visitor Posted November 8, 2020 Share Posted November 8, 2020 Dear all, I am pregnant with my 5th child and really exhausted. How did or do you servive your homeschool days 🙂 ? Thanks in advance.. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Susan in TX Posted November 8, 2020 Share Posted November 8, 2020 We schooled year-round and took what I called "baby breaks". So the first 12 weeks of pregnancy we did very little school. I was in survival mode. Lots of screen time for the kids. During the middle part of pregnancy I felt much better so we were pretty much back to a normal routine. Then by about week 36 I was losing steam and we took a break again. Usually by 2 weeks after baby was born I was ready to get back to our normal routine of homeschooling. I also had the older kids help with chores and making breakfast and lunch. I had the oldest in charge of making breakfast for everyone...easy stuff like cinnamon toast. The 2nd oldest was in charge of lunch. (Most kids over 6 can be taught how to make a sandwich.) The older ones also helped a ton by playing with the younger ones and helping me keep them out of mischief. Susan in TX 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Not_a_Number Posted November 8, 2020 Share Posted November 8, 2020 (edited) 6 hours ago, Susan in TX said: We schooled year-round and took what I called "baby breaks". So the first 12 weeks of pregnancy we did very little school. I was in survival mode. Lots of screen time for the kids. During the middle part of pregnancy I felt much better so we were pretty much back to a normal routine. Then by about week 36 I was losing steam and we took a break again. Usually by 2 weeks after baby was born I was ready to get back to our normal routine of homeschooling. I also had the older kids help with chores and making breakfast and lunch. I had the oldest in charge of making breakfast for everyone...easy stuff like cinnamon toast. The 2nd oldest was in charge of lunch. (Most kids over 6 can be taught how to make a sandwich.) The older ones also helped a ton by playing with the younger ones and helping me keep them out of mischief. Susan in TX That's useful to think about. I guess the amount of time I spend being pukey is usually just a few months... ETA: I'm not pregnant! Just thinking about what would happen if we decided to have another. Edited November 8, 2020 by Not_a_Number 1 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Servant4Christ Posted November 9, 2020 Share Posted November 9, 2020 I taught the most teacher intensive subjects during the youngers naptime. We also schooled Math and English through the summer at half pace to get a leg up on the next school year so we could take days off as needed during the few weeks after giving birth without falling behind. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
barnwife Posted November 9, 2020 Share Posted November 9, 2020 I recently had #5...our oldest is 10. Baby is now about 2 months old. (It's been a hard recovery. I've been mentally ready to start again for a while.) We are slowly doing more school. It's a little hard to get back in the swing of things because not only of baby, but the time of year. We usually do "school lite" between Thanksgving-ish and Epiphany. And Thanksgiving is almost here. So it seems...weird to try and do school hard core for just a few weeks. Perhaps I should also add that pregnancy #5 was really hard on me. By about 34 weeks, I was basically useless. Going up and down our stairs required me to stop and rest at least once, often twice. It turns out baby was over 10 lbs. and really long. Between that, being AMA, sciatica, and a host of other pregnancy issues, I basically gave up on school other than RA. As for now, I can't always school while baby sleeps. I am a massive insomniac at night. So I am often up for the day at 2 or 3. In order for me to survive, I must nap if I can while baby naps. An interesting thing has happened though. It seems like this break has given their brains a chance to...ruminate/mature...and in some areas they've made big gains without formal schooling! So what our days currently look like is very different from our normal, and probably will be through the new year. It's not what I planned/imagined for this time, but it's keeping skills current and they are even making progress in various areas! We start with whatever we can fit into morning time (some days it's just a prayer and picture book). Then breakfast and taking care of our goats if DH isn't home. The 7yo does his reading (progressive phonics, so I can just sit on the couch as he reads). Then comes clipboard time. I put a variety of worksheets on a clipboard and they work for 15 minutes. They get to choose the order of work on their clipboard. I try to make sure each has at least one reading/writing, one mathy, and something fun. Interestingly, they enjoy this. They also play dreambox (math) sometimes and the 8 and 10 yo are slowly working through Writing Strands with me.  That's a long post to commiserate with you. And to remind you that it's okay if school looks really different for a while during this season of your life. Even if that ends up being much longer and different than you could have imagined (as in our case).  2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
barnwife Posted November 9, 2020 Share Posted November 9, 2020 (I'm not editing my first reply to avoid it DP.) Also, congrats on the pregnancy!  1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
visitor Posted November 10, 2020 Author Share Posted November 10, 2020 6 hours ago, barnwife said: (I'm not editing my first reply to avoid it DP.) Also, congrats on the pregnancy!  Thanks I really appreciate it Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Junie Posted November 10, 2020 Share Posted November 10, 2020 We have homeschooled since the beginning, so when ds20 started I was expecting dd16. So I've done pregnancy and homeschooling a few times.  Our homeschool is not as rigorous as many here. We do half days (or shorter) year round. (Things ramp up when they get to high school.) My youngest is 10, so I haven't done pregnancy and homeschooling in a long time, but because of health issues that I'm battling, the fatigue is very much the same. Naps are essential for me. We have daily quiet time for two hours every afternoon. What that looks like now is I am the only one who naps, but everyone is expected to be in their rooms and be quiet. Older kids are allowed to watch movies that the youngers are not allowed for. Making myself do at least some school every day is also key. I knew that if I let myself skip one day, it would easily turn into two, three, four. I just didn't allow myself that luxury because I knew it would be a disaster for me. Another thing that helps is meal prepping. By the end of the day I'm exhausted. Two or three times each week I like to cook a double portion of meat. I bag half of it up and put it in the freezer. Then on really rough days I just grab the main dish out of the freezer, open a couple of cans of vegetables and fruit, and dinner is ready. Best wishes to you and congratulations! 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
barnwife Posted November 10, 2020 Share Posted November 10, 2020 56 minutes ago, Junie said: Naps are essential for me. We have daily quiet time for two hours every afternoon. What that looks like now is I am the only one who naps, but everyone is expected to be in their rooms and be quiet. Older kids are allowed to watch movies that the youngers are not allowed for. Making myself do at least some school every day is also key. I knew that if I let myself skip one day, it would easily turn into two, three, four. I just didn't allow myself that luxury because I knew it would be a disaster for me. Ditto all of this. Especially the some school every day, which might seem contradictory to what I wrote above. But that's why I never, ever gave up on RA (chapter books, picture books, science and history non-fiction, anything and everything). It's what I could manage, so that's what we did! 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TAFKAPastry Posted November 10, 2020 Share Posted November 10, 2020 I homeschool hard during pregnancy on any day I can and don’t have appointments, because I’d rather keep break times postpartum when I need them. So we work at having as full a schedule as possible on the days I’m home and doing okay. I will take breaks as needed throughout the day, but I find cramming hard in the morning so I can have a nice afternoon nap is way more helpful. Even postpartum I don’t do a lot of school during the afternoon baby nap, I save that so I can sleep. But I will put the most teacher intensive subjects during the baby’s morning nap, and make a lot of use of infant swings and carriers to get stuff done. Still, daily consistency with at least core subjects is a MUST, no matter how crappy I feel. Unless I’m genuinely sick, I can’t just take off during pregnancy or postpartum because I’m tired, or NOTHING would ever get done. I’ve been pregnant or nursing almost constantly for a decade and a half, it’s suck-it-up-buttercup for the most part. There’s just too many other kids and needs, so I triage. Vomit breaks? Cool. Having them set on an independent subject or three while I drive to an appointment? Cool. Making a significant school block so I can collapse later and making hubby do the cleaning or any food that isn’t microwaved or cold? Also cool. But homeschool is the ONE thing I prioritize, everything else can slide unless I’m bedbound (and then I couch school if I’m at all able). I guiltlessly take off a few weeks postpartum, but the kids do best with a consistent school core each day. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BlsdMama Posted November 12, 2020 Share Posted November 12, 2020 I napped with the littles! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Join the conversation
You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.