TBH, when I first heard that my kids were going to be off for an extra week with spring break I was excited. I fantasized about lazy days playing board games, cooking, and being generally silly.
But then I ventured into the parent facebook chatroom for my son’s school. Within hours of cancellation, parents were posting homeschool resources and regimented schedules they were planning to enforce. Wait… what? Can’t we catch our breath?
I panicked. I started creating new curricula on the fly. I wrote up schedules. I girded myself for the inevitable blowback I’d get when I rolled out these plans.
Then I remembered a Zen quote I read recently: The most important thing is to simply remember the most important thing.
Deep breath.
Here’s what I’m going to do my best to remember:
Having a good relationship with my kids is more important than making sure they understand medieval world history, identify rising and falling actions or conjugate Spanish verbs.
Yes, we will come to some sort of home learning arrangement, but it doesn’t need to start today or this week.
Perhaps finding peace during a pandemic is the lesson they are meant to learn right now.
They are going to be fine.
Be mindful of the pressure you are putting on yourself, Mama. This is especially true if drinking is how you’ve historically solved for stress. Give yourself a pass on needing to be an amazing homeschool teacher in addition to everything else you have on your plate. It’s not worth your mental health or your physical health.
The kids are going to be okay. Allow yourself to sit with that thought for a while.