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So, what started a couple of weeks ago as a little tickle in the back of my throat turned into a cute little heh – heh every once and again, then turned into a seemingly constant annoying cough that felt like razor blades in my throat, which then turned into to a full-blown case of bronchitis and another something or another that I can’t even pronounce, much less spell.
But, needless to say, after drinking everything I could think of that was warm and soothing for my throat from hot cocoa, to coffee, to tea, and simple warm honey and lemon water, I think I’m finally on the mend. Well, and I guess the medicine and shots my doctor gave me probably helped out some, too.
While I was out of commission running a fever and not really caring which way was up, much less actually trying to figure it out, I was thankful that I had written out my lesson plans and had prepared the associated materials to go along with them in advance.
I’d like to say that this is normally the case with me, but sometimes I have to admit I have our lesson plans sketched out but have not yet taken the time to pull materials for the next weeks’ lessons until the weekend prior.
It is definitely a habit that I need to improve.
But, luckily on this occasion, I had planned ahead.
With a little help from my husband and my mother {they were saints}, my son was able to keep on keeping on with our regularly scheduled schooling and I was able to fall into a fever-induced stupor in my bedroom.
As I recovered though, I started thinking.
Sick days aren’t normal for Moms, much less for homeschooling Moms.
Our stars were perfectly aligned to allow me to recover while our homeschool went right on.
But what if I hadn’t been that prepared?
As we get further into cold weather season, I’m sure more families will face illnesses. I thought it would be great for us to share our tips and tricks with one another for how we handle these days, and sometimes longer. I know y’all certainly have tried and true methods that work for your family that most likely would benefit another homeschooling family as well.
How do you handle sick days for yourself? Are your children able to work independently to allow you a day “off”? If so, how have you organized your daily routine to reach that point?
Please share.
Can I just say… you are a much better woman than me. When I get sick… who am I kidding?!?!? When I am too tired to function, we just turn on Netflix and watch some documetaries, play computer games, and read books. The lesson plans get pushed off to another day.
Good timing. Today is that day at our house. When someone is sick or we just need a goof off day we have a reading only day. (We usually have one hour of silent reading per day anyway)
On reading only days we have silent reading for three hours. We grab blankets, hot tea or cocoa and our books. The little ones nap and the older ones read. The silence is wonderful 🙂
I think it’s fabulous that you homeschool. When my daughter was tiny, that was the plan for our family. We used to go to park days and were active in the local community and although our needs changed and she’s in school now, I love that you’re a hs’ing mama. Now, stay healthy, teacher 🙂
Hi Robyn,
Great to hear how someone else handles the school day when the teacher is sick!
I’d like to offer a tool that Pioneer Woman’s blog just featured…it’s abookandahug… a great tool to help kids find just the right book. They can write their own book reviews, watch videos of author interviews under the Books Alive tab, find books about children around the world under Read Around the World, search by age and by genre and even take the What Kind of Reading Superhero Are You quiz and see what their reading personality is.
Seventy-five librarians across the country are reviewing the books to make abookandahug a fun resource and a resource you can count on.
I usually have my week written down, where my two older ones can do work independently but the younger one can not. With the younger one I usually try to watch something educational with him but if I’m really sick I think … “I can catch up later.” Which I usually do, that’s one of the nice things about homeschooling, besides that it never stops but its flexible as well.