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How long did/do you take off from schooling after childbirth?


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I'm thinking I'm going to take off for 3 weeks to a month after our new addition comes. The last time we had a baby, the oldest was in kindergarten, so I didn't give it much thought, now she's in 7th. How did your schedule change once having a new baby?

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I took off about 2 weeks BEFORE the baby came... I couldn't concentrate on anything. Instead, we just got ready for Christmas and did some family reading together.

 

The baby is now 2 weeks old and we've been back to schooling full-time for the past week. (I gave us a week after the baby came, too.) I do most of my teaching while the baby is asleep, for now, at least.

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I took off about 2 weeks BEFORE the baby came... I couldn't concentrate on anything. Instead, we just got ready for Christmas and did some family reading together.

 

The baby is now 2 weeks old and we've been back to schooling full-time for the past week. (I gave us a week after the baby came, too.) I do most of my teaching while the baby is asleep, for now, at least.

 

I've thought about the last few weeks before baby comes as well. I'm wondering if I'll be able to concentrate. I initially thought two weeks off after childbirth was a little ambitious, maybe it's something to shoot for after all. Congratulations:)

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Angela - congrats on your christmas day baby, how fun!

 

I took 2 or so weeks off before my twins were born - I was (and had been) on bedrest and it just was time to 'let it go'. :) We started back to school when they were 3 weeks old. My oldest is only 3rd grade though *and* the time off was over Christmas and New Years so honestly we probably would have taken all that time off anyway just for the holidays.

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Angela - congrats on your christmas day baby, how fun!

 

I took 2 or so weeks off before my twins were born - I was (and had been) on bedrest and it just was time to 'let it go'. :) We started back to school when they were 3 weeks old. My oldest is only 3rd grade though *and* the time off was over Christmas and New Years so honestly we probably would have taken all that time off anyway just for the holidays.

 

Congrats to you as well.:D

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For me, too long off of school would drive my dd(8) crazy, which in turn would make me nutty. She MUST have something to do at all times. I would guess your answer would depend on your dc's personality. Maybe they could pick a favortie book or be assigned a book and do book reports or projects that would be fun for them and no work for mom.

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My last was a summer baby so I didn't have to worry about that, but this year we're hoping for an Oct baby so the plan will be school till a month till, read, read, read the last month and however long it takes to adjust after that. It's actually easier having them on a schedule with schooling than complete chaotic freedom. Whatever I can do while sitting and nursing will get done, whatever else won't.

 

My philosophy is, if they are old enough to self-direct, they will, if not, they aren't missing anything important enough at that age to worry about.

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I'm wondering the same thing myself as I'm due mid April.

 

Right now I'm trying to get the kids to work more independently to shorten our time off. Obviously I need to teach new material, but they should be able to do review material independently. May would be a good time in the year to review things we covered earlier in the year.

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I was due at the beginning of October and had planned to take the whole month off. He was born on Sept. 29, and after three weeks off (that felt rather chaotic) I was ready to bring some order back to our lives!

 

We had a few weeks of "school lite"...doing just the basics. Then we were back into the swing of things by mid-November.

 

We started the school year a couple of weeks early, in anticipation of the birth. Now we're only two days behind where we normally are by this time of year.

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I find it a million times easier to school with a newborn than schooling hugely pregnant. We usually stop schooling when I can't get through a morning without crying or being unnecessarily mean (around 36.5 weeks). I'm always surprised at how easy it is to go back to the school routine with a snugly newborn on my lap.

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When my 2nd born, dd was just 4.5 yo, so we just read more books and did less writing for a few weeks. It wasn't really planned per se.

 

My 3rd was due mid-November. I had anticipated taking "the rest of that week" off, whenever she was born, and then the entire week of Thanksgiving. I didn't want to take off too long at once. Little stinker came late, just a week before Thanksgiving, so we only took six schooldays off. Originally I had planned to give ourselves more flexibility if we needed it as she grew, but we didn't, as we just did three weeks, and then had two off for Christmas.

 

If I do it again, I'm planning for May. ;) No, I'll probably do similar to last time - approximately a week off, and then going relaxed for awhile, then a week or two off again. Repeat as necessary. :)

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With our most recent addition we ended up taking about a week off and it worked out perfectly. The kids were happy to be back into a routine. The kidlet before this arrived on December 6 (he's two now) and we ended up doing no school until the second week of January and it about drove me bonkers. I realize now that I really needed something besides walking the floors with a newborn to think about and the kids really needed a routine of some kind. At the time, though, we had relatives in and out because of the holidays and everything was messed up. I was so relieved that this time it worked out so neatly and I was able to enjoy that newborn stage much more with a routine established for the olders. Much less stressful.

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I'm thinking I'm going to take off for 3 weeks to a month after our new addition comes. The last time we had a baby, the oldest was in kindergarten, so I didn't give it much thought, now she's in 7th. How did your schedule change once having a new baby?

 

 

I took off two months. Fortunately, dd was born in July, so it was easy to take off. Then, we just sort of eased into our subjects.

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