Welcome!

Hi friends! Here we are, wrapping up what has to be the most bizarre month in many lifetimes. I write this post, from my kitchen counter, home, where I’ve been for 2 weeks and counting, staying safe, wondering how long this strange new world will be like this.

If you know me, or are about to, I’m the type of person who has a lot of faith in the universe having our backs- and I want to share a quick story with you about how this little patch of internet came to be. We have been participating in a homeschool hybrid program since 2017, and while I realize that is not a tremendous amount of time, the amount I’ve learned from my kids in this 3 years has been absolutely amazing. I’ve always loved reading and writing, so even though we definitely struggle some days and sail on others- those are still my favorites to teach. Though, I will say, now 4 decades into life, thanks to Jo Boaler, I no longer feel like I’m “not good at math”! (((every parent, homeschooler or not, should read Limitless Mind BTW, it’s life changing.)))

This school year I have a kindergartner and a second grader and as I grew up to the challenge of bridging their age difference and meeting their educational needs, I developed a series of multi-level writing projects that we all really enjoy! I shared the framework with a friend who also has kiddos of varying ages/grade levels and they loved it to, which was great to hear! One night in November, my husband said I really should figure out a way to share these projects with more people and help ease some of the stress that comes along with writing with kids- and the next morning this idea/website/blog was officially under way.

Of course, that week was also Thanksgiving- which we host every year, and we also volunteered to watch the class rats from my son’s 2-day-a-week classroom, and then his adenoid removal got bumped up to that week too, so while I was mega excited to jump on this awesomeness, it had to wait. December brought us the flu and the holidays and some much needed travel adventuring, so still, the project grew quietly through notes and google docs and little ideas strung together along the way.

We made it through January and most of February in what I have to retrospectively call blissful unawareness of everything that was about to abruptly change.

I wrote several posts, purchased this super sweet domain and started to build the little website you see here.

My timeline at that point was to really dive in and build it over spring break, from the beach house in Mexico, where I always have tons of time to write and reflect and take mid-day naps.

But then, things started to shift, and fast.

The first week of March was like whispers of it, and before the second week it was LOUD AND CLEAR- life was not going to be what we’d known it to be, for an undefined length of time. It became apparent by the start of the second week of the month that schools were very likely to close soon, and I felt called to share some insight with my friends and neighbors who were about to have their kids home from school. I had a super simple website that I’d learned how to use a few years ago for my home-based-business, so I just logged in and started blogging. We were making homemade hand sanitizer as that week for fun (and necessity) so that was my first post, followed by this one with some of my top tips for people who were suddenly homeschooling. I was really knocked out by the response and knew I had to get with it and get this project launched ASAP.

So here we are! It took me a hot sec to figure out a new platform, but I think I’m in the swing of it now! I’ve also been spending a ton of time over this past two weeks practicing mindfulness with the kids, journaling, exercising (at home!) and staying connected (over the phone, zoom and FaceTime) with our friends and family…so thank you for hanging in there and reading/sharing the wix-site posts in the meantime!

Going forward I’ll be blogging at least a few times a week and will have some awesome workshops ready for you guys REALLY SOON!! Make sure to subscribe to the email list so you can stay connected and be the first to know when those roll out!

For the families with kids in traditional school who are currently at home, know that we are ALL in deeply uncharted waters together - mental health and mindset is the most important priority right now- not verb tenses, multiplication tables or handwriting practice. You do not have to become a “teacher” overnight and feel the crushing responsibility of your child’s education on top of the trauma of the pandemic we are all experiencing. My recommendations, ideas and resources will be here if you need them, but if you decide to do zero home-schooling during this time, and that’s the best choice for your family, that’s a-ok too! There is no right or wrong at this time, and honestly even for us seasoned home educators, this is bananas. We are all struggling right now and we are all in this TOGETHER.