Disclosure: This post is sponsored by Greg Landry's Homeschool Labs.

Happy Saturday friends. The term homeschool has taken on a whole new meaning for so many over the last few weeks hasn't it? In our home, we have Juniors. One in college and one in high school. Fortunately, they are self- starters who do all their assignments independently and have continued to do all assignments provided by their respective schools. When I was asked if I'd like to collaborate with Greg Landry (a homeschool STEM pioneer) to share his free Homeschool Labs Student COVID-19 Printable Lesson & Worksheet I said yes, because I feel science is an important subject and this is a timely topic that can help our middle and high school students better understand the COVID-19 virus.

It’s been so hot and dry here in middle Tennessee that we’ve broken records. We are in a drought situation and burn bans are in place, so I felt there was no better time than now to share tips and resources for fire prevention week. There are several easy steps you can start or put in place this weekend to keep you and your loved ones safe. In fact, I’ll be working on our new safety plan on the back deck this evening.  My thanks to the Red Cross for sending this information along so I could share it with you.

Deciding which colleges to visit can be a fun and exciting time for parents and kids, but it can also be a stressful time with a lot of unknowns to contend with. There are hundreds of potential students and families vying for the same parking spots, dorm room tours and more. Looking back on the whole process with our oldest daughter, who will be going into her Junior year at Lipscomb University in the fall, we could have saved ourselves a few headaches had we known about Collegewise and their helpful admissions and applications assistance. Today I'm happy to share this guest post by Casey Near of Collegewise on the best questions to ask on college visits I think you’ll find very helpful.

This post is sponsored by the Center for Parent and Teen Communication.  All opinions and total Mom moments are my own.

My laptop has been acting up the last few weeks, which forced me to work on the family desktop computer. She may be a bit of a dinosaur, but she is as reliable as the day is long. As soon as I sat down to work and started downloading needed photos for a campaign, I was swept up in nostalgia and found myself going back down memory lane. My girls have grown and changed so much from the early years of parenting, but their bond remains strong. 

By all accounts spring is officially here in middle Tennessee so I should be out there digging in the dirt, happily planting flowers and veggies. And trust me, I really want to be doing just that- but I know better.  I’m in a gardening holding pattern waiting for that last frost warning to come and go.

You see, I am a firm believer in all the old farmers and gardeners around here. The ones who read the weather patterns and can tell you if we’ve gone through the Dogwood winter, or the blackberry winter, or whatever winter remains well after the calendar says spring has begun. 

I wasn’t always a believer though. When we first moved to the Nashville area in the 90’s, I still had a west coast gardening mentality and I lost a few plants before I decided I best take heed.  

There are several good resources for you to find out the true planting and growing season in your area.

Naturally, you can Google it, but you may not get an in depth answer.  You can buy a Farmers Almanac, which I would like to do some day- but let’s face it, I’m not a farmer, and so the almanac isn’t exactly riveting reading for me.  You can listen to your daily weather forecast, but most TV stations cover a large viewing area, so again, you may not get the best information for your specific neighborhood.

So what’s a gardener to do? So glad you asked. Go hyper local for your information.

1. Go to your local Co-Op, Nursery or Farmers Market and ask questions. There will always be somebody there happy to answer them.

2. Join a local Gardening club or befriend a neighborhood gardener. I have two lady gardening friends who give me extra plant starts almost yearly. I pay it forward when I can.

3. Get to know your neighborhood. While you are driving from point A to point B, take notice of who is doing what in their yards and gardens. For instance, I noticed the lady who has a lovely border of Buttercups, Irises and other early spring bloomers out in her beds every morning when I went by to take my daughter to her early Glee practices.

I’ve also noticed that 3 of the local vegetable gardens I admire in the summer have tilled but not planted. And I’m betting if I were to stop and chat with the owners, I'd learn that they’ve had their seeds started for weeks and have been tending to them, just waiting for the last frost to come and go. 

Please share with me in comments, what are you planting this year?