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How in the world do you homeschool through morning sickness?


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I am pregnant with #3. With #1 I didn't have morning sickness and with #2 I had it, but DD1 was only 2 years old, so there was no schooling to do. Now I'm trying to homeschool a first grader as well as a preschooler. I feel absolutely HORRIBLE all day, every day. I'm only 6 weeks, so I possibly have 6 or 7 more weeks of this. :blink: UGH. I seriously don't know how I'm going to do it. I hate this feeling. Yes, I'm whining right now.

 

How do you school through the morning sickness? All I want to do is curl up in a ball and block out the world.

 

Disclaimer: I have sea bands, Bonine, Lemon Heads candy, lots of Sprite and lemonade, crackers, etc. So far I'm not actually vomiting, but I feel like I could all day long.

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Call the first trimester your 'summer vacation' and pick back up with school in a few weeks. Your kids are young, they can just do easy enrichment things when they're up to it. Part of the benefit of homeschool is that you can set your own schedule. If you take your vacation now, you can school through the summer instead :).

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Call the first trimester your 'summer vacation' and pick back up with school in a few weeks. Your kids are young, they can just do easy enrichment things when they're up to it. Part of the benefit of homeschool is that you can set your own schedule. If you take your vacation now, you can school through the summer instead :).

 

Exactly. That's what I did. I'm usually not upright until week 16-17.

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I am pregnant with #3. With #1 I didn't have morning sickness and with #2 I had it, but DD1 was only 2 years old, so there was no schooling to do. Now I'm trying to homeschool a first grader as well as a preschooler. I feel absolutely HORRIBLE all day, every day. I'm only 6 weeks, so I possibly have 6 or 7 more weeks of this. :blink: UGH. I seriously don't know how I'm going to do it. I hate this feeling. Yes, I'm whining right now.

 

How do you school through the morning sickness? All I want to do is curl up in a ball and block out the world.

 

Disclaimer: I have sea bands, Bonine, Lemon Heads candy, lots of Sprite and lemonade, crackers, etc. So far I'm not actually vomiting, but I feel like I could all day long.

 

:grouphug::grouphug::grouphug: I'm so sorry. I was like this for the majority of my pregnancy with DD5, and it was the worst experience of my life. I couldn't have schooled through it--I was barely able to parent through it. If I were you, I'd plan on using the electronic babysitter for as long as it takes, and don't beat yourself up over it. Your kids are young, and in the grand scheme of things, it's a blip in their schooling. Others might not agree, but I remember how horrible I felt for 7 of the 9 months of that pregnancy, and IMO, it's more important to focus on caring for yourself and your new little one in the short-term.

 

I'm so sorry!

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Call the first trimester your 'summer vacation' and pick back up with school in a few weeks. Your kids are young, they can just do easy enrichment things when they're up to it. Part of the benefit of homeschool is that you can set your own schedule. If you take your vacation now, you can school through the summer instead :).

 

:iagree: OP, you're in Florida, right? Summer in Florida is oppressive without being a human furnace. Just take a break now and stay inside with your air conditioner during the summer. You can read tons of books if you really feel like you need to get something done.

 

Congrats on the pregnancy! And :grouphug: for the nausea.

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Thanks everyone!

 

I do live in Florida, so you are right in that our summers are just too unbearable to do anything else but swim or stay inside in the A/C. I had already planned to school through the summer since we are a little behind. I guess we'll just have to double up through the summer if we can.

 

I guess we'll just try to do what we can, when we can, and watch educational videos when possible. I have Liberty's Kids on Netflix, so even though we are not learning about that part of history this year, it will be better than nothing. I wonder if School House Rock in on instant streaming? I'll have to check.

 

Maybe I can get together work that DD6 can do on her own with minimal help from me.

 

Reading is not really an option right now. Any time that I talk for more than a minute or two, I start gagging. Ick. Maybe that will ease up and I can read to them more often soon.

 

I thought about trying to give them one "center" per day. I'm not exactly sure what, but something that's easy for me to set up the night before and that they can sort of get into and do by themselves. I'll have to see what I can come up with.

 

Thanks for all the congrats and well wishes!

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Reading is not really an option right now. Any time that I talk for more than a minute or two, I start gagging. Ick. Maybe that will ease up and I can read to them more often soon.

 

I had the same problem. We went radical unschooler for three months.

Edited by ocelotmom
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I saw your post about being pregnant on the nursing pillow thread and was wondering if I missed the big announcement. I posted there, but CONGRATULATIONS again! :hurray: Wishing you and baby a healthy and uneventful pregnancy.

 

As for schooling through morning sickness? Ugh, all I can do is commiserate. :grouphug:

 

What I found helped me feel better about not being able to do as much is to find as many resources as possible that my kids could do independently. I put them each on math that they could do themselves (RS through morning sickness was :ack2::ack2:) We listened to SOTW audio CDs instead of my reading them aloud and when I did have moments of feeling well I made up copywork sheets for them using StartWrite.

 

I did a lot of audio books because like you, reading aloud made me want to hurl. It was horrible. :( And all that sleeping. :o My kids watched an inordinate amount of educational videos from the library as well as BrainPop. I don't know what level your 1st grader is at but I also signed out tons of library books on the science topics they were studying and had them just read to themselves and do a written narration with picture. I kept things really simple.

 

You'll get through this :grouphug: but I understand, it's downright awful sometimes.

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Congratulations! :iagree: with all that's been said. And one last thought, there's always audio books ... (if reading makes you gag)...

 

Kick back (if you can actually do that in the first trimester). Remember this too shall pass and when you feel better, you can reassess. :grouphug:

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Another thing I found that really worked was to have my older ones read to the younger ones. It gives the older ones practice with their fluency and the younger ones loved being read to. It was win-win all around. Even simple picture books were enough to keep everyone entertained.

 

Oh, and Wii. :o :leaving:

 

I also found that eating constantly helped me. Even if it was one small cracker, it was better than letting my stomach getting empty. My naturapath also recommended eating whatever my body craved and I did find that really helped. Sometimes it would be chips and I felt guilty but I wouldn't feel horribly ill if I gave in. If I tried to force myself to eat something my body didn't want I was often in a world of hurt. I simply had to give up and listen to my body. There's plenty of time during the rest of pregnancy to catch up on all the nutritious stuff.

Edited by plain jane
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You don't.

 

I do throw up all day long from week 6 or 7 through week 20-something and feel horrible the rest of the time. I take B6 and Unisom every night before bed when I'm pregnant, and I am able to function almost normally. It has a 30-40 safety record, so I used it for all four of mine without concern.

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I am pregnant with #3. With #1 I didn't have morning sickness and with #2 I had it, but DD1 was only 2 years old, so there was no schooling to do. Now I'm trying to homeschool a first grader as well as a preschooler. I feel absolutely HORRIBLE all day, every day. I'm only 6 weeks, so I possibly have 6 or 7 more weeks of this. :blink: UGH. I seriously don't know how I'm going to do it. I hate this feeling. Yes, I'm whining right now.

 

How do you school through the morning sickness? All I want to do is curl up in a ball and block out the world.

 

Disclaimer: I have sea bands, Bonine, Lemon Heads candy, lots of Sprite and lemonade, crackers, etc. So far I'm not actually vomiting, but I feel like I could all day long.

 

ugh. I had it pretty bad with both kids. but I wasn't schooling them at the time. since then, I've heard people have success with vitamin B6 (didn't know about it when I was pregnant :glare:). This site mentions it a bit.

 

I also would keep Dum Dum suckers with me at all times. I had one in my mouth frequently. Wish I had known about the B6 suckers mentioned on the site above.

 

Hope it doesn't last long! I usually started getting some relief around 10 weeks, though not completely better till 14 or so.

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I have no idea.

 

I'm pregnant with #4 and basically laid on the couch all day and tried not to cry for about two weeks. Thank the Good Lord I wasn't sick for as long this time as I was last time. With #3 I was dead to the world sick for the first 20 weeks. Blech.

 

Anyways, lots of Bill Nye and lots of PBS. We survived on TV and junk food, friend. It was rough.

 

:grouphug: and Good Luck

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I have no clue, but I'm feeling your pain. I'm pg and due at the end of October too, except I have Hyperemesis Gravidum so I am sick and puking for the whole 9 months. We just found out - yesterday actually - and I'm trying to figure out the same thing. We can't very well take off the next 9 months + a couple of months after the baby is born...

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I agree with everyone else... call an early "summer break" and enjoy educational videos and books on tape.

 

If you're not already, start taking 50-100mg of B6, daily. It might take a week or so to kick in but having a good level of B6 goes a long way to toning down morning sickness. I had moderate morning sickness with DS, and when we started trying to concieve #2 I added 100 mg of B6 to my daily prenatal. This pg I've had absolutely *no* morning sickness. Some of that might be luck, but I think a lot of it is due to the fact that I'm not really deficient in any vitamin (like I was at the start of my first pregnancy) and I've had that extra boost of help from the extra B6.

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Congratulations!!!

 

Ditto pp. Just lie on the couch and watch lots of educational videos. Is your oldest 6? If he is up on phonics, then some math manipulatives, Draw, Write, Now, and videos can fill in needed requirements until you are feeling better. If not, phonics can be done in a few minutes a day.

 

I just had dc #9, so I can commiserate somewhat. While I do have olders that can help, my child training and housekeeping dipped somewhat during the first trimester. I sat all of my needed things with in arms reach of the couch and used the workbox system for everyone. The littles had activities on blankets within arms reach. I would set a timer for 10-15 minutes and the olders would help switch activities if I needed. Naptimes were mandatory for all.

 

This too shall pass, and you will have a new little one before you know it.

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I am pregnant with #3. With #1 I didn't have morning sickness and with #2 I had it, but DD1 was only 2 years old, so there was no schooling to do. Now I'm trying to homeschool a first grader as well as a preschooler. I feel absolutely HORRIBLE all day, every day. I'm only 6 weeks, so I possibly have 6 or 7 more weeks of this. :blink: UGH. I seriously don't know how I'm going to do it. I hate this feeling. Yes, I'm whining right now.

 

How do you school through the morning sickness? All I want to do is curl up in a ball and block out the world.

 

Disclaimer: I have sea bands, Bonine, Lemon Heads candy, lots of Sprite and lemonade, crackers, etc. So far I'm not actually vomiting, but I feel like I could all day long.

I didn't. I'm almost 17 weeks and have only felt better for about 3 weeks. I figured that a first grader and preschooler weren't going to miss out on much if we took it really easy for a few weeks. We listened to audio books, I made sure my first grader was reading, and we watched educational tv and movies. That was it for school.

 

Congratulations!

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I cultivated a new attitude about all the homeschooling plans I had that were not fulfilled this year. (I'm due in 8 weeks.) I was sick for seven months, too, so a lot of things beyond the bare minimum did not occur.

 

I will say that my children have made huge strides in what they can do independently. I discovered that I had been "helping" them a little too much--they really appreciate all their new-found competencies. We had a lot of success, especially for my younger child, with Kumon books--he just zips through them independently.

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Congratulations! :iagree: with all that's been said. And one last thought, there's always audio books ... (if reading makes you gag)...

 

Kick back (if you can actually do that in the first trimester). Remember this too shall pass and when you feel better, you can reassess. :grouphug:

 

:iagree: too! CONGRATULATIONS! Oh, that's wonderful. I can tell you're going to need someone to come and hold the baby after they are born, so I am volunteering. :D

 

Audiobooks are the best thing since sliced bread. My girls love them. It's amazing what you can get on audio.

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Congratulations!

 

I also found that eating constantly helped me. Even if it was one small cracker, it was better than letting my stomach getting empty. My naturapath also recommended eating whatever my body craved and I did find that really helped. Sometimes it would be chips and I felt guilty but I wouldn't feel horribly ill if I gave in. If I tried to force myself to eat something my body didn't want I was often in a world of hurt. I simply had to give up and listen to my body. There's plenty of time during the rest of pregnancy to catch up on all the nutritious stuff.

 

Yes! As much as the nauseous feeling makes you not want to eat, you just need to keep eating. I have to eat every two hours when I'm pregnant, from the time I get up until the time I go to bed, including a big bedtime snack. I know quite quickly if I've waited too long. I make sure to eat lots of whole grains, proteins, and good fats. Walnuts and ground flax seed (in yogurt) were two of my daily snacks. I also took a vitamin with lots of B-6 in it.

 

With that being said, don't feel bad about taking a break. Just give your girls lots of fun books to read, some to listen to on tape, do crafts, and let them play outside. When you are feeling better you can start school again.

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I have no clue, but I'm feeling your pain. I'm pg and due at the end of October too, except I have Hyperemesis Gravidum so I am sick and puking for the whole 9 months. We just found out - yesterday actually - and I'm trying to figure out the same thing. We can't very well take off the next 9 months + a couple of months after the baby is born...

 

I had HG also with my last 2 pregnancies. Ugh, terrible. Most days I was happy just to move from my bed, to the couch, to the bathroom, to the couch.

 

I do agree that eating even a tiny bit does help, and keeping hydrated. If it gets so terrible that you really can't move, there is always zofran. It took off the edge. :) But again, I had HG, so that was more severe.

 

I agree with DVDs, audio books, etc. Hopefully it will only be a month or two more, and then you can easily make up for lost time. You can also use this time to talk about babies, child care, childbirth...all at their appropriate level, of course. School is now learning about life!! :001_smile:

 

CONGRATULATIONS!!!!

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I do throw up all day long from week 6 or 7 through week 20-something and feel horrible the rest of the time. I take B6 and Unisom every night before bed when I'm pregnant, and I am able to function almost normally. It has a 30-40 safety record, so I used it for all four of mine without concern.

 

I was a "throw up all day for 20 weeks pregnant person" on Zofran with intermittent Phenergan until I discovered the miracle of B6 and 1/2 Unisom tablet every night at bedtime with pregnancy #3. It worked like a charm and I could FUNCTION and actually mother my children. I would still have moments of nausea and food aversions but I wasn't "have to lay flat with my eyes closed in the dark or I will vomit" sick.

 

Congratulations!

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I had HG also with my last 2 pregnancies. Ugh, terrible. Most days I was happy just to move from my bed, to the couch, to the bathroom, to the couch.

 

I do agree that eating even a tiny bit does help, and keeping hydrated. If it gets so terrible that you really can't move, there is always zofran. It took off the edge. :) But again, I had HG, so that was more severe.

 

I agree with DVDs, audio books, etc. Hopefully it will only be a month or two more, and then you can easily make up for lost time. You can also use this time to talk about babies, child care, childbirth...all at their appropriate level, of course. School is now learning about life!! :001_smile:

 

CONGRATULATIONS!!!!

 

Definitely try the Zofran. It didn't do a THING for me, but it helps the vast majority of people...

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Guest Momlovesbooks

Reading is not really an option right now. Any time that I talk for more than a minute or two, I start gagging. Ick. Maybe that will ease up and I can read to them more often soon.QUOTE]

 

 

When I was pregnant with #3 I couldn't read aloud my entire pregnancy without gagging. I ended up getting books with audio too. My son would lay with me on the coach and hold the book to follow along with the tape.

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I would count my lucky stars if it only lasted a few weeks. Mine gets worse with each pg...last time I was sick from 5 weeks until after DD was born.

 

I never threw up, so I would eat several small meals...and I read to drink between meals which seemed to help a bit. I avoided several foods for the duration...or suffered later on.

 

I also found hard candy to help...Jolly Ranchers worked great! These got me through prepping meals.

 

We're still catching up from having DD over a year ago. :blush: I remember many days where I'd pull up the World Book scope and sequence for 2nd grade and pick a random topic to cover. Not my finest teaching moments, but we survived.

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