We Homeschooled Before It Was Cool (and Mandatory)

With all of Virginia schools and many others across the country closed for at least two weeks to "ease the Corona curve," many parents are filled with dread. WHAT AM I GOING TO DO WITH ALL THE CHIL'REN?!?!!? Although I am a stay at home mom that homeschools by choice, trust me these thoughts come across my mind, and those of my fella homeschooling mama friends, quite often! Most people think that God just gave us a different level of patience with our children or completely different desires but the truth is, we're probably mostly the same. But since I do wake up on a daily basis with an "Oh LORD, help me handle this!" prayer, I feel like maybe I can throw some tips your way to make things a tad bit easier on those that have been thrown into the situation unwillingly.

We have been a homeschooling family for almost 6 full years now and while that makes me far from an expert, I can share a few things that have been true regardless of what age/stage my kids were in and how many children I had at home with me.

1. Make a schedule! It doesn't have to be fancy, you don't need to color code things, synchronize watches, etc... but kids do like to know what's going on just as much as adults. If not more. Let them know when they need to stay in bed until. Pajamas all day is perfectly acceptable for this household but if you are a type that will be driven insane by slob children eating cereal all day, let them know what time you want breakfast eaten and what time you want them to be dressed. Set times for meals and snacks and "quiet time." If you do not set specific snack times, THEY WILL EAT. ALL. DAY. In that case, I hope you've bought more than just toilet paper.

2. Set technology limits. I'm not at all against t.v.s, tablets, and other gaming devices. We spend tons of time on them. But too much turns children into pod people. It ruins their ability to talk and reason like normal beings. I find that my house hold does best by saving screen time for the end of the day. If they watch t.v. first thing (like they do on most days because I'm being a total hypocrite here) they are crabby for the rest of the day. If I say no screen time until after 2 p.m., our days are much happier. Stay strong mamas, it's worth it!

3. Do the school work. Seriously. Sounds like a horrible chore but the kids won't have much because teachers were given like 30 seconds to prepare. And even an entire day's worth of work for an average homeschooler takes 2-3 hours. So do the work. The kids will finish quickly and you won't have to dread it later.

4. Outside time is your friend. Fresh air turns children into new beings. Take full advantage of it when you can.

5. Read. Read to your kids. Have your kids read to you. Have your kids read to themselves. They will balk. They will also live. Teachers seriously had no time to send home two weeks of quality work. But you can never go wrong with reading more.

6. Enforce a "quiet time." This does not mean the kids HAVE to nap, this means the mama GETS to nap. Or do whatever selfcare Mama needs. During quiet time, kids cannot bother each other or the mama unless blood is involved or something is on fire. Again, they'll balk, but they'll live.

If all these ideas fail, chocolate cures all kinds of problems. It does not cure Corona. But it does help a lot with bad days.

Take heart, this too, shall soon pass.