Rules for sick days?

[anmom]

I'm just curious...what are your "rules" for days when your kids are sick? Specifically if they say they are too ill to participate in school work, what do they do the rest of the day?

 

 

[Lady Marmalade]

Sick days usually equal school work being done here.  The child would need to be feverish and plan to sleep most of the day in order for me to let them out of doing anything.  Usually, I need to tell them to go back to bed though, it wouldn't occur to them to try and get out of school work with sickness.  

[Ellie]

If they're sick, they have to be in bed. Under the covers. Because they're sick.

[PeachyDoodle]

If dd is really ill (i.e., she would be staying home from school if she still went), I let her stay in bed, watch TV, play on her 2DS, etc. All the things I would do if she was staying home from ps and didn't have work to do anyway. We might have to pick up the slack over the next week or two to catch up if it goes on for more than a day or two.

 

If she is just a bit under the weather, I sometimes lighten the load for that day to the minimum subjects. I usually find that, on days that I am not sick but don't feel *great*, it often helps me to get up and go about my usual routine. So that's what I try to encourage her to do.

[UmMusa]

One of my kids is sick today and she is in bed with a few books (reading, coloring, light reading).  She has dozed off a few times, which she needs, and is letting her body relax and fix itself.  I'm not going to pressure her with any formal school work today; maybe a science or history video later to pass some time and just reading.

[Spryte]

Sick day here. DS is in bed with an audiobook, dozing here and there, and doing a nebulizer every four hours. No school work, we will do make up work over the weekend, as if he were in PS and missing a day.

[marbel]

I don't have any rules.  It has always depended on the severity of the sickness and what the child is able to do.   Even if a kid is not feverish or actively vomiting, and is able to be up and sitting at the table, it doesn't necessarily mean they can do difficult work that requires a lot of concentration.   If a kid is up and about, and tries to do, say, math but is having a tough time and making a lot of mistakes, it's probably time to put away the math books for the day, but that doesn't necessarily mean it's time to go to bed.   It might, though, be time to listen to a history lecture or do some reading, or work on a subject that isn't terribly taxing.

[regentrude]

Too sick for school = being in bed getting rest and sleeping a lot

[Ali in OR]

My dd had flu and then pneumonia about a month ago, and luckily for her I had had bronchitis and then pneumonia a few weeks before her. So I had a lot of empathy--I knew what it felt like to have low energy and just need to nap a lot. She could get up and watch videos, but that doesn't require thinking. I was fine with her taking time off. But we lost about a week of school and she knows that we will now have to do school a week later than I originally planned. We usually end at the end of May (some subjects end earlier) and now we know we'll still be doing at least math, history, and Latin into June. This is the first time in our 10 years of home schooling that we've needed an illness break--we don't take breaks for minor colds.

[Amira]

We very rarely have sick days.  My oldest was in bed all day yesterday for the first time in years.  Basically, I leave it up to my children because they know that taking a day off work doesn't change how much they have to get done by the end of the year, so they usually plow through what they need to do even if they're not feeling great.

[redsquirrel]

I don't really have any hard rules. My kid are more likely to say they are not sick than to try to get out of anything. It is more likely that I am the one saying 'no, you are sick and you need to rest'. But, it is usually pretty obvious, like fever or vomiting.

 

My kids are dancers and being sick enough to miss school would mean being too sick to dance. And they aren't going to miss dance without a fight. I know they are sick if I say 'well, it looks like you can't go to dance today' and I get a listless agreement. If they don't care about missing dance, then they are sick.

[Tenaj]

If it's an obvious illness, fever or vomiting, I'm more lenient and might let them watch a bit of TV or have the ipad for a while so they can pass the time and still rest.  If it's not so obvious or is mainly a head cold the rule is that if you're too sick to do school then you must be in your bed.  My 11 yods and 9yods tried this on me a few months ago.  They both had head colds and probably didn't feel their best so they chose the in-bed option.  They were both back out at the table doing their math within a few hours - LOL!  It wasn't quite as much fun as they thought it would be.

[lllll]

..

[TammyinTN]

When ds is sick he usually still does school...maybe not the full load, but as much has he can accomplish.  He likes to stay caught up....so no big deal here.

 

[Arcadia]

Too sick would mean staying in bed and drinking lots of water. Within an hour they are either fast asleep or they rather do school work. My puker child rather be doing school work though as lying in bed makes him feel worse.

If it is hay fever sick, school gets done with naps.

[blackjackoaktree]

I don't have particular rules. Today I have a lot of free time and decided to join the forum because we've had stomach flu here all week. Since I had it too and know how horrible it's been, I am not pushing anything.

 

Well, maybe a little, because I still had ds13 watch Cosmos on netflix.

 

They know their activities are limited when they are sick, so we don't have too much fake sicking around here.

[Rivka]

If a kid is genuinely ill, and not just feeling under the weather, they are allowed to lie on the couch or in bed and watch videos on the iPad until their brains leak out their ears. I will often supplement that with reading aloud.

 

I remember once my son had a very high fever and seemed desperately exhausted, but didn't seem to be able to stop watching videos and fall asleep. So I told him to turn off the iPad and wait a minute because I was picking out four books to read to him. By the time I picked the books out, about three minutes later, he was asleep - as I was hoping.

[Rivka]

When I was recovering from surgery, I read easy books, watched videos, and hung out on FB for two weeks. It was about all I had in me. Why would I expect my kids to be able to do more when they're sick?

[73349]

Slightly sick = business as usual at home, wearing cozier clothes and drinking extra water. Avoid contact with other people.

 

Quite sick = read-alouds and DVDs.

 

We've had a few of the first kind this school year, but only one of the second.

[Tsuga]

Fever, coughing too hard to write, vomiting, diarrhea = sick, no school. Also, rash of unknown origin, no matter how severe, of course means no public school, although I would probably do home education that day if there's very little discomfort and we're not at the doctor's.

 

Anything else, you're in school. 

 

These are the school's guidelines, which is based on the first principle of the school's sick policy which is to reduce absenteeism and encourage consistency.

[Loowit]

I tend to play it by ear.  Typically if they want to take a sick day then I let them.  It means no afternoon activities for the day.  Usually I will make up a cozy spot on the couch for them to curl up and look at books or watch TV quietly.  Sometimes they can play on their computer for a short period of time, but mostly I make them rest.  They also get included in any read alouds unless they are just too sick to be awake.

[katilac]

I don't have any rules.  It has always depended on the severity of the sickness and what the child is able to do.   Even if a kid is not feverish or actively vomiting, and is able to be up and sitting at the table, it doesn't necessarily mean they can do difficult work that requires a lot of concentration.   If a kid is up and about, and tries to do, say, math but is having a tough time and making a lot of mistakes, it's probably time to put away the math books for the day, but that doesn't necessarily mean it's time to go to bed.   It might, though, be time to listen to a history lecture or do some reading, or work on a subject that isn't terribly taxing.

 

Pretty much this. I've always let my kids decide. I know that there are days when I don't feel up to certain kinds of work or chores, but I also don't need to be flat in bed under the covers. 

 

My kids are really good about it. They've never really been infected with the idea that school and learning are to be avoided at all costs, lol, and they know all of the work has to be done at some point anyway. 

 

I think that listening to your body and resting when you need it helps to avoid sickness, actually. If they want to skip math and take it easy with extra videos and reading instead, go for it. If they feel tired and can actually fall asleep and take a nap, that's great, no sickness required. 

[Murphy101]

One or two of them? In bed for the day sleeping. We will bring fluids and crackers and meds to them.

 

A house wide plague?

 

Everyone in various state of disarray and consciousness in their beds or in the living room having a TV marathon.

 

ETA: This isn't really a rule. It's just practical? To sick to hold a pencil, read, or think straight, mean go pump the fluids and rest.

[dirty ethel rackham]

The beauty of homeschooling is that I don't need to have lots of rules.  Whenever one of my kids was sick, we didwhatever we needed to to help that child feel better quickly.  If they were sick enough to be in bed, that is where they were.  If they feel well enough to join the rest us for a little while, then they did that.  If they started to feel better - well enough to do stuff, they would get going on schoolwork. If not, we often did books on tape or some educational TV.  Since we don't have set hours for school, but we have a list of what to complete that day, we work on it when we can and finish up on the weekend if necessary.  We would make decisions on a case-by-case basis.  Usually, if they felt better and wanted to go to an planned activity, it would depend on the risk of being contagious and the risk of relapse.  I don't want to spread illnesses and I don't want to make an illness go longer. 

[SparklyUnicorn]

I don't have rules for sick days.  If it is obvious they are not really sick then they have to do school work.  However, I do allow for the occasional mental health day.  Sometimes I think they just say they are sick because they really need a break.  As long as that is only once in awhile, I think that's ok.  One perk of homeschooling is flexibility.

 

 

[Tammi K]

Generally, if you are sick you are in bed (ETA: Or resting quietly on the sofa watching a video). If you are out of bed you can get some school work done.  

 

My kids are rarely 'sick' with fever or illness but they do get migraines. When they have a migraine nothing useful gets done and they don't feel like doing anything but sleeping. If someone were foolish enough say they were 'sick' but ask to play games or watch tv instead of getting work done, I would probably tell them that if they feel well enough to play games then they aren't that 'sick' that they can't get work done first. 

 

ETA: I never make the call that my kids aren't 'sick' enough to rest. They decide. I just don't let 'play/ video games' come before school work.

[TeenagerMom]

We just took off 3 weeks completely and 3 weeks of Math & History only while DS12 recovers from major surgery. We just found out today that we have 4 more weeks of intensive physical therapy (as in 4-6 hours a DAY). His brain & body need to be focused on healing. So he will do a little school this summer while it is too hot to go outside. No biggie.

 

Last year DD14 had Pertussis (yes, she was vaccinated prior), followed by the Flu, followed by pneumonia. She didn't do schoolwork for a solid month because she needed to heal.

 

So taking off a day or two here & there for illness is no biggie in this house. If you feel like crap, you probably aren't going to retain much anyway.

[blondeviolin]

If you're puking, you get a bowl and a kindle in your bed. If you've got a fever but mild or no other symptoms, I might treat the symptoms and then let the child do some easier stuff (fun puzzles, reading, maybe a documentary). If you're too weak or sick to walk across the house, schoolwork is out.

[Cottonwood]

No rules here.  I size things up to see if they can do any school at all, just a little?  Sometimes they work through it.  

Very sick?  We declare a sick day and they can do whatever makes them feel better. Hormonal issues included.  

 

It happens so very rarely that I can be pretty relaxed about it.

 

Mental health days actually happen more often and I'm pretty free with those as well.  Happens about once a month.

[Alice]

No rules and I guess my kids don't get sick very often because I'm having a hard time even thinking about what we do. Vomiting always means no school...usually on the couch or in bed with a bowl and allowed to watch/do as much TV/electronics as they want. I can't think of other times we've taken off completely for sickness but if someone is feeling tired or coming down with something I will let them rest if needed. It's rare that we truly can't do any school/learning. Even with a vomiting kid I usually read aloud. 

[Teresa in MO]

we have been sick for the past 2 weeks and have done very little school.  Are they in bed? No.  But they are just laying around and would not be able to concentrate on schoolwork.  I have it too so I can relate to how they are feeling.  We have been to the doctor three times and the pharmacy four times.  At this point they would rather be doing school and have attempted.  But when you are coughing literally non-stop its hard to do schoolwork.  They know that this setback has pushed us into June and would be doing anything to prevent that from happening.

 

[KungFuPanda]

I have a friend whose sick policy for her boys is "In their rooms, in bed, and no screens." Those boys mostly elect going to school unless they are seriously sick. She never has to worry about anyone 'embellishing' so they can watch TV all day.

[myfunnybunch]

We just had a sick day.

 

My rule is:

Listen to your body.

Our priorities are physical health before school. If you need to rest, then rest. If you're up for light school work, do some reading and such. If you are bouncing around, you've probably got enough energy for school too, but if you start to fade then rest. School will be there when you are well.

[LisaKinVA]

If my kids are "too sick for school" -- they are usually sleeping or worshiping at the porcelain throne.  If they are well enough to watch television, they are probably well enough to do at least *some* school work.  How much really depends.  My kids are currently sitting doing school work with a box of kleenex and filling trash cans with the resulting mess.  They are sick enough to stay home from activities, and really shouldn't be running around, doing lots of physical labor.  They should get most of their school work done today -- although they may take more breaks than usual (When I'm that congested, my eyes hurt from reading that much...my kids aren't really any different).

[Soror]

Well, we've been taking turns being sick here and unless I'm about to die I'm not in bed. I lay on the couch and doze off and on, half-way watching tv when I'm up to it. I want to be around everyone even if I don't feel like doing much of anything, I have the same expectation for the kids, I know I rarely stayed in bed as a kid. I think we are too hard on homeschool kids sometimes. :( My daughter has missed nearly a week of school, she started the week vomiting and then has been very lethargic all but one day- we tried to do school that day but it ended up that she didn't make it very far before needing to lay down. 

[catz]

Fever free cold or allergies or the like? That usually equates to a regular school day. Out of the house activities may be affected if someone is actively sneezing, coughing, or have an extremely runny nose.

 

Fever illness is off school until fever is gone. We have had influenza and that is usually 7-10 days off. And yes, we allow screens. Stomach bug with bathroom runs may be a day or 2 off. Depends. No one has had a significant illness this year knock on wood! So glad!

[EKS]

Most of the time we try to push through the work of the day.  If my son is ill enough for me to declare a sick day, then he is truly miserable, and I allow screens all day and anything else to make him feel better.