Skip to content
  • About Me
  • Blog
  • Contact Me
  • About Me
  • Blog
  • Contact Me
Family Fun

Back to School (Ish)

August 23, 2020August 24, 2020 Keisha Leave a comment

We recently journeyed across the world from the deserts of Twentynine Palms, California to the paradise of Okinawa, Japan. We took an awesome 5 day road trip over the 4th of July weekend, driving up the Pacific Coast Highway, through Oregon and to Seattle as our final (and only) summer fun during this entire pandemic-hot-mess. We saw a lot in the short time frame – beautiful coastal cities, donuts whipped up with voodoo, a troll under a bridge, the Full House (which isn’t always open, as they claimed), Meredith Grey’s intern house…

And I’m glad we did; because we found ourselves on two weeks of house arrest (also known as Restriction of Movement/ROM) when we arrived on the island as a mitigation effort to reduce spreading COVID-19. And then, cases picked up so fast on the island that we’ve been living in a constant state of restrictions. Now that it’s been about 6 weeks, we’re finally (almost) settled in our base housing, a few restrictions have lifted and the school year has begun.

We opted to send our son to school for face-to-face learning. It was a simple decision for us: I’m expecting to eventually return to working full-time and honestly, he needs the socialization and structure outside of the home. Cases on our base have been low and we were satisfied with their plan for reducing risk and based on our family’s lifestyle, homeschool and virtual learning were just not in our deck of cards. But, due to COVID-19 still being on world tour (lol), the school year is starting off remotely for everyone… so it looks like we’ll be doing a little distance learning for the next several weeks until conditions change.

I spent the last 3-4 weeks working on creating a learning space in our 8 year-old’s bedroom in preparation for remote learning. And honestly, at the rate things have been going, I have a feeling we’ll be back and forth all year – so we needed an established space to make it easy.

I also wanted to make the kick-off of the school year a bit more special: in the past, while working full-time, I hadn’t had the chance to do much. But our 8 year-old has made it very clear that he is not excited about the return to school this time around – and Pandemic 2020 hasn’t helped. So, I hatched a plan to be a bit extra.

I ordered these themed cookies from My Cookie Journal, a spouse on base, and made a quick Back-to-School Pandemic style shirt for my kiddo. I also whipped up a Back to School breakfast before his first Google Meet of the year kicked off. Although he woke up like the Grinch (and there’s a tropical storm pounding the house – because, why not), his mood seemed to improve… Hopefully, the change in mood will continue and the school year will be a good one for all the kiddos heading back.

My Extra Mom Verdict? Quick and easy overall. Low cost (I had already purchased my heat transfer vinyl and blank shirts for practice). It would of been great to make the cookies myself, but I ran out of time and patience, so instead I decided to outsource to a trusted baker — best idea ever! Sometimes I have to remind myself that I don’t have to do it ALL from scratch myself… someone else can help with the details! The Cooties shirt took me less than 1 hour to cut, weed and press, even with there being a slight learning curve… it was my first time and I love how it turned out! Pinterest helped me visualize the pencil breakfast and my kiddo loved it. Overall, worth it on this rainy first day of school, pandemic edition.

back to schoolpandemic

Post navigation

Boxcar Summer Drive-in
Mulan Family Movie Night

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Recent Posts

  • Halloween 2020 Home Tour
  • Oki-Spouses Halloween Virtual Home Tour
  • Mulan Family Movie Night
  • Halloween 2019 Home Tour
  • Back to School (Ish)
Hey, There!

Hey, There!

Keisha Allen
Welcome to my blog! Here you'll find how I turned a love for themed fun into a lifestyle. Since becoming a mom in 2012, I've grown more obsessed with the frills and fun of life. Over time, you begin to realize you really are extra and that you love it! I hope sharing our fun experiences here will help other parents in their own adventures when planning family fun. #Enjoy

Categories

  • Family Fun
  • Life
  • Musings
  • Pages
  • Themed Decor
  • Themed Fun with Friends
  • Themed Party
  • Themed Play Date
  • Uncategorized

Blog River

Halloween 2020 Home Tour
Themed Decor ➤ October 26, 2020

Halloween 2020 Home Tour

New home, new layout and thus a new game of decorating tetris! Styling our Okinawa home for Halloween 2020 was a bit rough, mainly because I didn’t have any of my favorite stores at my...

Read More
Oki-Spouses Halloween Virtual Home Tour
Themed Decor ➤ October 25, 2020

Oki-Spouses Halloween Virtual Home Tour

Pandemic 2020 has certainly changed the dynamic of socialization! Since the spring, most people have been on the edge of their seats wondering how their favorite holiday could be impacted by COVID19’s world tour (ha,...

Read More
Mulan Family Movie Night
Family Fun ➤ September 4, 2020

Mulan Family Movie Night

I’ve always been a Disney movie lover. Even in college, I preferred to watch the Disney movies and shows because they just felt good. Plus, the songs are catchy and the storyline is always a...

Read More
  • Home
  • Contact Me
© 2023 | Designed by Little Theme Shop