Joanna Gaines shares ‘hard’ message on goodbyes with rare family photos featuring her 5 kids

Joanna Gaines is feeling all the feels as she prepares to move a third child out of the family home and into a college dorm room.

The HGTV personality and Fixer Upper co-host, 48, is a proud mom of five, sharing sons Drake, 21, Duke, 18, and Crew, eight, plus daughters Ella, 19, and Emmie Kay, 16, with husband Chip Gaines.

As the summer comes to a close, so does back to school season begin. After saying goodbye years prior to her son Drake when he left home for college, and then doing the same for her eldest daughter Ella when she moved to the opposite end of the country, the time is rearing its ugly head once again.

While Joanna hasn’t shared whether her son Duke has graduated and is setting off for college as well, she did take to social media to empathize with other parents who were preparing to bid farewell to their kids in just a few short weeks.

Joanna Gaines on sending her kids to college

“Thinking of all the parents sending their kids off to college this season,” she wrote alongside some photos of herself embracing her five kids, especially Drake and Ella. “I’ve been on that side of move-in day, so I know the wide range of emotions well.”

“As hard as that goodbye is, there’s nothing more fulfilling than watching your kid grow beyond you — it’s one of the greatest gifts of being a parent,” she continued. “May you find joy, comfort, and gratitude in the letting go.”

Followers and friends alike chimed in with some of their own experiences as well, with one commenting on Joanna’s post: “All the feels and so true. The best feeling to see them thriving and doing so well on their own too.”

Another wrote: “Every year your off to college posts make me shed a tear…,” with a third adding: “Hands down one of the toughest moments of parenting. I drop my baby off this week,” and one similarly saying: “Successful parenting is having kids confident enough to leave the nest! Good job.”

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Joanna Gaines on being summer homebodies with her kids

As for how the Gaines family spent their summer before school restarts, while they did spend some time vacationing in Colorado at their newly renovated home, she previously wrote in one of her blog posts, titled “A Note from Jo: Chasing the Ordinary”: “We’re not naturally big ‘go on vacation’ people – even in nature’s most persuasive season.”

“For our family, home is where we recharge, where we reconnect,” she added. “Here, we are our most relaxed, our most free. I’m likely to blame for our staycation state of mind. I think I may have unintentionally turned the kids (sorry, Chip) into bona fide homebodies just like me.”

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While she appreciated her husband’s drive to “chase adventure,” Joanna advocated for a summer of mixing both. “I’m calling for a summer of thrill-seeking here at home, among the ordinary and the everyday,” the Magnolia co-founder penned. “I’m sure we’ll find our wanderlust somewhere at some point. But for the majority of the next three months, I hope we’re chasing the ordinary.”