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By EMILY SPARACINO / Staff Writer

MONTEVALLO – When Montevallo resident and realtor Susan Lehman read a friend’s social media post about trying to homeschool her preschool-age child during the COVID-19 quarantine, she immediately started searching for resources to share with her.

It was then that Lehman, a former long-time educator, thought about how she could share these resources with a wider audience of parents who might be looking for additional tools and educational activities for their kids while they finish the school year at home.

“I said, ‘I wish there was something we could do for parents who are at home with their kids,’” Lehman said, recalling her conversation about it with Cheryl Patton, one of her employees at Team Lehman, Keller Williams Realty Metro South.

Patton rose to the occasion, creating a public Facebook group called Shelby County Home Schools, where community members can “share resources, stories and support for home schooling this generation of kids,” as the group’s description reads.

“She told me the next day she had done this,” Lehman said. “She’s just so talented. We work very well together.”

Anything from a local librarian’s interactive story time video to a free digital library link can be shared in the group.

Lehman said she keeps an eye out for resources her teacher and administrator friends share so that she can share them in the Shelby County Home Schools group.

The resources don’t have to be strictly academic, though. Some posts relate to life skills parents can work with their children on at home, such as cooking and cleaning.

“Use this time to connect with your kids,” Lehman said. “Spend quality time teaching them. Do household things with them. It doesn’t have to be about book learning; so many other types of learning are involved. I think people are starting to be more and more creative.”

Lehman said she welcomes anybody to share in the group helpful resources they have found.

“I hope it will grow, and maybe it can be used even after all of this passes,” Lehman said of the group. “It is something I thought folks might find useful. It just all came together.”