A Year of Shutdown, and Homeschooling

(Following is a “copy-paste guest post” from Dr. Jenny Lloyd Strovas, with her gracious permission. And if you love this content, be sure and join her Facebook group Getting Kids Outside & Learning About Nature – with Dr. Jenny to keep up with her latest workshops and other offerings. Participation in the group is free.)

Today was the day that everything shut down for us, exactly one year ago.

It was the day I started homeschooling my kids.

It was the day that everything I’d worked so hard to build in my business over the last 3 years started falling apart – and fall apart it did.

It was the beginning of a year where I was with my kids every single moment of every single day without EVER having a break. Turns out, you really start to value self care when you no longer have any time to yourself.

It was the day I started waking up at 4am every morning (again) just so I could get something done before the kids would wake up. But there’s never enough time and things are always falling through the cracks.

It was the year where I started dropping balls left and right because I just didn’t have the ability to keep them all in the air.

It was the year where we saw friends and family lose their financial security, their good health, and even their lives.

It’s been a very hard year.

But, it’s also the year where I got to help my son brainstorm and start his very own successful business.

It’s the year we learned how to make food and medicine from organic plants and even plants in our own backyard – pine salve, ginger beer, sourdough, juniper salve, lip balm, snakeweed tea, and more!

It’s the year that I learned my son wasn’t getting what he needed in school and that I needed to be more purposeful about leveraging the way his brain works to help him learn better – and to really love learning.

It’s the year Briar has always wanted – one with 24 hour access to mama and no day care – ha!

It’s the year that my kids have spent SO MUCH TIME OUTSIDE simply because they have that space in their calendars now. And we get to learn outside together on a daily basis instead of a special lesson one day a week.

It was the year I learned that I could teach kids about their local ecosystem from a distance (online) and that parents are TRULY the best conduit to getting kids outside and connected to nature.

And when I asked my kids what they think they’ll remember most about COVID 30 years from now, they said, “We got to spend so much time outside.”

Now, what I remember is going to be a little different – ha! But knowing that they are happy and healthy despite the craziness of the world is worth it all.

Let’s take today to celebrate everything we have in midst of this pandemic and maybe even because of it.

What are you going to celebrate today?

P.S. If this year wasn’t an opportunity to get your kids outside more often and learning, we’d love to help! Our eBook, Reuniting Child with Nature: Nature’s Guide to Happier and Healthier Kids” will give you everything you need to get started!

You can grab it here: https://www.naturemattersacademy.com/reunitingchildrenwithnature