School Prep!

Oh, holy goodness, peeps.

OUR SCHOOL YEARS BEGINS, MAÑANA!

Officially the strangest, undefined school year, ever. 

But we’re diving in head first, with bells and whistles anyway. 

Now.

It’s been pretty well-documented on this here blog that I typically go through a few weeks of frenzied, back-to-school nesting. It manifests in a myriad of ways, and can span the period just before, or just after the kick off of the school year.

Household cleaning, closet cleaning, gathering of items for donation, random home projects, excessive yard work, organization of anything and everything that can help me mentally prepare to launch a new year of education, or mentally deal with my babies leaving the nest for their classrooms. 

Ironically, this is the year I should probably need more mental preparation than any other, and yet, I’ve been pretty dang chill.

In fact, my back-to-school nesting really only struck in full force about a week ago.

(And, yes, absolutely, I’m sure this delay has something to do with the fact that my kiddos won’t actually be leaving the house to go to school in person). So I’m happy to report that it was a condensed, painful but short hurricane ‘round our casa.

And now, we’re ready.

So heeeere are my three buckets of prep:

MENTAL:

I mean, in this Covid age, can any of us parents (or educators or administrative and support staff) truly feel mentally prepared for the school year???

Unlikely.

Whether your kiddos are in person, at home, or a combination of both; an only child or one of a dozen siblings; in public school or private; living in the North, South, East or Antarctic...there is no one-size-fits-all solution for education this year.

Worse still...what might work tomorrow night change next week or next month. 

So. The best we can do is grin and bear it, yes??

And the most important thing that I remind myself  when I need to stay sane, is that I am blessedly equipped. 

I have a wonderfully supportive hubby, who is still mandated to work at home, so he’s here in the trenches with me.

My only job at this time is my babies, so I’m able to bob and weave and do what needs to be done during this unpredictable virtual learning curve.

We have the space and logistical setup to create a decent learning space in each of the girlies’ rooms so they can focus.

We’re smart enough (at least on some days, ha) to still outsmart our kiddos. I can do three-digit math and simple fractions. If they were a bit older, I might be in big trouble. ;)

So...mentally, I’m as well prepared as I possibly can be.

And far, far, far luckier than most, for all of the reasons above.

But I still know it will be a constant uphill battle to remain upbeat. So I’ll do my best to lift my household up when it needs some positive reinforcing. And I’ll definitely do my best to lift up any Mamas I know, ‘cause we’re all gonna need it.

PHYSICAL:

Okay, this bucket of school prep is a little more straightforward, and it goes like this:

I’m crazy like a loon, and I occasionally get possessed with a cleaning-frenzied bug.

Yesterday, I did 13 loads of laundry.

(Side note: how is this possible???? Only with sheets and blankets and shoes and towels and swim gear thrown in the mix. Anything that could be washed, did get washed. Kinda like when we had lice, ha. [Also, I can’t even type that word without feeling a bit of lingering trauma.]).

And I cleaned all the bathrooms.

And I scrubbed down the kitchen.

And I changed all the sheets and blankets and mattress pads.

And I mopped the floors.

And I wiped down the laundry room.

And I vacuumed every bit of carpet and rug.

And then (eight hours later), I hopped in the pool with my fam..

And then fed everybody dinner.

And then collapsed, as I was no longer possessed by said back-to-school, cleaning-frenzied bug.

Except.

The hubby knows how I adore a clean, hosed out garage.

And he’s kinda come to adore one, too.

And since it had been awhile since our garage had seen any love. And since it’s my birthday month, so I get freebie honey-do help like this...the whole family had some garage fun today. :)

And then we saw a garter snake in the lower backyard (terrifying, but apparently, they’re helpful in gardens), and promptly jumped into the pool fully clothed—or in Little Man and Chicklet’s case, fully not clothed, ha.

And thus endeth the cleaning frenzy chaos.

Our space is as clean as it can be, and we’re physically ready for the school year. 

ELECTRONIC:

Holy, mother of all that is holy.

I don’t feel like I’m dumb as a box of rocks on most days, but getting 32 e-mails in the past 72 hours, simply for the girlies’ classroom logins, dashboards, zoom links, directed downloads, and seesaw app notifications makes me feel substantially dim...and a bit overwhelmed, ha.

It’s going to be a hot mess express to see how in the heck this virtual, all-day learning is going to go, but I can tell you one thing for certain: it’s going to take a village (of IT assistance), and a lot o’ patience.

I’ve spent oodles of hours updating software on the girlies’ iPads, downloading software and apps for the girlies’ iPads, and generally setting things up so we can deal with the ONSLAUGHT of digital stuff coming our way.

So heaven help us all.

It’s gonna be a riot.

But.

I know we’ll get there.

And everybody seems the appropriate amount of nervous/excited for tomorrow, which is all you can really ask for.

Wishing ALL parents and educators everywhere an extra bit of sanity in the coming month as things get in a groove.

Stay healthy, stay sane, peeps.

Over and out.