All the neighborhood kids are home all day now, wanting to play.
Currently, my husband is a work-from-home husband. For how long? I have no idea.
Our neighbors who work 3rd shift are scrambling to find ways to still get their sleep, take care of their kids, and follow through with new precautionary procedures at their work.
A lot has changed quickly and many are concerned.
No, doubt there is a reason to be concerned. No matter what side of the fence you sit on, what perspective you have on the current state of our country with this sickness, you are concerned about something.
Notice, I say concerned and not worried.
I purposefully choose these words. I am choosing to be
concerned and not worried. This is because, due to human nature, we tend to go from worried to stronger feelings quickly. It can lead to fear, anxiety, frantic thoughts and actions. None of these are safe or helpful. None of these are going to help reduce the spread or make sure we have everything we need.
When we let worry or fear take over, we do not think clearly.
This is definitely a time to take the time to calm your racing thoughts and think things through. When we become fearful, we become so caught up with the thought that we need to rush out and buy supplies that we forget that we need to be wiping off the shopping cart, using hand sanitizer before we get in the car, or not rubbing our eyes (it is, after all, pollen season)
When I worry, I remind myself of this
When things become worrisome and I start to become a little frantic, I remind myself of a condensed saying that speaks to me. Fear not but be discerning. When we are discerning we are seeking and using knowledge to make decisions that are for the betterment of all. When we are fearful we become frantic and reckless. Out of these two, I choose the first. We are not personally at risk and we do not come in regular contact with someone who is high risk but our friends have family members who are high risk.
We may not catch it, but we can pass it on.
It is without saying that common sense will greatly reduce the spread of any sickness. Wash your hands. Cover sneezes and coughs with something other than your hand. Do not scratch your nose and then pick up a product from the shelf. Yes, you probably just rubbed your nose like many people on the tv did when saying don’t touch your face. (My oldest boy never has to scratch his nose till I ask him to help me carry something heavy.) These simple things go a long way to help reduce the spread of any sickness.
Be discerning and calm. This too shall pass.
If we can keep a level head and remember to use precautionary measures when we have to go out in public, we will not spread any sickness and things will move back to normal quickly. Beyond that, we just need to survive the many changes to our daily routines.
The greatly changed traffic patterns.
The canceled much-anticipated kid activities.
The extra kids out playing in the neighborhood.
The husbands who now grumble in the front office at his work. <3
Greetings! My name is Joy and I am currently a stay at home mom who is homeschooling her three kids in South Carolina. I love learning and I love sharing the love of learning with others so getting to home school my kids and watch the “ah-ha” moments when they understand something is unbelievably rewarding. I have been homeschooling since my twins were preschool age so we are going on 8 years now. I am also a military spouse, so we have the added joy of being a military family with some of the complications that come with it. As a family, we stay busy with our scouting groups, American Heritage Girls and TrailLife, and we do many camping and hiking trips with them. When I have downtime, I am typically reading books I have sitting around the house, on YouTube/websites getting more information on different home school programs, or working on plans for homeschool. I look forward to being able to share our experiences with everyone and help encourage all homeschooling families.