Have you, like millions of Americans, found yourself suddenly home-schooling your kids while attempting to work from home? Are you desperately trying to keep your kids entertained, stimulated, and fed (WHY ARE YOU SO HUNGRY?!) while suddenly juggling conference calls from home? If you’re anything like me, “teaching” subjects that you haven’t taken in 25+ years that have drastically changed while balancing work seems impossible. While we as moms (and dads) can put a lot of pressure on ourselves to be the best, putting pressure on ourselves to do EVERYTHING perfectly – work, homeschooling, cooking, cleaning, “socially distancing…” – well, something has to give. 1. Give yourself – and your kids – time to adjust: Being in the house, 24/7, around each other ALL THE TIME, is new for most of us. Our kids normally spend more time away from us that with us, with very structured schedules. It’s ok to give yourselves a break for a bit. Give them input into their day, what they want to learn, and be patient with them, and yourself. All of our worlds have been turned upside down. 2. Create an dedicated office space: If you don’t have a dedicated office already, take inspiration from one of models, and turn that spare bedroom, unused dining room, nook off the kitchen, or extra walk in closet into your own devoted office space. After all, you need space to be able to dial in to that Zoom meeting without your kids fighting in the background 3. Go outside! Good for the body and the soul, take this time to unwind and reconnect with nature. Explore the woods, throw the ball around (but keep the Lysol handy!), and bask in the sunlight. Many of our spacious homesites are well over an acre, giving you plenty of room to spread out and enjoy the outdoors without touching your neighbor. 4. Cook together: What better way to teach your kids fractions than to cook or bake together? ½ a teaspoon of this, ¼ cup of that… plus if you make a mess, your kids can take vacuuming and mopping 101. 5. Make some time for yourself: As working parents, this can be one of the hardest things to squeeze in, but extra time at home can make it easier to set aside an hour or so to focus on what you need. Maybe it’s a work out in that extra room that you’ve turned into your very own exercise room. Maybe it’s soaking in your freestanding tub while enjoying a glass of wine. Whatever it is, we can’t forget ourselves if we are going to make it out of this. Our families, friends (remotely) and work teammates need us to keep our sanity so that we can be ready to roll when this Coronavirus thing ends, which it will, because like all things, this too, shall pass. Fed up with your current set up and ready to start the conversation on building a home that works better for your wants and needs? Contact us to set up a FaceTime or Skype appointment with one of our fabulous site agents!