How do you home school with a baby?

[Janeway]

Good news is..he took some steps today! Yay! Bad news is...he wants tons of attention. He can grab at people, books, pencils. He can reach so much now!!! Ok..he actually got his little fingers to the top of the table a couple days ago and just started grabbing at whatever they could touch. AND..he needs to much attention and I need a shower! If I had not spent the first hour of the morning giving lessons, I could have grabbed a shower then. Now, he is wide awake and making a cry sound when a big kid won't pay attention to him. He is crawling up to the older kids and patting them and then letting out a shout when they fail to give him attention. 

 

Before you say put him down for a nap..LOL..he thinks he has outgrown that!!!! He will take one in the afternoon, but that is it! Shouldn't a baby under one take more naps than this?

 

Edited to add: the boys resorts to doing experiments on the baby. LOL. at least they are learning about child development. I think I will make this in to a lesson on writing a real lab report, hypothesis and all!

Edited February 25, 2016 by Janeway

[Kristie in Florida]

I want to say something encouraging. Mine still naps. The day he gives up his nap will be a very sad day. Mine is also content to just hang with me while my daughter is doing school.

[ElizaG]

Some things we've found helpful:

 

Playpen or gated area, within sight of school table; start with brief periods, with a sibling next to them for entertainment; gradually increase time spent playing alone (this has turned out to be essential for our homeschool)

 

Highchair near school table; try to arrange schedule so that baby is being fed during lessons

 

Assign the other children to play with or read to baby, in rotation

 

Music time with baby & preschoolers, using shakers, drums, etc.; with some experience, the younger children enjoy "leading" this

 

Baby may be refusing naps due to being overtired, or just as a "stage;" don't assume it's forever, and be attentive to early cues of sleepiness

[julikins]

I know it's hard.  But just keep persevering.  I agree with starting with short times in a gated area.  Try to do your content subjects where you have be involved before he's wide awake in the morning and during his afternoon nap.  I find I can get a few minutes with my one year old in a high chair and each day I have a different activity.  A zip lock bag with a dab of paint in it.  Large crayons on scrap paper that I tape to his tray.  Pipe cleaners in a colander.  Fuzzy pom poms in a plastic container with lid.  I put a towel under his chair and give him a small basin with bubbly water and a few different small bowls and cups to play with it.  If you don't mind a little mess, then you can snatch a few minutes to teach.  The problem with this age is that things only keep their attention for a few minutes and the next time it's not nearly so entertaining.  But you can keep looking for easy no cost/low cost ideas that can keep him busy.  Once he stops putting things in his mouth the possibilities are endless.  But I find that the stage before that is the hardest.  It won't last forever, it will get better in a little while.  Hang in there.

[Monica_in_Switzerland]

Sometimes, you have to just admit that during certain phases, less work is going to get done.  Try to drop to the bare minimum, trying to encourage independence in the older kids, and pick things up later.  Work through the summer if necessary.  

 

It's common advice, but it does work well for us if I give lots of attention to the little ones first, then take out some "special" activity during school time that they don't usually have.  For my baby, it's matchbox cars and a ramp.  For my 4yo, it's pattern blocks, kinetic sand, or watercolors.  

[JessReplanted]

It is hard. It is so hard that I feel like I am in a constant state of being ready to quit. At this point our baby is 2, but I try to keep her entertained with countless episodes of Daniel Tiger, or toys dumped all over the floor, or having her be my buddy while the kids are getting work done.

 

It is a constant, exhausting juggling act. :grouphug:

[lindsey]

This is one of my biggest fears about starting to HS this summer. I am losing my mind just...being home with my toddler (20m). She is a walking tornado. Just now my Ker was doing his homework and she spilled a glass of water all over his papers, crayons, etc. I set to work cleaning it up and she followed me into the kitchen, yanking dish towels down and emptying the lazy susan of the dry goods canisters and big glass wine bottles (which she normally does every night as I'm cooking dinner, we really need to figure out how to lock it...). The instant she gets distracted with playing with her brothers or her toys, I will try to run and put laundry away, or start working with the Ker on math (forget ever trying to do anything alone with the 4yo), and then there she is, walking around yelling for me, destroying whatever I just did OR getting in the middle of the Miquon rods or whatever. She only naps for 1-2 hours most days, I can't fit it all in then!! When I do sit with her she mostly wants read to, or for me to just carry her around. So.demanding. of attention and time. If anything makes HSing not work out, I'm afraid it'll be her. :/ 

[lindsey]

It is hard. It is so hard that I feel like I am in a constant state of being ready to quit. At this point our baby is 2, but I try to keep her entertained with countless episodes of Daniel Tiger, or toys dumped all over the floor, or having her be my buddy while the kids are getting work done.

 

It is a constant, exhausting juggling act. :grouphug:

 

I seriously can't.wait. until mine will sit for a show. Just one show would change my life. I could actually get something done around here. 

[Targhee]

We rotated older kids to help out. At any given time an older was 1) working 1:1 with me, 2) working independently, or 3) playing with the baby.

 

I also found that having designated 1:1 time with baby/toddler is important and helpful.

[mamiof5]

We are in the same boat, ours is 16 months and he's very disruptive. For a while I was assigning 30 minutes of "time with the baby" to each kid. Yes, they don't do school for 30 mins (one person), but the baby is happy and he's not disruptive to everyone. Even your 6yr old could play with him in a safe place. Also, Word world and Clifford the big red dog have become his favorites :)

[Kerileanne99]

Wow, I am in the exact same boat. We have tried everything. Mine is 10 months old and a category 3 destructive hurricane. He is on the move constantly, already walking...and is 27 pounds! (97th percentile for height and weight). He has already figured out he is faster than my wheelchair and that he can scoot into places I can't get to😳

He does take a 30 min nap in the morning and afternoon, but it takes him 30 minutes of fighting it to get there.

 

It shouldn't be such a big deal as my oldest is Kindy, but she is working at an extremely accelerated level and, although mostly works from a work plan list independently, still needs me!

If he is put behind a baby gate or octagon he literally screams bloody murder the whole time. If out, he wants sisters constant attention and pulls at her. She has severe ADHD so that is a huge problem!

 

Yesterday SHE came up with a solution. I came in from the bathroom and she had all her school materials spread out inside the octagon, had brought a portable desk and snack! If she couldn't keep the baby in, she sure could keep him out, lol. Genius.

And baby happily demolished the living room whilst I helped her:)

[TracyP]

I'm not there yet, but I am so scared of next year. My baby was born just a few weeks ago. So except for math and reading (these always continue) and a few loose ends that my older kids need to wrap up, we are done for the year.  :hurray: However, when I look toward next fall I almost hyperventilate. I will be teaching 5 kids from Kindy to 8th with a *gulp* toddler in tow...

 

How independent are your older kids? If they can get started in the morning, I would rotate between cheerios in the high chair and big kids taking turns with baby for 20-30 min. That should buy you enough time to do the basics with the 6yo and 4yo. I would spend baby's afternoon nap working one-on-one with the older kids. This is sort of how I envision next year looking for us.

 

:lol: I laugh because it sounds so easy, right? I have a feeling that will look not be so neat and tidy in reality. I recently told a friend that I was going to put in a bulk order for wine alongside my book orders for next year. ;)

[Coco_Clark]

I've never homeschooled without a baby. And as foster parents, as soon as we get one baby "trained" into napping, or playing alone, or ect, we just have a new one. Sigh. It's hard. It just is.

 

Utilize the nap. Even if it's the only nap.

 

Utilize your other kids. Have one okay with baby while you work with another. Then switch.

 

Play pens with a few toys, high chairs with some snacks, baby carriers with a back carry (so they can't reach), educational-ish TV like Signing Time, have all been lifesavers for different ages and personalities. I once got through a summer by putting a kiddo in a storage tub right next to the table with some water and cups, lol.

 

And yeah, just accept that this is a season and when it's over you will be back on your homeschooling game, but right now the focus is just different. Give me a newborn (sleeps all day, or is happy to just sit with you and a bottle!) or a toddler (can scribble and play with "special" school time toys!) any day. It's that 6 to 18 months or so that's hardest to school with.

[Tranquility7]

Oh my goodness, I totally know what you mean. My 23 month old drives me absolutely batty during school. She is a sweetie and often is not doing anything wrong, per se, but she is just SO ACTIVE and my big kids are SO UNBELIEVABLY DISTRACTED by her! :willy_nilly: :willy_nilly: :willy_nilly: She is constantly getting into things, making noise, interrupting them, etc., etc., etc. A student's attention is the most basic requirement when trying to teach something, but my kids are constantly distracted and so I am constantly telling them, "Look!" :willy_nilly: "Focus!" :willy_nilly: "Pay attention!" :willy_nilly: "Ignore her!" :willy_nilly:

 

I have learned over the years that I am NOT the multitasker I used to think I was... but with a toddler I have *no choice* - absolutely everything is an exercise in multitasking for me as well as for my big kids. I find it incredibly exhausting (and sometimes, like this week, SUPER discouraging). My one consolation is that "this too shall pass". She is a darling, and she won't be a toddler forever. There will come a time when she will be old enough to play independently in another room... sometimes - like today - I live for that day!!!