COVID-19 - School Closures, Canceled Vacation, and Other Life Disruptions

Most of the time, I write my blog posts a week or two ahead of time and schedule them to run. As we're gearing up for a trip, I do what I can to get as many posts in the queue as possible. We were scheduled to take a cruise to celebrate my parents' 50th wedding anniversary, so I've been building up a stockpile of posts for that trip. Because of the COVID-19 pandemic, the cruise is canceled (along with school, all extra-curricular activities, and pretty much everything else as we stay isolated at home). I will still be running all the posts eventually, but I'm going to rearrange them a bit to favor kids' crafts, scrapbooking, and other projects you and the kids can do while we work together to flatten the curve. It doesn't make sense to run travel-related posts right now.

Some of Trevor's teachers will be assigning digital schoolwork while school is out. He will be filling the rest of the time he would normally be at school with reading, crafting, chores, and working on Scout merit badges. We'll be spending the afternoons and evenings crafting, gardening, cooking, and playing games together. If you have kids home from school and need ideas to keep them busy, I have a lot of kids crafts you may want to check out. There are ideas for all ages (many of which can be done independently). I also have lots of educational activities, such as this math-related art project, this fun math game, this science experiment, and games, recipes, and crafts inspired by American history. You can also browse through my gift guides for suggestions of fun, affordable, and educational games and toys for kids and games for the whole family. This is a great time to try a new craft, like Diamond Art (which I've done successfully with kids as young as 6).

This is a scary time for many. I am blessed with readers around the world and I am thinking of all of you. Whether you are my next-door neighbor or on the other side of the planet, we are connected and you matter to me.

I sincerely wish all of you the best.