It's June and that means a lot of us moms are now putting our affairs in order and getting ready for another remote school year. This year, however, is quite different. If last year, I only have one student, I now have two! And she's in pre-school! Que horror!

Since the pandemic has smacked right in the center of homeschooling even with distance learning, we now carry the huge responsibility of ensuring the education of our children. And I know that I'm not the only one that stresses over this. And with a new school year about to begin, I'm so grateful that I got to learn a few things.

So whether you are homeschooling or enrolling your child to a virtual school, these are good tips that I can share to help us stay positive!

A simple scroll on your social media will show how different your life is compared to others and it will feel stressful when you learn others have dedicated areas for their children's classes in their home, some have better Montessori materials, have money to spend on expensive online tutors, and more. Stop.

Right now, I can tell you that what your child needs is YOU. When Claud started grade school last year, I felt all the emotions and I did break down a few times - and we're allowed it! This is something new, you don't have to know everything. We are not educators and we are not required to know everything. And that's okay. 

I feel this inadequacy that we feel stems from the fact we really just want to be the best parents for our children. We can learn together with them and see how it flows from there. The moment I stopped comparing and caring for better grades and those superficial things, the better Claud performed and the more we enjoyed our studying sessions better. Because all our children need to know is that we are there for them.

Yes! Since we are not in a classroom, there may be things that are missing from our home that our children may need while distance learning. During orientation, you can already ask the teachers to send out a monthly list of things you'll need to prepare so you'll have it on hand. 

In Sharkie's pre-school, we are already sent in an email the activities they will be doing weekly and also a list of things they would need for a month. They also provide an option to subscribe to a monthly box that has all the materials we will need which makes it so convenient!

For our safety, we still want to minimize the times we have to go out so express this firmly to your educators. Let them give you alternatives for items you don't have at home. I've had a few times I had to improvise on materials and it didn't hurt Claud's grades at all!

3. Make it fun - for you and your kids.

I admit there were a lot of breakdown moments for me and Claud last year. After all we were both new to this. So this Summer to entice her in learning, I found some ways to engage her to "keep learning." I made them do Father's Day cards and traveled to the beach for their birthdays to explore the seaside. 

It's been known that simple tasks can be equated to learning. Simple household chores is already hands-on learning. Don't have a mini kitchen? A simple way of preparing a sandwich can help your child learn about shapes! 

But of course, not all fun time is a chance to learn time. But if they do, I wouldn't object at all!

At home, since I can't seem to control their gadget use, I realize that games are better for active learning than just passively watching videos on YouTube. They can learn math like addition, and multiplication. TBH - multiplication is more for me since I'm not very good with math myself. While Claud is addicted to tangram game! But truly Play.org is a lifesaver especially for bored kids at home ---- and they don't have ads! Yey!

I also found a lot of games to engage my preschooler, too! Our pre-school educator also sent us a code from Epic that now can I read virtual books to my kids. But you can easily download this and read the free books available if you don't want to pay for the full use of the app.

Of course, there are also other activities you can do away from the gadgets. Some friends of mine have enrolled their kids to art online classes. One I've tried is Kiddie Art Kart, a mainstay in many of my Mommy Mundo days. So many classes for different ages and based on experience, I can say it's a whole lot of fun. And they provide the materials, too!

Youtube can be a source for activities, too. A simple search of "fun art activities" is already a plethora of ideas for arts and crafts your kids can do with our without major supervision.

One thing I learned in a year of remote learning is that I have to trust my choice in the school we enrolled our child in. Form a partnership with them to ensure that we will both give my child the best possible education she can for the year. 

It was good to know that I was able to express my concerns to Claud's teacher and ask them how they can help me improve Claud's experience learning at home. Things are hard for our educators, too, since a lot of them are new to this as well.

And because of that, we were able to choose a pre-school for Steffie that we know would be best for her this year. We were able to choose a school that is more than ready for an online platform and has provided us with many ways we can be ready for this school year. 

Like our dear teachers, they get a weekend to rest, too. We don't have to be supermoms - at least on weekends. Don't mind the mess, they'll be there after you sleep two more hours. Get food delivered on the weekend, binge on Netflix, have a zoom wine night with the girlfriends. As for me, I have made it a point to do Yin Yoga every single night just to ground me and center back to a relax state.

We can't be a cup half-empty every single day. We have to fill up ourselves with a little self-care once a week and not fear our children's future will fall into despair. It won't. They won't. We are in a pandemic and we are all trying to survive. Emotionally, physically, and mentally, we already have way too much on our plate. What you should concern yourself with is whether your child is happy... and we all know that they are happy when WE ARE!

This is something we all need to learn and relearn. And I am so glad my preschooler's teacher reminded me of that in our orientation. My Sharkie will learn the alphabet and numbers, she will learn to write and will like learning! Right now, I will try to do our best to finish each task and if we missed one, will try to tick it off tomorrow. I will follow her lead and make sure to enjoy this journey with both my children. All I want to do right now is provide them a safe home where they can express themselves the way they know best. 

I know I missed a lot here. But in the year of pandemic, we have missed so many things and yet we are still here! Alive and still able to smile. So it shows that with the most basic things, we can thrive!

Now isn't that just reassuring?

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