6 Back to School Ideas (Homeschool Edition) + link ups!

Dear Reader,

Like many other families in America, we bit the bullet and are diving into homeschooling this year (and depending on how this pandemic goes, maybe next year, too?)  Our first day is just around the corner (September 1st), and as I was looking up "first day ideas" to mark the occasion I thought - hey, why not share some thoughts about it in a blog post?

                         But first, pin this image for future reference:

10 Minnesota (socially distant-friendly) Landmarks to Explore this summer

Dear Reader,

With the stay at home restrictions being lifted on June 17th (well, that's the plan so far!), there will be a lot of Minnesotan's hoping to finally enjoy the amazing park system our state has to offer.  Of course many parents are still going to be avoiding playgrounds (and for good reason), and keeping socially distant as best as possible.  However, in case another stay at home order is implemented down the road, or you just want to practice staying six feet apart outdoors, here's a great list for the twin cities/southwest metro area.  And yes, even though many things were closed, my family and I were still able to explore some of these amazing landmarks, parks, and even beaches and I'm here to share my top five (socially distant friendly) ones - and five more I plan on exploring over the summer. 

So though summer might not be turning out to be exactly what any of us had in mind, there's no reason we can't enjoy the outdoors, and burn off some energy! 

But first, pin this image for future reference

How To Survive Homeschooling During A Pandemic (and words of wisdom from a therapist)

Dear Reader, 

These are tough times, there's no way around it.  We are in a global pandemic, the likes we have never lived through in our own lifetime.  And though it's incredibly powerful and validating to read encouraging posts and articles about how we are all in this together, there is an equal necessity to acknowledge that this is a hard time.

You probably clicked on this post, hoping to read about how to do homeschooling, or distance learning, or some combination of the two.  You likely were thrust into an uncertain learning model, and even potentially weeks in, feel no closer to having it figured out then when our schools first shut down.  If you were hoping for a perfect fix to this situation, I'm sorry but this post is not for you (though I will give some tips and resources promise!) . . . but first, I'll share some words of wisdom my therapist said that helped me keep things in perspective:

"this is not homeschooling.  This is crisis learning."  

That puts it in perspective doesn't it?