amazing teacher, Mrs. Kim. She has taught my baby more than I could ever dream she would learn in such a small time. And I'm still hopeful we will get to go back to finish out the year, though I have my doubts just like many of you. I'm so thankful for her teacher sending out worksheets for us to print so we can keep on learning. Avery loves that what I have her working on is worksheets and pages that she would normally see at school. She wanted to keep her routine of having a snack after her first morning worksheet, and I let them listen to Storyline Online while they enjoy their snack. Lenley is not really liking "playing school" with mommy. She has a different love language than her sister, and honestly, I think this new routine is not her style. But, each day is getting a little better. I'm trying to figure out ways to keep her interested, and usually that doesn't mean giving her busy work. She likes to be engaged with me learning.

So these these days look a lot different than they did weeks ago. I can now add homeschool mom/teacher to my long list of duties being their mom. How long will we continue on this path, I'm not sure. I can say that God has definitely showed me that something that I thought I could "never" do, I can. His way is always best, and we will just have to trust Him and trust this process.

I ask that you pray for all of us parents and kiddos. Not only are we doing things we never thought we would be doing, but we are together 24/7. I'm sure other kids are like mine and missing their friends, teachers, playdates, extra curricular activities like dance and sports, and many other things. It's been ten days and nerves are shot — not just from being with each other every waking minute, but hearing news and health reports, too.

I'll leave you with this...

"Don't worry about anything; instead, pray about everything. Tell God what you need, and thank Him for all He has done. Then you will experience God's peace, which exceeds anything we can understand. His peace will guard your hearts and minds as you live in Christ Jesus."