Schooling through morning sickness?

[Miss Cornelia Snook]

Just wanted to get your experience or ideas on handling morning sickness while homeschooling.

 

Here's my situation: I'm six weeks along, and have been queasy for a couple of weeks. Typically my morning sickness is pretty bad--I feel awful all over, all the time, for the first 20 weeks. I never throw up, though I come close. I spend a lot of time in bed (I'm not one who throws up in the morning and then feels fine the rest of the day, more's the pity). This time I am praying a lot, and even my children are praying for me! I have an 8 year old DS, a 6 year old DS, and a 3 year old DD. All are currently home with me.

 

I do NOT want to wash my hands of homeschooling them while I'm sick. We blew off the summer, got a good start in the fall, and then I got pregnant. Yet, it is very hard to maintain a routine when I feel like this. My 8 year old still needs my constant attention to do his work. My 6 year old is only doing the 3 R's right now, plus some "Little House in the Big Woods" with a lot of discussion thrown in. He's not ready for much else yet. For my 3 year old, we just do Sonlight's P3 and practice her speech articulation class sounds.

 

Field trips are pretty much out. I have a hard time driving them to the classes they already have (each child has one class). Yet, we'll ALL go crazy this winter if we don't have something to DO! And I'm afraid I'll get depressed. Guilt over neglecting their education will kill me, too!

 

The way I figure it, my morning sickness sentence will last till mid-January. Help me come up with a plan so we can all survive this!

[Jann in TX]

Sea Bands (wrist bands with pressure points), ginger tea or gingersnap cookies and Zofran (for extra bad days when even water made me ill) all helped...

so did 'educational videos' (aka PBS and Animal Planet).

 

I kept a minimum schedule--even if it meant DH had to help when he got home. I tried to fill in other items as much as I could.

 

I also used those 'cheap workbooks' from WalMart for some lessons (math and reading)... things my older ones could do by themselves... I would toss together a few worksheets and put in a weekly folder-- and we had daily 'packet' time-- they worked on the folder work while I rested on the couch/bed.

 

My older ones were 8 and 10 for most of the pg (9 and 11 when sister was born).

 

My last pg was 38 weeks that I would NEVER wish on my worst enemy! DD is a joy-- but...

[*Jen*]

Been there! It's awful. All my pregnancies they keep adding more anti-nausea meds trying to help me keep up with all my little ones. With all 4 pregnancies I was on zofran around the clock to try to keep me from being hospitalized for dehydration.

 

Here would be my suggestions

 

Set up your couch main area during the day. Make an area for the 8 year old to work nearby where you can help him from the couch. I know with me the less I moved the better I was. So having everything within reach of the couch helped.

 

For me bean bags next to the couch were a life saver. The kids could pile on them while I read books since the movement of them on the couch made me throw up.

 

Using any remaining good days work hard to get weekly packets made up for the 8 yo. That way you can have a packet ready for the week to supervise him doing but don't need to use up any of your energy planning on what you are going to do.

 

Lots of documentaries and educational shows for the days that you just can't manage to do anything else.

 

Thankfully my oldest was only doing pre-K when I was PG with my last one, but I'm already developing a plan for when I get PG again with a 2nd grader and a Pre-K next year.

[MinivanMom]

I am right in the middle of this right now. I have to give myself permission to start a little late, to take breaks, and to simply do a little less. It won't kill the kids if they watch a movie in the afternoon while I lie down. My husband is perfectly capable of cleaning the house and grocery shopping (and I work hard to not be uptight if he doesn't do those things my way). The thing that's killing me is carting the kids to their afternoon activities, but I'm getting it done. I find sea-bands, small but frequent meals, fresh air, and lots of rest are all things that help. On bad days, I remind myself that this is the low point. Theoretically I will only feel better as my pregnancy goes on . . . and . . . at the end I get a baby! :001_smile:

[Miss Cornelia Snook]

Thank you for your ideas. I decided to hire my 17 year old niece to come and help tidy the house a bit--that will give me more time and energy for schoolwork. I'd love to hear more ideas, if anyone wants to share.

 

Ugh. Just really sick today. Wish it were easier to grow babies!

[Veritaserum]

I'm right there with ya. :grouphug: Dd9 is taking her math test beside me in bed. I'm doing the essentials (math and LA). My older two can do a lot of their other subjects independently.