Lily_Grace Posted February 18, 2013 Share Posted February 18, 2013 I mean, like staying with you, especially if they have children (or are child guests). Just wondering if I'm the mean mama right now. :o Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ChicoryChick Posted February 18, 2013 Share Posted February 18, 2013 I think it depends. If they are caught up with their schoolwork or the guests were just staying for a couple of days, then I would give thme the day off otherwise I would just get the basics done while our guests were there. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kirstenhill Posted February 18, 2013 Share Posted February 18, 2013 Definitely. I guess if it were some kind of a longer visit (a week or more) then maybe we would arrange to get some schoolwork done. I probably wouldn't agree to guests in the first place unless it worked out to take the time off. Otherwise I would probably not be having them. (I know, sometimes emergencies or unusual situations come up...I'm just thinking of regular guest situations I suppose.) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Melenie Posted February 18, 2013 Share Posted February 18, 2013 Yes, we take the time off when we have family or friends from out of town, but we catch up during the summer months. If the visit is more than a week, we may try to do the core subjects occasionally but I prefer to spend the time with my guests as well. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lily_Grace Posted February 18, 2013 Author Share Posted February 18, 2013 Then I guess I'm a REALLY mean mama! We have had friends over this weekend while their parents were out of town. It's Monday, normal school day for us. I put them all to work. :p My big kid got started with reading, my little one took that as his cue to "work" (play with the toys downstairs, mostly puzzles and such), the other biggish kid got a lesson with HOE, and the little sat down with the addition balance scale and MUS blocks. I kept them rotating through all morning, touching on what they're learning at school (so they did water purification, watched videos, read aloud...) and a few other things to keep them busy. By lunch, the kids who had bounced like maniacs all weekend looked wiped out by one morning of schooling. Right now the two big/biggish boys are happily knitting and weaving on a small loom and the two small kiddos are playing pretend. :lol: Quietly. For the first time in 4 days....everyone is QUIET! :eek: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AimeeM Posted February 18, 2013 Share Posted February 18, 2013 Yes, usually. At most I'll usually require math. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ChicoryChick Posted February 18, 2013 Share Posted February 18, 2013 Then I guess I'm a REALLY mean mama! We have had friends over this weekend while their parents were out of town. It's Monday, normal school day for us. I put them all to work. :p My big kid got started with reading, my little one took that as his cue to "work" (play with the toys downstairs, mostly puzzles and such), the other biggish kid got a lesson with HOE, and the little sat down with the addition balance scale and MUS blocks. I kept them rotating through all morning, touching on what they're learning at school (so they did water purification, watched videos, read aloud...) and a few other things to keep them busy. By lunch, the kids who had bounced like maniacs all weekend looked wiped out by one morning of schooling. Right now the two big/biggish boys are happily knitting and weaving on a small loom and the two small kiddos are playing pretend. :lol: Quietly. For the first time in 4 days....everyone is QUIET! :eek: I didn't realize it was only children who were the guests. In that case, I would do as you did and put them to work too! :) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
K&Rs Mom Posted February 18, 2013 Share Posted February 18, 2013 By lunch, the kids who had bounced like maniacs all weekend looked wiped out by one morning of schooling. Right now the two big/biggish boys are happily knitting and weaving on a small loom and the two small kiddos are playing pretend. :lol: Quietly. For the first time in 4 days....everyone is QUIET! :eek: That's not mean, that's genius! :) If we had just kids over, I might make them all work, depends how long they were staying. If we have a whole family over, I'd probably take the time off. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
UrbanSue Posted February 18, 2013 Share Posted February 18, 2013 Yes! It's hard enough educating my children when it's just me and them. I could never do it with someone watching. I assume that once my kids are older and more independent I will send them off to do some work on their own. But, for now, visitors are vacation time. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
UrbanSue Posted February 18, 2013 Share Posted February 18, 2013 Oh--the guests are other kids? I would do school then. Unless you and the other family use the exact same curriculum, it's fun and novel for the kids, I think. My kids love it if I need to leave them for the day with friends who home school and they get to do "their" school. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
a27mom Posted February 18, 2013 Share Posted February 18, 2013 From the op I would have said no. But based on your explanation, yes! If you are basically "baby-sitting" someone else's kids I would not drastically change my school plan. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
duckens Posted February 18, 2013 Share Posted February 18, 2013 Depends. 1) How long are the guests staying? Missing one day of school is different that missing a whole week of school. 2) How often do you see these guests? Is this cousins from once a year, or friends you are watching that you also see at church, martial arts, Coop? 3) How behind are you in core subjects? Sometimes you just can't afford to miss even one day. 4) How well do the kids do when unstructured? (Dd6 and I don't do well without a plan). Are other activities planned if you don't do well (zoo, park, game day, making cookies)? In our household, we would probably take the day off for friends. If Grandpa was visiting (he comes for a week at a time), we would do a lighter schedule of easier subjects. This is not because we don't do school. It is just because it is harder for me to do school with extra people around. If you can do it, you're a better man than me, Gunga Din! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
momtoamiracle Posted February 18, 2013 Share Posted February 18, 2013 Depends on the children and the circumstances. If they seemed bored I might but my son is never bored with other children around, he is an only child. I'd usually just let them play and use their imaginations. School can be done any time 365 days out of the year. I don't think I would mess with his play time. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
2squared Posted February 18, 2013 Share Posted February 18, 2013 I wouldn't school other people's children (since I would be upset if someone else schooled my kids), and I wouldn't have my children doing school work while the other kids played. Instead, I would probably have all the kids spend a lot of time outside or otherwise educationally exploring. Crafts would be great. Sports would be great. Read alouds, cooking, ..... things along that nature, but not actual bookwork. If I had younger kids over than my olders wouldn't want to play with, then the olders could do some school work. I wouldn't expect four kids to be quiet very often or for very long, but that's probably because I have five kids. :drool: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lily_Grace Posted February 18, 2013 Author Share Posted February 18, 2013 1) How long are the guests staying? Missing one day of school is different that missing a whole week of school. They're here for the weekend, F-M night. 2) How often do you see these guests? Is this cousins from once a year, or friends you are watching that you also see at church, martial arts, Coop? Quite often. They're my next door neighbors. We're child-switching this week so their mom could visit their dad (tdy) and we could take a few days for dh and I to travel. 3) How behind are you in core subjects? Sometimes you just can't afford to miss even one day. I don't know. That's why I scheduled school today. We missed school on Friday and we have an upcoming move....sometime before September....so I want to plan to finish most subjects at the beginning of May. 4) How well do the kids do when unstructured? (Dd6 and I don't do well without a plan). Are other activities planned if you don't do well (zoo, park, game day, making cookies)? Hahahahaha! Unstructured = on the electronics or begging to be on the electronics. By making it a school day they had no option to sit mindlessly. I got a judgement from the biggish kid (not mine). He's the 'school-hater' and wants to ditch and do school over here now. Big Kid (mine) laughed and showed him his math book and told him to be careful what he wished for. Little kid (not mine) just misses mommy. Busy and different was good for her, I think. It kept her mind off the countdown. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lilaclady Posted February 18, 2013 Share Posted February 18, 2013 We have guests over so many times that if we do not do school, we will not be done for the year. Like others have said, it depends on Whois visiting and for how long, I am generally able to do school most days do let my kids know that while others might be on a break, we are not so my kids have to do school. Since the guests are other kids,I will do school but do lots of group activities, crafts etc that will be fun but not too heavy for all. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dmmetler Posted February 18, 2013 Share Posted February 18, 2013 It depends on who is there. I've skipped school when my parents were visiting and regretted it-DD simply does better if she has that structured time in the morning, and honestly, everyone isn't up and ready to do anything until noon anyway, but we have DD's cousins coming for their Spring break next month, and I'm thinking that if we do school at all, it will be things like group science projects, art projects, games, and stuff like that, simply because for the other three girls, it IS their week off of school, and I also suspect that DD's level in many areas is above her 11 yr old cousin's level-which might be kind of embarrassing for the older girl, so I'd rather not point that out. DD will have a couple of outside classes that week that she'll be going to, like her lab science class (the other girls can go shopping or whatever for the hour, and then we can go to lunch together-there's a nice pizza and games place near DD's science class). but I'll probably have her miss co-op since I have to be there as well, and because it's a much longer period of time. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kristi26 Posted February 18, 2013 Share Posted February 18, 2013 Then I guess I'm a REALLY mean mama! We have had friends over this weekend while their parents were out of town. It's Monday, normal school day for us. I put them all to work. :p My big kid got started with reading, my little one took that as his cue to "work" (play with the toys downstairs, mostly puzzles and such), the other biggish kid got a lesson with HOE, and the little sat down with the addition balance scale and MUS blocks. I kept them rotating through all morning, touching on what they're learning at school (so they did water purification, watched videos, read aloud...) and a few other things to keep them busy. By lunch, the kids who had bounced like maniacs all weekend looked wiped out by one morning of schooling. Right now the two big/biggish boys are happily knitting and weaving on a small loom and the two small kiddos are playing pretend. :lol: Quietly. For the first time in 4 days....everyone is QUIET! :eek: I used to watch the neighbor boy back when only my oldest was HSing. We obviously still did school but I suppose that's different since there were still others here for him to play with and I didn't HS him (he was 1 I think). Next month, we'll have a Japanese exchange student here for a week and a half. We will absolutely do school every day anyway. He may sit in as well if he's interested. Does that help at all? I think it's a good idea getting everyone busy with school things personally! :) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
J-rap Posted February 18, 2013 Share Posted February 18, 2013 Don't the kids you are babysitting have to go to school?? Or are they too young? If they're too young for school, then it seems both they and your kids would understand that school work still needs to get done for your kids. (Although I might have a lighter schedule so my kids could take turns helping to babysit! :)) If they're school age, are they in school on Friday and Monday? Or are they homeschooled? I've babysat both homeschool and ps family children. The homeschooled children were always sent over with several days of independent work that they could do on their own, and we followed our daily schedule. Or, when the ps kids were at school, then my children would do their school work. Of course if we had special guests we would always just take a day or two off. That's part of the benefits of homeschooling! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mama27 Posted February 18, 2013 Share Posted February 18, 2013 Yes, I would give us all the time off! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
EMS83 Posted February 19, 2013 Share Posted February 19, 2013 Then I guess I'm a REALLY mean mama! We have had friends over this weekend while their parents were out of town. It's Monday, normal school day for us. I put them all to work. :p My big kid got started with reading, my little one took that as his cue to "work" (play with the toys downstairs, mostly puzzles and such), the other biggish kid got a lesson with HOE, and the little sat down with the addition balance scale and MUS blocks. I kept them rotating through all morning, touching on what they're learning at school (so they did water purification, watched videos, read aloud...) and a few other things to keep them busy. By lunch, the kids who had bounced like maniacs all weekend looked wiped out by one morning of schooling. Right now the two big/biggish boys are happily knitting and weaving on a small loom and the two small kiddos are playing pretend. :lol: Quietly. For the first time in 4 days....everyone is QUIET! :eek: No I totally love it! Not mean at all. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Melissa in Australia Posted February 19, 2013 Share Posted February 19, 2013 it depends. If I have relatives from Canada coming over for a month, we will continue with schoolwork, htough we might take some afternoons off to do sightseeing. If I have a relative come and stay overnight, and it is someone who vary rarely comes we take the day off. If it is a surprise visitor who I am not really interested in we will continue schooling, I might even add a few extra lessons in and be "extremely busy". If it the next door neighbour's child that has come over for the day because the school is on strike and both parents are at work, he gets given photocopies of my sons current workbook page and does school right along with us. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Holly IN Posted February 19, 2013 Share Posted February 19, 2013 For us here is how we operate: 1) If hubby is home or off work: NO school except online class that meets that day 2) If we have guests: No school except online class that meets that day. 3) If it is a frequent guests: it really depends on the situation....One of my nieces love to do school with our kids so they will do school if she wants to do it. Otherwise it is pool time in summer or snow ball fights in winter. :) Holly Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PeacefulChaos Posted February 19, 2013 Share Posted February 19, 2013 I mean, like staying with you, especially if they have children (or are child guests). Just wondering if I'm the mean mama right now. :o I do give them the time off. Generally, though, we only have guests staying with us once or twice a year. They're my grandparents, and they've said we can do school when they're there, but I don't want to be taking all the time that we could be spending with them and using it to do school work instead. If it were someone we saw more often, etc, it may be different. My grandparents live 17 hours away. :) (hence the seeing them once or twice a year part. ;) ) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
weederberries Posted February 19, 2013 Share Posted February 19, 2013 We're having guests for a week at Easter and we'll take the time off. I do it for house guests all the time. If it's just kids, we'd do some modified school. I've done it before when someone needs me to babysit. I print some extra worksheets, get out the manipulatives and set the guests to work on their own task while we cover basics. We've never had kid guests old enough to really join in our lessons. I think you did the right thing. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lily_Grace Posted February 19, 2013 Author Share Posted February 19, 2013 Don't the kids you are babysitting have to go to school?? Or are they too young? If they're too young for school, then it seems both they and your kids would understand that school work still needs to get done for your kids. (Although I might have a lighter schedule so my kids could take turns helping to babysit! :)) If they're school age, are they in school on Friday and Monday? Or are they homeschooled? I've babysat both homeschool and ps family children. The homeschooled children were always sent over with several days of independent work that they could do on their own, and we followed our daily schedule. Or, when the ps kids were at school, then my children would do their school work. Of course if we had special guests we would always just take a day or two off. That's part of the benefits of homeschooling! Yesterday was a holiday for the one public school. Their school schedule is odd, with nearly every holiday being a four day weekend because there's the government day (Presidents Day here) and usually a teacher day scheduled back to back. During November they didn't go to school any Monday or Friday. It's that insane. But then the holidays the kids COULD use, like a decently long winter break or spring break, are cut short and families are discouraged from traveling. For a school district that is filled with military families living far from home, it doesn't make any sense. Anyhow, it wasn't until Thursday night their mom realized they didn't have classes Monday. The oldest of hers is in scouts with mine (it's his first year) and he finally is getting interested in scouting. We took what he was learning in science class at school (water pollution, water biomes), bumped it up with Untamed Science videos, and I taught the two boys how to distill and purify water if they're ever lost, using a mess kit bowl, tarp, and rocks, then we saw how filters work. His history teacher and I are acquaintances so I gave him a book she would appreciate him reading (she hates their textbook as much as I do), Math was playing with Hands On Equations. Every subject my 13yo kid did I found a counterpart for the two staying here (ages 6 and 11) and kept them going for everything except writing. I figured we could skip that. :laugh: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mumto2 Posted February 19, 2013 Share Posted February 19, 2013 Normally they are off but in your situation they all would have done school. They had spent more than enough time playing. Friends are home ed too. School definately!:) Editing: Obviously I hadn't read the last post. Still would have done pretty much what you did. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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