Ewe Mama Posted April 28, 2016 Share Posted April 28, 2016 Sigh. We have done always done history, Bible, French, art, geography, read-alouds, music, poetry, nature study, and science as a family. The three boys all do CLE math together. When everyone is healthy, it works beautifully. The trouble is, that someone is always carrying and sharing germs with the others. One child is sick for three days, so we don't do schoolwork because we want to wait for sick child to feel better. Then another child gets sick and misses two more days. And so it goes. We have missed so many days since the beginning of March that I feel like we will never be caught up again. I would like to switch to completely independent work for all of them, that way they can work at their own pace and are not hindered by their siblings' health. I hate the idea of doing it, but missing almost 40 days of schoolwork time cannot happen anymore. We are finishing up Modern History (hopefully by the end of May) and will hop right into Ancients again. I had planned on using A World of Adventure with them, but I can now see that that will be a complete disaster. Can you tell me some ancient history programs that can be used independently for grades 3-6? Joy already works separately, so I only have to figure this out for the four younger kids. Christian friendly choices are appreciated. I would love something that is written to the student and would be open to using different programs with different booklists so they aren't fighting over whose turn it is to use a particular book. Every program I have ever used has been geared to being used as a group. My brain is drawing a complete blank on independent ancient history choices. Please help! PS. Suggestions for the other subjects would also be appreciated. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Critterfixer Posted April 28, 2016 Share Posted April 28, 2016 :grouphug: Sorry about that. Seems like a lot of families have been sick this spring. CLE Math can be done independently. So you just have to accept the fact that at some point, everybody is going to be on a different lesson. You might be able to adjust this by scheduling "make up days" in the schedule. Use them if you need them to catch up, or to catch a break. As far as sharing books goes, I stagger History and Science and Literature between the two boys. If one is doing History, the other is doing science. If one is doing Literature with one book, the other might be doing Geography or another book for Literature on the same day. That helps with book fights, and also makes it easy for me to schedule a makeup afternoon on Sunday if needed. So basically, we can use the same curriculum that we could do together, and just break it up so that nobody is waiting on someone else to finish. Really, I think the makeup days matter the most, and being sure to build sick days, vacation days and teacher work days into your yearly schedule. Cause you know you are going to need them! :laugh: 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cosmos Posted April 28, 2016 Share Posted April 28, 2016 Well, you're probably going to need to break off your oldest to work on her own as she moves into high school work anyway. But if you value the time spent learning together as a family, consider finding ways to make the group learning work even when someone is sick. Separating everyone out into their own programs would have some advantages, but it has some disadvantages too. I imagine you picked those programs for some good reasons in the first place. I would think about what happens when an elementary age student misses a few days of school. And that is . . . absolutely nothing. They come back to school and join in the class. Perhaps they missed a day of science or a history lesson or two. But in the long run, it's not that big a deal. If you do "history, Bible, French, art, geography, read-alouds, music, poetry, nature study, and science as a family", the only one I would worry about is read-alouds. Your sick child would lose the thread of the story. :( But maybe if someone is sick, they would be well enough to come listen to a chapter of the read aloud. Or you could keep a book of short stories on hand and just do read aloud from that when someone is missing so that you can keep your routine but nobody misses out on the story. For the other subjects, just do a quick review of what you learned while the sick student was out. "Who can tell me what we learned in science yesterday?" And then just go on. Once you get into high school, the student does need to do more in terms of making up missed work, but for elementary I think it's fine. Don't throw out your whole lovely routine just for this. (Math is different, though. The student shouldn't just skip over lessons there.) 5 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ewe Mama Posted April 28, 2016 Author Share Posted April 28, 2016 Thanks for your response, Critter. I'm not too worried about math. They work at their own pace most of the time. Staggering books does not work for my crew. Alvin is a dawdler/day dreamer/deep thinker and cannot/will not be prodded through the material more quickly. He plods through at his own pace, even if he works hours longer than his siblings. Simon and Theodore will try to race each other and will be more interested in competing to see who completes all of their work first, than in actually learning and retaining something. I have thought about staggering their start dates on the same curriculum, but all it would take is the first one getting sick for a few days to throw that off again. Maybe I can do Creek Edge Press task cards and have each of them do a different project at a time? Hmm. Pondering. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Critterfixer Posted April 28, 2016 Share Posted April 28, 2016 The way I see it, what's killing you in days lost is waiting for one kid to recover only to have the others get sick. And that's just life. So you can't wait on somebody to recover, that kid just has to use his sick days and make up the work at a later date. That way instead of having forty days of nothing done, each kid gets his ten, and nobody misses more than their ten. Ten days missed is doable. Twenty might be fine over a year! You don't have to have everything be independent work for that to work. But you need to have a routine for sick, a plan to make up assignments missed, and maybe even some alternative lessons planned in case of illness. Maybe Alvin would enjoy enhancing his history study by being able to choose a documentary for an alternate "sick lesson". Or a task card? It doesn't have to be all independent for you to avoid getting behind. What's probably not helping either is that I'm pretty sure you have to be pretty involved in taking care of the sick child, and that doesn't help you to be able to teach the others. :sad: Nothing like having to be the main educator, chief cook and bottle washer, nurse and house coordinator all at the same time! 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ewe Mama Posted April 28, 2016 Author Share Posted April 28, 2016 Thanks for chiming in, Cosmos. There is a simplicity and beauty in doing it the way you suggest. I don't know if I can make it work here, though. When they get sick, they tend to go down hard and need my attention, so I am not available to do the usual routine with them as I am tending to the one who has succumbed to the cooties. I have one who vomits at the drop of a hat due to reflux, another who spikes very high fevers, and another who requires frequent trips to the ER for severe asthma when he gets a common cold. The other two are "normal" when they are sick, but the other three make up for it. :) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ewe Mama Posted April 28, 2016 Author Share Posted April 28, 2016 The way I see it, what's killing you in days lost is waiting for one kid to recover only to have the others get sick. And that's just life. So you can't wait on somebody to recover, that kid just has to use his sick days and make up the work at a later date. That way instead of having forty days of nothing done, each kid gets his ten, and nobody misses more than their ten. Ten days missed is doable. Twenty might be fine over a year! You don't have to have everything be independent work for that to work. But you need to have a routine for sick, a plan to make up assignments missed, and maybe even some alternative lessons planned in case of illness. Maybe Alvin would enjoy enhancing his history study by being able to choose a documentary for an alternate "sick lesson". Or a task card? It doesn't have to be all independent for you to avoid getting behind. What's probably not helping either is that I'm pretty sure you have to be pretty involved in taking care of the sick child, and that doesn't help you to be able to teach the others. :sad: Nothing like having to be the main educator, chief cook and bottle washer, nurse and house coordinator all at the same time! I can't like this enough! That last paragraph is the zinger. If I could count the number of times I have finally been able to sit down in the schoolroom to work with the healthy ones, only to hear the plaintive cry of, "Mommmmyyyyyyyy!" again. The real kick in the pants is by the time everyone else recovers, I end up with it. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Critterfixer Posted April 28, 2016 Share Posted April 28, 2016 :laugh: I think you need an isolation ward right off the schoolroom! Complete with steam sanitation to be used at the end of each use. But I'm not sure that all independent would save you either. I've got twin boys, and if I'm remembering correctly, getting the little toots to do anything independently at age ten was usually a recipe for a new and novel play time, in which I could return from folding laundry or tending to a chore only to find lots of giggling and nothing done. I actually think your idea of doing things as a group is a good one with your situation. At the very least, Theodore and Alvin are going to be together in most things, and Faith probably isn't far behind them. Simon may be more capable of moving on with independent materials, but even he is going to still require a lot of your time to discuss his independent work. What about coming up with a "sick day" routine for school? Obviously it might not work for things like major trips to the ER; but if you had an alternate lesson plan for days when your time is going to be limited, then things might go a little better for you, and you would still be getting things done, even if you don't get the curriculum done. And no need to go back over what you have missed. A lot of times I will actually get a documentary over the same history topic or science topic we are studying from the library. We might watch it on the weekend, but should we need a sick day, that might take the place of the history or science lesson for that day. And I've been known to happily outsource a read-aloud to the audiobook, if I need to do something else. For things that can't be restructured (language arts, math) I would simply plan to schedule make up days to catch up. So if Alvin goes down, he misses his three days of math that week, and he starts right back up where he got sick, BUT, he completes an additional lesson on Sunday afternoon or Saturday morning until he's caught up. Nobody else misses a math lesson until it is their turn to come down with it, and they get their makeup days for those subjects over the weekend or after school sometime. For history and science makeup, I'd simply have the child who had been ill complete the "sick day" history/science documentary on the weekend, and it might be a fun way for the others to review the material again, anyway. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted April 28, 2016 Share Posted April 28, 2016 How about VP online or K12? History Odyssey Level 2 is independent Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SilverMoon Posted April 28, 2016 Share Posted April 28, 2016 (edited) . Edited July 12, 2022 by SilverMoon 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Critterfixer Posted April 28, 2016 Share Posted April 28, 2016 I don't think it is a problem of each individual kid missing days (OP stated high fevers, vomiting and life-threatening asthma attacks, so I'd say they would probably be missing more days if they were in brick and mortar.) It's that everything grinds to a halt when that's going on for everybody else. And you know, some of that is just going to happen since most of us are not only educators, but also Mom. And as we all know, Mom has to solve every problem in the universe, fix dinner and look like she's all put together at the end of the day! :lol: Which is why you just have to have a plan. Because you can't do it all. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tenaj Posted April 28, 2016 Share Posted April 28, 2016 This is one of the reasons I use Heart of Dakota. Everyone is in their own guides so when one kid is sick it doesn't throw everything into chaos. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ewe Mama Posted April 28, 2016 Author Share Posted April 28, 2016 This is one of the reasons I use Heart of Dakota. Everyone is in their own guides so when one kid is sick it doesn't throw everything into chaos. I'm glad HOD works so well for you, but it would be a disaster here. Faith is ahead of her level, Simon is a bit behind, and Alvin and Theodore are the same age, so they would all end up being in the same guide. Then we're right back to where we started. :) I can't afford to do four sets of books and guides for everyone for that idea, as nice as it sounds, to work well here. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ewe Mama Posted April 28, 2016 Author Share Posted April 28, 2016 (edited) Dp Edited April 28, 2016 by Ewe Mama Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ewe Mama Posted April 28, 2016 Author Share Posted April 28, 2016 How about VP online or K12? History Odyssey Level 2 is independent We only have an ancient desktop that cooperates when we DON'T need to use it, so online is not something feasible right now. HO is one of those programs that doesn't look like it would be a good fit for any of my kiddos...but I wish it would be! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ewe Mama Posted April 28, 2016 Author Share Posted April 28, 2016 I don't think it is a problem of each individual kid missing days (OP stated high fevers, vomiting and life-threatening asthma attacks, so I'd say they would probably be missing more days if they were in brick and mortar.) It's that everything grinds to a halt when that's going on for everybody else. And you know, some of that is just going to happen since most of us are not only educators, but also Mom. And as we all know, Mom has to solve every problem in the universe, fix dinner and look like she's all put together at the end of the day! :lol: Which is why you just have to have a plan. Because you can't do it all. Are you my doppelgänger? 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ewe Mama Posted April 28, 2016 Author Share Posted April 28, 2016 We have a dedicated school room that is also my laundry room (this used to be our dining room with the laundry area closed off behind two bifold doors). On a good day, I am in there throughout the entire school session, doing laundry and glowering at the boys' antics to get them back on track as needed. :) On sick kid days, I'm running from one end of the house to the other, upstairs and downstairs, trying to keep sick kid(s) hydrated, medicated, germs contained, cleaned up and comfortable. I don't entertain them. If they feel well enough to annoy a sibling, they are well enough for school. I'm mean like that. Because Theodore's asthma is triggered by colds, I have to keep the sick one isolated as much as possible, even if he/she is "well enough" to accomplish some work on his/her own. It's not the independent work that's at issue. It's the stuff they do altogether. That is where we are getting behind. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Critterfixer Posted April 28, 2016 Share Posted April 28, 2016 Are you my doppelgänger? :lol: No, I just get it. Here's what I'm seeing though. If you want all independent, you are going to end up with four sets of books and guides for each kid. I don't see any way around that. I'm also a big fan of not fixing something that isn't broken, and you state that when the kids are healthy, your system works beautifully. In short, you made something that is just about perfect for your family, and I would sure hate to see you throw all that away for something that might be more trouble (and expense) than it is worth. I also get the book costs and the "it's my turn with the book thing." You can't have people waiting on the same book if things are going to be independent. I stagger days, (so that nobody is working on history and science at the same time) but that won't work with four, unless you make history, science, geography, and literature one day a week subjects, and that's going to play havoc with retention! I got to think about it; but I'm thinking you might do well with covering the same material with different means and/or different books. Whenever I assign material from OUP for instance, I've got a second book covering the same time period from a different angle that the boys read right along with their "spine". I do the same thing for science, and like I said, whenever I plan, I've got documentaries picked out, other library books that I've collected on the subject, and even audiobooks when I can get them. It is possible that I might have four resources for one thing. Then everybody takes turns covering the exact same stuff with different books that I may or may not have bought. And I've got the easy-peasy documentary for a day when people just need a break, get sick or I've got animals that need my attention. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chelli Posted April 28, 2016 Share Posted April 28, 2016 It wasn't sickness, but sleepiness that caused me to separate my two oldest after Christmas. My oldest would sleep so late that by the time we got around to their combined subjects it was really late and was never getting done. I'm really glad I put them in their own studies for science and history. Now they can each do their own thing at their exact learning level. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Critterfixer Posted April 28, 2016 Share Posted April 28, 2016 (edited) Combined subjects: French, Bible, Art, Geography, Read-Aloud, Music, Poetry, Nature Study, History and Science. Are all of these every day? Independently, MP Bible and Geography might work, thing is, they bore me. But the Geography did get done, and I have high hopes for Bible this summer. Art-Artistic Pursuits is kind of pricey, but it is set up to be done independently, and if each child had one day for art a week, then you could have them share one book, because nobody would need to share it during the day. The read-aloud is tough, but that one probably could get skipped on a sick day out of courtesy to the sick child. Poetry and Music and maybe Nature Study I'd put in that group. It might be a good day for a nature video if you want to do nature study and keep the well children occupied while you tend to the sick. Science: I'm not up on the Christian programs, sorry. But as I said, I'm big on covering the same stuff different ways. One summer we used MP Insects for a science course, and we did one day together ( the observation, drawing, etc of the bug) but I would get a bunch of books and we rented Insectia for like six weeks from the library. There wasn't a lot of book sharing, and we had a blast, and there wasn't any worry if somebody didn't get to one of the resources, because everything was on the same thing. You couldn't miss content. History-SOTW might be a good fit for all but the eldest. And even he might get something out of it, and you might get him an OUP book to go with it, or one of the Dorothy Mills resources to read along with it. SOTW pairs great with biographies, and some historical fiction, and don't forget great picture books from the library, or literature that goes with the time period. Each child could listen or read the SOTW (and I understand it comes on audio for sick days!) and then go grab their own resource for the day (somebody could do the biography, another could read the historical fiction, another could be busy figuring out how a shaduf works from studying the encyclopedia or a picture book on Mesopotamia. ETA: I forgot French. Take a look at Ecoutez, Parlez. Edited April 28, 2016 by Critterfixer 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SilverMoon Posted April 28, 2016 Share Posted April 28, 2016 (edited) On 4/28/2016 at 8:24 AM, Ewe Mama said: Edited May 23, 2023 by SilverMoon 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Coco_Clark Posted April 28, 2016 Share Posted April 28, 2016 This is exactly why we don't stop homeschooling when there's sickness in the house. With 3 bio kids and 1-3 foster kids, ALL going to different co-ops, schools, visitation centers, ect, there is almost always someone sick October-March! Sick child gets "off" for the day (or half off, depending on HOW sick he is, often sick kids can still lay in bed and read!) but everyone else still has school. I used to fret about shared subjects but you know what? Sometimes they miss a thing, and that's ok. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ewe Mama Posted May 2, 2016 Author Share Posted May 2, 2016 OK, so I have been spending a lot of time thinking and praying about this. I have come up with a couple options that I'd like some opinions on. Option #1 Use Biblioplan Ancients (which I already own) and assign each child his/her own spine book. Put together a set of notebooking pages and add a one time per month task from a Creek Edge press task card. The other book choices can be used as read alouds for the healthy and sickly alike (if they feel like listening). They can work independently from their spines and still be combined for the literature selections. Option #2 Ditch the chronological cycle and let them choose independent studies. I already have 180 Days around the World, Journey into Africa, All-American History, various Beautiful Feet guides, and I am planning to order some Notgrass sets (from Adam to Us and the Uncle Sam set). Everyone picks something different and works at his/her own pace. Option #3 Give me another option... What would you choose and why? PS I was planning to ask this a couple days ago, but Alvin, Simon, and I were all sick at the same time. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SilverMoon Posted May 2, 2016 Share Posted May 2, 2016 Either one or two could work pretty well. Looks like it depends on how important everyone staying on the same topic is to y'all. Poll the kids and see what they think? I'm often surprised with some fabulous insight when I ask them what they liked, didn't like, and want to do next. I went with number two for my homeschool. Those years when they were all younger and on the same cycle were lovely, but we just got to a point it wasn't effective anymore. The big ones splintered off. Then the middle ones blasted down their own paths before the little ones really had a chance to get mixed in. Some years have more overlap than others, but everyone's courses are decided independently. All five homeschoolers will be doing biology this year, but I didn't even realize that until I was planning for the kindergartner. The two doing high school level get the same book with their own independent schedules. The precocious 6th/7th has a "nonmajor" sort of high school course, the 3rd gets Mr. Q, and the K gets real books to read and discuss with Mom. We can do movies and some labs together at least. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Critterfixer Posted May 2, 2016 Share Posted May 2, 2016 Option One would be my choice because it sounds easier to implement. I'm all for making it as easy on Mom as possible. If you find that Option two is easier for you to manage, then go for it! What you want is something that you can streamline easily when you need to, and something that does allow you enough flexibility to adjust the schedule when it is necessary. Both have their merits. Option one would allow discussion over the same topics when you wanted to work as a group. Option two would allow a discussion of many different things so that each child might be able to present what he or she had been working on, and that can be fun too. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ewe Mama Posted May 3, 2016 Author Share Posted May 3, 2016 Well I polled the live studio audience and the winner is option #1. I'm starting to get excited about it, although I had truly been looking forward to finally using Learning Adventures. This would have been my last opportunity to use it, as by the next cycle they will be too old for it. Bummer. Ah well, they need to stretch their wings and become more independent and responsible in their learning. We will still make it fun! 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ewe Mama Posted May 3, 2016 Author Share Posted May 3, 2016 And today we're missing school because one of our ewes is in labor. Two little black ram lambs so far... 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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