How to flourish during COVID-19

COVID-19 hit and It rocked our everyday lives. Many lives were changed in ways which some of us will never fully understand. Some have lost jobs, while others have lost their lives… while many of us, are safe in our homes but without the normal, everyday outings that we had before. We are having to adjust to homeschooling and working from home with our partners and kids all around us.

The stress levels have increased, no doubt. But I want to gently and lovingly remind you that you do have choices.

We have the opportunity to choose: to act like victims and take on the victim mentality or we can utilize the power that was given to us by realizing what we can and cannot control and making intentional decisions about our lives right now.

Below are some ways that we as a family have chosen to deal with the changes:

Some of the ways we are cultivating a memorable environment are below:

We have opted out of the school schedule that they have imposed since COVID-19 began and created a schedule for our family that works as well as a lot of flexibility.

As a family, it wasn’t or isn’t feasible for me to teach lessons, facilitate lessons or help with work that I know nothing about. I had no insight into their timeline, curriculum or how they were approaching it with the students prior to COVID-19. So being able to pick up, mid/end of the year, with minimal insight and a completely different environment for 4 different kids wasn’t that possible. Plus working myself and keeping them quiet for my husband who is also working from home.

Instead, I communicated with the schools, and let them know what we would be doing instead. Below are some resources that have helped us:

• ABC Mouse for the 2 younger kiddos

• Epic - an app that reads books to the kids and tracks the words, so they are seeing it, tracking it and hearing it. This is helpful for my son who is dyslexic and the two little girls love this app as well. (I have him do at least 30 min of “reading” each day.

• SuperTeacherWorksheets.com has been a game-changer for us. I was able to print off a ton of math worksheets, games, flipbooks, and learning resources for science and social studies. Great for all ages and separated by grade and category.

• TheGoodAndTheBeautiful.com is also a wonderful homeschool curriculum. My 4-year-old is doing letter formations and writing practice.

• BeastAcademy.com is also a great math app for the kids!

• CNN 10 for daily social studies (10 min video each day on youtube)

• Empty notebooks - just have them write, draw and journal each day.

• Dissection Kits - The kids have loved doing dissections and learning about the body parts, animals, plants etc. We have been basing all of our daily work on the science experiment that we are doing for the week. They get interested in it, they actually want to read about it more, watch more videos and write about it.

The only thing that we have been keeping up with is my son’s dyslexia remediation and his teacher is so great about her delivery of the content.

At the end of the day, missing two or three months of school isn’t the worst-case scenario. Typically the last 4-6 weeks of school are prepping for standardized testing and not learning new concepts anyway. So work with your teachers on what works for YOU.

If it is adding more stress, anxiety, and drama to your days - it’s not worth it! Your children’s love for learning is much more important than a zoom call. If they want to and it works for you - great! If not, don’t push it. You always have a choice in your children’s education.

I have adjusted my expectations of what the next few weeks/months will look and feel like and I am open to whatever happens.

This means that whatever plans I had before, have been washed away and I am now rolling with the punches. I have zero expectations and I am taking each day as it comes. And reminding myself that we are safe, healthy and in a privileged position to be quarantined at home together as a family. Not everyone has that privilege. Not everyone has a home or a safe environment at home. And while it might be different than your normal everyday schedule - it is a blessing to be safe and together.

I have created and set new goals for myself which include enjoying rest, reading more and having unrushed, quality time with my family.

I have relaxed our schedule, we are sleeping in and enjoying a less scheduled day. I don’t want to keep up with the same hustle that we had before. As ruthless as I am at eliminating overwhelming our schedule - having four kids keeps you busy. SO this time is precious to me. And I am an introvert. So it’s heavenly. I have increased my reading goal to one book a week. This is in part to force me to take time away from my family and not work the whole time. To actually take some time for me. And it’s helping!

We have been switching between eating at home and ordering in/take out more often. This week we ordered take out most evenings and it was such a nice break from our normal meal schedule.

Normally we follow our meal organization plan that I teach in CEO Mom. We are still doing that, but adding in more takeout evenings. Which has been a great break for us all - to support local restaurants and not have to stress, cook or clean up.

I am using evenings and weekends to work and take care of myself so I am fully charged during the weeks while I am with kids all-day

Being with the kids all day means that I am not working during the day anymore. So I have reduced my hours to evenings and weekends while my husband can give the kids attention. Swapping schedules has been super helpful in avoiding burnout and overwhelm. So ask your partner when you can take time for you!

So, what can you do?

1. Look at your schedule and see what’s working and what you can change

2. Make sure you are creating time for you - mentally, emotionally and physically

3. Let go of your expectations and just be

4. Journal, reflect and allow your feelings to come to the surface. They all have a place and are valid.

5. Don’t stay in a negative space. Process, deal with and accept emotions but don’t let them dictate your mind or choices.

6. Keep in contact with friends

7. Listen to podcasts. (ours is linked here)

8. Read more books

9. Learn something new

10. Stop comparing yourself to other moms on the internet. Just be YOU and do it well.

WHAT WAYS CAN YOU ENJOY THIS TIME? WHAT CHOICES CAN YOU MAKE TO ELIMINATE STRESS + OVERWHELM?

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