Homeschooling When Mom is Sick

For the last few weeks there has been no actual school going on here. We haven’t opened the books, practiced our math facts, or even read a book together. I wish I could say that we’ve been off having fun and taking educational adventures, but the truth is that I have just been too sick to teach. I’ve been spending a lot of time in my bed, and my boys have been left to fend for themselves.

It has not been an ideal situation, but I had to let things go for a time. As I’ve slowly started feeling a little bit better, we have been able to do a little bit of work each day but not a full schedule or my beloved lesson plans.

Homeschooling When Mom Can’t Get Out of Bed

When I was too sick to get out of bed, I will admit that my boys basically ran around the house making messes while watching PBS and Netflix. But here are a few other things that I was able to do with them from the comfort of my covers:

1. My boys read to me. I was too sick to do any reading to my boys, but they were able to pile on the bed with me and read me lots of stories. My oldest son would read a chapter or two from his Pathway Reader or Stuart Little. My little guy would pull out some easy readers like Hen’s Pens or Fox on Box to practice his phonics skills.
2. We played games. I didn’t have much energy during the day, but I did my best to find 5-10 minutes here and there to have fun with my boys. We played games of Go Fish, Chutes and Ladders, and Candyland.
3. We listened to audiobooks. Ok maybe I napped while the boys listened, but I did try to stay awake for a little while. I got sick right in the middle of our unit on the solar system so I borrowed an audio version of A Wrinkle in Time  from the library so that we could at least find out what happened to the characters.

Light Homeschooling While Mom Recovers

Once I started feeling well enough to get out of bed, I added in more of our regular lessons and curriculum.

1. Phonics lessons with my little guy. It was really important to me that he continue to work on reading skills even though I was sick. Whenever I was able, I would pull out his phonics work, and we would spend 10-15 minutes on a new lesson.
2. Math with my oldest. My big guy has been working hard to memorize his math facts, and I knew that taking a long break could set him back. So once a day, I go through his flash cards with him. It’s fun to see him try to answer as fast as he can. And I’m reassured that when we are able to get back to our actual lessons there won’t be much reviewing to do.
3. Playing catch up. Even before I started feeling sick, there were things that we never seemed to get to during the week. So I decided to take this time to do some neglected projects like our timeline for The Mystery of History.

How do you manage when mom is sick?