How much school do you do when you are sick?

[a27mom]

I have a horrible head cold. The idea of concentrating much is unappealing. Dh asked who the substitute teacher was lol.

 

Do you take sick days?

 

 

(I am talking about temporary minor illness, not needed to rework your life due to significant illness.)

[Jess4879]

We absolutely take sick days! If the kids are feeling poorly we will often do read alouds and just snuggle. If it's only my younger one who is sick (he's 3), I will usually have the older two working on solo stuff while I tend to the 'baby." I do the same when I am sick. If there is stuff the kids can do on their own, I focus on that. Everything else gets left.

[2_girls_mommy]

I try to carry on as much as possible. We have done things on my bed when I was sick and they were ok. I can not get dressed and look terrible, but still get through lessons on the couch on other days. Right now in fact dh and I have some kind of flu. He got it worse than I did and stayed in bed from work yesterday. I carried on w/school and even drove dd10 to ballet, though I opted out of scouts, and her leader picked her up and took her there while I stayed home on the couch for the evening.

 

It is different if my head hurts so bad that I can't think straight. But even then, I try to carry on a little if I can. Or if they are so sick they can't work, then of course they get the afternoon off. But most of the time, I find I can relax the housework and rest, but still direct school.

[Ellie]

Sick days. It's every man for himself.

Hope you feel better soon!

[blakereese]

We definitely have sick days. Usually more for the kids when they are sick, if I am sick I will try to get through it. Sometimes I have them do more independent work and quiet/reading time.

 

I wish I had a substitute teacher every now and then. ;)

[SilverMoon]

If *I* have a horrible head cold, light day or, "Go play."

 

If they have the cold? A day left to themselves when everyone has short tempers is disastrous. Keeping our school day routine in place is best for all of us; I just reduce expectations for fuzzy brains.

[VBoulden]

When I am sick, I do as much as I can. But that is my general rule for everyday because life just has a way of competing with home school and if I wait to feel up to it and the house is clean and the errands are done, etc. and everything is just right to do school, I may only do it once a week, you know? :tongue_smilie:There is never enough time or energy! But there have been many days when I felt so, so sick... but started school anyway and ended up doing more than the day before when I felt fine. So I do as much as I can... which means I just start and then plug along as best I can... but if I collapse on the couch, at least I tried. If all I can do is read books with my preschooler on the couch while I have my oldest read silently... that is what I do and those days can be really special, too. :grouphug: I hope you feel better soon!

Edited October 23, 2012 by VBoulden

[Mom22ns]

We really don't take sick days.

 

I have severe migraines. If we took off school all the days I'm non-functional, well that just wouldn't work. My kids are older, so it is different, but they used to bring their books in on my bed if I couldn't get up. We did SL thought Jr. High and they would take turns reading to me. I often slept through it and they were very kind about that. I try to teach math at whatever point I'm up to it.

 

If I'm sick or if one of the kids is sick, we may do a lighter day. No science labs, more reading, more snuggling, but we don't take off.

[Rosie]

When I'm sick I try to give them some independent math and language arts work, then I let them listen to audio CDs or watch educational movies and then play outside. I tend to get bronchial stuff when I get colds so I often can't read to them for a few days at a time. We just do what we can during that time and don't worry about the rest. I know that on other days we push hard so it all evens out in the end.

 

My kids don't seem to get sick much - except for colds. We do our regular days when they have colds since it doesn't seem to affect them much. If they were puking or coughing a lot, though, I'd let them take the day off and just read or listen to audio CDs or watch educational movies.

[jujsky]

I give them whatever they can do on their own for work, like math (Teaching Textbooks), handwriting, grammar, Russian, and typing. I might have them read a couple chapters in whatever book we're reading or work on their ongoing history project. If I have documentaries or movies we've been putting off, those are the days I bust them out.

[*Michelle*]

One of the reasons I decided to do year-round schooling was for sick days. I'm having a seasonal allergy flare-up today, but sniffled and sneezed through school. Earlier this month, when I had a sinus infection and the kids were taking their turns with a cold/stomach flu? We focused on basic survival.

[4ofus]

Just yesterday I wasn't feeling well :(. We did math, science, personal reading & watched Horrible Histories. It wasn't a typical day, but it was salvaged. Unless someone can't get out of bed this is how we go about it.

[lea_lpz]

Yes we have sick days, mental health days, goof off days, days where hey baking sounds more fun than school, etc. :D

 

Sounds like me but hey the kids are young and we school year round so we really only have to do school 3 days a week with the goal of 4.

[JenC3]

We have history, science, and composer DVD's for this reason. We also have books on CD and two of my kids read so they do the independent stuff and we hang out and watch Ed. TV.

[Arcadia]

When its seasonal allergies, I just take claritin or bendaryl if it gets real bad. If it is really yucky sick, hubby is a good substitute teacher.

[JESSICAinMD]

It depends on how bad I feel. If the very thought makes me feel even worse, I call it a sick day. The kids do crafts or watch Bill Nye.

[justLisa]

Yes we have sick days, mental health days, goof off days, days where hey baking sounds more fun than school, etc. :D

 

Exactly. And who's counting days? Not me.

 

I'm pretty slack about being sick. It' s hard to think when you are not feeling good. TV computers and being lazy is much better.

[mamamindy]

Timely post! Thankfully, my kids are rarely sick. However, I have had a nasty head cold for a week (they also have a cold but don't seem to care) and I am also in the throws of early pregnancy, so, um, yeah, we've had some sick days. ;) My children aren't doing any independent work, so they usually listen to audio books, play outside, and we read together while I'm feeling icky. They don't have much that they're required to do at this age, so it doesn't seem like a big deal.

[Sahamamama]

Two weeks ago, my oldest daughter came down with a cold. Her throat was so sore, I didn't have the heart to make her do French (oral), Latin (oral), or her Guided Reading (she reads aloud to me). Poor thing! :grouphug: Then I caught her cold, and I couldn't do Read Alouds. We did what we could, rested every day, and when we felt better, we got all caught up.

 

Today, one of my twin K'ers is dragging, no idea why -- could be allergies (they played outside all day yesterday). She was flopping around like a rag doll. Now they're all in bed, taking what I hope will be a 2-3 hour nap. :DSleep is so good.

 

OP, take a nap, and no guilt with it. Hope you feel better soon. :grouphug:

 

 

 

 

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[Holly]

I had a cold this weekend and was still feeling terrible yesterday. In the past, we've taken sick days, but we're already behind this year. I decided to do a 1/2 day yesterday...today we had 1/2 day plus co-op. I also think it ran smoother with a bit of structure than if we'd taken the whole day off. I took lots of breaks in between subjects...although I mostly did chores during the breaks. :tongue_smilie:

[NASDAQ]

I don't really take sick days. It rankles my WASP-ish nature.

[1GirlTwinBoys]

Absolutely we take sick days. That's life. It's also a benefit of homeschooling that we can do that and not feel bad about it.:)

[FO4UR]

If I am sick we usually watch a video, let the kids play TimezAttack or Talkingfingers, read aloud, have the kids practice making sandwiches and loading the dishwasher, and play outside.;)

 

 

If a child is sick, I determine how much school by how sick. I may just give some light review work and read more to them than usual. If they are too "blech" to get up and play at all, I will let them have a Mr. Roger's marathon day...or Magic School Bus...

 

 

I don't worry about it, and I'm in a state where I have to track hours. We far exceed the law and state standards even with sick days and vacation days. I'm due in Dec with a baby, and I started school for this year the day after last year ended (I year-round anyway.) so that there are no worries taking off most of Dec-Feb. We will likely do half-days as long as I feel up to it, but we will not miss out on anything if I simply can't.

[AbbieJack]

Yes we have sick days, mental health days, goof off days, days where hey baking sounds more fun than school, etc. :D

 

:iagree:

[Paige]

I've been sick yesterday and today. Yesterday we did nothing. I think my DS had the girls do some work, but all I did was stay in bed. I was not functional and didn't care. Today, we're pretty much doing nothing except reading and yoga. My DD must stretch every day because of CP, so yoga is the last thing I'd skip. We're not doing much today because I don't feel like it. I am barely functional and I really don't see how people can school when they are more than a little sniffly. I don't feel guilty at all. We school year round, so it evens out.

 

When they are sick, they stay in their beds. They don't get to watch tv or play video games, but they can read, draw, or write.