The Coronavirus Pandemic and the social distancing required to slow the spread, forced schools to close, leaving parents to care for their kids at home for an uncertain amount of time whether they want to or not. Are you one of these moms? I know that you’re probably feeling fear from both the viral threat and for homeschooling your child for the first time. Trust me though, as a homeschooling parent of fours years, I know you can do this! Here’s my 5 tips on how to stay sane homeschooling amid the Coronavirus Pandemic. This homeschooling mom encouragement will boost both your immunity and self confidence!
Before you read my tips or watch me talk about them in the video below, you may want to get my free stress-relieving acupressure guide which will help both you and your child with this transition! These six acupressure points not only relieve tension and stress, but will help you all sleep better at night which in turn will keep your immunity strong!
5 Tips for Dealing With Your Fears – Homeschooling Mom Encouragement Amid the Coronavirus Pandemic
Focus On Self-care and Wellness as a New Homeschool Mom
You’re going to have more time, so it’s best to place your energy where it counts the most! Self-care should be your main focus and will help you better serve your family, as well as bolster your body from infection.
This virus, as is the case with other viruses, is opportunistic. It can only infect you if you are weak. Support your health and your family’s by:
- Prioritizing better sleep – It’s still a good idea to have an early bedtime. But now that you’re homeschooling, let the family sleep in!
- Establishing a relaxed schedule – There’s no need to rush your transitions, which can create stress and diminish immunity.
- Creating alone time – Being home with your kids can be intense. Make sure you still have some alone time, even if it means giving your child a screen to entertain them. Your emotional health is very important right now.
- Adopting a home yoga practice – Yoga can support your health on all levels. Try this yoga class video that will help you relieve tension as you wake in the morning and help you start the day with ease!
- Supplementing vitamins and minerals – You should be getting healthy doses of Vitamin A, Vitamin C, and Vitamin D in your diet (and ideally Vitamin D from the sun), but chances are you won’t be getting enough from your food, even if you’re eating whole, organic foods. Find some supplements you like, or try my recommendations here.
- Feeding your gut beneficial bacteria – Gut health is the basis of your immunity. Read about it’s importance, how it’s damaged and how it’s supported here. Basically, you’ll want to be eating more fermented foods and supplementing with probiotics, but it’s also important to avoid stress, sugar, and pharmaceutical drugs which all diminish your gut health!
This wellness kit comes with the vitamins I use as well as digestive enzymes, probiotics, tension-relieving lotion, and mood enhancing essential oils that will support everyone’s body, mood, and mental focus!
Tend To Your Home and Family as you Homeschool
I know it’s hard to stay home, especially this time of year! It was easy in Winter when the energy was low and was a natural time to rest and reflect. But in Spring, it’s natural to be more active and energetic. You will simply have to channel that energy into tending your family and your home.
Here’s some ideas:
- Make all of your meals – Avoid processed food and start making healthy meals with whole foods, if you’re not doing so already. Ask your kids to help you so you get support and they can learn important life skills. Not sure how to get your kids to eat whole foods? Check out my article Practical Dietary Advice for Happy and Healthy Kids.
- Establish a green cleaning routine – Switch out your toxic household products and clean with natural, essential oil based cleansers instead. Have complete control over the ingredients by using DIY recipes. (We’ll focus on Green Cleaning in April – in the meantime ask me if you need any suggestions or recipes).
- Organize your pantries
- Clean out your refrigerators
- Wash your walls & windows
- Clean your oven
- Work in your garden or establish one
- Hike in open, outside places with your family since fresh air and sunshine are important for general health
Notice that most of these suggestions circle back to self-care?
Educate Yourself As You Educate Your Child
If you’ve never homeschooled your child, it’s the perfect time to learn how! Believe me, you can do this. Just remember not to get caught in a common new homeschool mom trap of trying to re-create the school environment at home.
Your relationship is much different than the one your kids had with their teacher. They have your love. Be lighthearted in your approach, relax and trust that they are learning, even when you’re doing fun stuff like cooking and cleaning together!
There are tons of homeschool resources that you can Google. For online courses, I suggest looking into Outschool.com. For math, we love Prodigygame.com and also use Singapore Math workbooks. We do science kits from melscience.com. The rest is very personal for my family. My son reads alone for a portion of the day, but we also read to him classical child history books and fun fiction. For writing, he does copy work from the novels he’s reading or he journals.
You will need to figure out what works for your family. This is part of the learning process and it can be a really fun discovery! Or see if you can just follow the same curriculum your school was using if your child does well with it.
This can also be a great time for YOU to learn new skills that you can be refining while your kids are doing their studies. Take online classes yourself. Maybe you can explore ways to earn income online. I love working from home! I can still explore my passion of connecting families with natural health resources and helping them be healers in their own home. It’s possible for me to do this while staying home with my son and contributing to my family’s income. If you want to learn more about my business and becoming one of my partners, read on here.
Change Your Mindset – Embrace Being a Homeschool Mom!
Again, you can do this! Homeschool moms need more encouragement in the beginning. Much of your confidence is going to come with time as you see your family thrive with more relaxed learning and lifestyle habits. But it’s also extremely important that you change your attitude and mindset too.
Remember what you’re trying to create for your family. If you remain reluctant to homeschool and complain all the time to your friends, then this will be a miserable experience for you. One of the many positive aspects of social distancing with the Coronavirus pandemic is that you can heal your relationship with your family as you spend time together.
My son was in public school until halfway through Kindergarten when he begged to be pulled out. I was already aware that he was having emotional problems and would do anything to protect him. The dynamic was completely different when we started hanging out with homeschool families vs. when I would hang out with the public school moms.
The biggest difference I’ve noticed in our homeschool groups: we, parents, love hanging out with our kids. We don’t complain about our kids. We understand that this is a privilege to teach them and shape their lives based on family love & values. My love for my son is what fuels my confidence. Each day he grows I feel validated that we’re making the right choice for him. It’s that positive mindset shift that makes our homeschool journey a success.
Adopt A Gratitude Practice – Everything Has a Silver Lining
Adopting a gratitude practice with also help you with the mindset shift I suggest above. Everyday upon waking, I recommend sitting up in bed and thinking about the things you’re grateful for in your life. Be grateful for everything and everyone who supports you. You can do this meditation too anytime you’re feeling that you’re caught in negativity or fear.
Try not to get caught up in the fear of the Coronavirus pandemic. If you’re taking necessary distancing precautions and boosting your health with the guidelines I shared above, chances are you will remain healthy or will recover quickly. I also hope that this confidence in taking care of yourself and family spills over into your role as a homeschooling mom. Wellness practices and homeschooling are complementary skills!
If you enjoyed this post, share this homeschooling mom encouragement with your friends! And let me know if you have any questions in the comments below. Stay well!
