Listen up, Captains! The semester is almost halfway through and with things picking up, it can be hard to regularly keep up with family. Whether you’re a freshman or a senior getting ready to graduate, there are probably moments in your life when you feel homesick. Here are just a few ways you can keep up with your relatives while at school.

• Group chats

The first and more obvious option is to send text updates. Lots of families have group chats where everyone can send messages about what is happening throughout the day.

• Call / Facetime

Calling or Face Timing are two simple things you can do to keep in touch. Whether you call randomly throughout the week, or have a scheduled day and time. It is a great way to catch up and have your family stay in the loop of your life.

• Facebook Posts

Another way to catch your relatives up with your life at school is by posting on Facebook. By simply adding photos to albums, your family can see what you are up to. It acts as a scrapbook of your life and your family will enjoy scrolling through the pictures.

• Photo Circle

Along with the theme of photo albums, a family Photo Circle is another great way for family to see what you are up to. Photo Circle is an app that lets you create private albums to share photos. Everyone in the group is able to add their own photos and there is a comment section under each photo. For families that prefer to stay away from social media, this is a great option. 

• Newsletter

For those who seek more fun and creative ways of keeping up with family, a newsletter is a great way to go. There are templates in Canva where you can insert your own pictures. You can use the text boxes to add captions for photos and describe what is going on in your life. These newsletters can be texted or emailed to your family members. 

• Videos

Creating videos to send to your family about what is happening in your life is another great way to keep them up to date. This way, you do not need to coordinate a time to call and can update them when it is a convenient time for you. These videos can be anywhere from “A Day In My Life” styled, Vlog form, or just you sitting down and talking to the camera.

It’s so important to keep up with family for support. Knowing that you have a strong family connection back home makes the college experience easier.  Hopefully, these few listed options are good steps in helping you and your family stay connected this fall semester. Hopefully, these few listed options are good steps in helping you and your family stay connected this fall semester.