Preparing for the Unknown
Wow! What a strange year this has become. Everything started out so normally in 2020, but then the poo hit the fan and our “normal” changed dramatically! It has been a challenge for everyone to adjust to this new normal. Things are still changing daily for us. We’re all working from home. We’re all wearing masks to leave the house. We’re all missing our friends and extended families. We’re all getting basic necessities differently-we’re doing deliveries only about twice a month for food. It is all so different!
One thing I do know, moving forward, we don’t know what will happen. We can guess what next school year will look like by listening to medical professionals-and it doesn’t look like things will be back to normal for some time. Now is the time to start making preparations for working from home and school from home for at least part of next school year.
As a parent, what have you discovered you could really use to make teaching your kids easier? Maybe it is a dry erase board and markers. Maybe it is more paper. A computer. A printer. Whatever it may be-write down what you feel you need so that when you can get out of the house to get it, you don’t forget anything. We also realized that we NEEDED the kids to have their own space for their online classes and schoolwork. The dining room table just wasn’t cutting it for the long term. So, I bought relatively inexpensive student desks and rearranged their bedrooms so they can have a dedicated school space. This will also allow me to have full use of the dining room table for teaching. The kids LOVE having their own desks for schoolwork and art. I LOVE having the dining room back!
Trying to Find the Necessities
As a teacher, I am thinking about all the supplies from my classroom that I will grab before the next shutdown. Teaching with no materials is not easy! I need more books, curriculum guides, alphabet cards, manipulatives. The list goes on and on. I would also love to have a classroom, or dedicated space to teach from, but we haven’t hit the lottery yet to be able to do the renovations we would need to do to make that happen.
As a human we all have basic necessities that we are realizing we should have stocked up on before all this happened. But who knew this was going to happen?! It would be a good idea to start writing down things that you have discovered along this journey that would have been nice to have available. For me, one of the big things would be to have all purpose flour and active yeast. I can’t find that stuff online ANYWHERE! We will definitely be restocking our adult beverage supply when we can, and also thinking about what other ingredients we may need to make those yummy drinks. I will be buying a few extra canned goods as I find them and restocking the deep freezer when I can.
And of course, TOILET PAPER and cleaning supplies! Good grief-who would have thought that it would be so hard to find toilet paper and cleaning supplies?
What have you discovered would help you though this pandemic and stay at home time? Share your list. You probably thought of something I have already forgotten and need to add to the list!
A Week in Our Life Recently
As we're all adapting to staying at home, we decided to share what a week looks like for us.
Stay at Home Activities: Art with Kids
Doing art with the kids is a favorite thing in our household.
We're Still Using Easter Eggs
Our kids love hiding and finding Easter eggs. So, we've added a fun component to this activity and we all get a laugh.
