If you find yourself suddenly homeschooling due to the school closings for Coronavirus prevention, you may be feeling overwhelmed with what to do. However, even if you never imagined yourself homeschooling, be encouraged that with the resources currently available, any parent or guardian can take up this worthy endeavor. Just keep these few basic tips in mind.

• Stay calm.

Whether you’ve been thinking about homeschooling or never imagined yourself doing it, there are so many tools to help you through this time.

• Stay informed and update your kids

Many parents instinctively try to shield their kids from scary things, but children are perceptive and are likely as troubled if not more so by the current events as you are. Have regular check-ins about how they’re feeling and what we all can do to stay safe and help our community to stay safe.

• Give yourself a routine.

If you’ve never had your kids home during school term, these next few weeks might feel chaotic. You don’t need to recreate school in your home (homeschoolers know this trick), but give yourself and your kids a daily schedule to help bring normalcy to this time and help everyone work together better.

• Allow for flexibility within the routine While it’s a good idea to keep up academic work during this time away

from school, remember that there is a very real social-emotional burden on you and your kids at a time like this. Make sure your routine includes lots of play, opportunities to be creative, and a focus on the mental health of everyone in the family.