Gahhhh, “What time is that zoom?”  “Mahhhhhh, I can’t find the link!”  “Mahhhhh, it’s not connecting!” MAHHHHHHH mahhhh mom, mom, mommmmmm!

Sound familiar?  Zooms have become the norm around our house, it’s a great opportunity for our kids to be taught be their teachers (cuz I’m no teacher. lol) during this pandemic.  But it also comes with a lot of adjusting.  

There is no doubt we’ve gotten much better here at our house but those first couple weeks were rough.  phew.  Like, super rough.  We regrouped and this past week was much better.  

I felt like I was flopping and couldn’t catch up with all the emails from the district and teachers – and our space here was anything less than a circus.  Dogs barking, post-its all over, piles of papers, broken pencil points, no connection…. it was really frustrating.  

So we regrouped and I did what I do best… I took control.  hahah yep, I’m that chic.  I’m a total control person.  When I am out of control my anxiety is through the roof.  So we regrouped, put some systems in place, created some school space, and nailed it this past week.  

While I realize things are changing frequently I also know that anxiety is greatly reduced by having a plan and being as prepared as possible.  So I’ve created this quick easy zoom schedule along with a checklist on the side box so that we know as a family who is on what calls…. so we know when to holler up the steps that lunch is ready and when to be quiet.  (I cannot be the only one who didn’t know my kids were zooming while hollering up the steps to come get a laundry basket? right?  gahhhh lol)  

We’ve printed the zoom schedule out, tossed it into a protective sheet, and used a dry-erase marker to write in each kid’s zoom calls.  Before each zoom call my youngest, 8-years-old, crosses off the items on the list so that HE is getting HIMSELF prepared for the call.  

So far it’s working much better… hope you can use this as an easy way to organize those calls and ditch some post-its!