mittmaman Posted February 12, 2009 Share Posted February 12, 2009 I was wondering how those of you who had babies while homeschooling dealt with the change? How long of a break should I expect? Did you "reschedule" your schoolyear, or just take a little break? Did you postpone your year entirely (this little one will be arriving at the end of September...)? What should I expect at the various stages of infancy and babyhood as far as homeschooling is concerned? (I'll deal with the toddle-part later;) ) Just some more info: the older kids will be in K, 2nd grade and 4th grade and I was always lucky to have uncomplicated easy deliveries... Thanks for your advice! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mittmaman Posted February 12, 2009 Author Share Posted February 12, 2009 Bump Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
springmama Posted February 12, 2009 Share Posted February 12, 2009 Since you are probably going to have more time before baby, I'd start the school year as soon as possible and then take a nice long break when the baby comes. I don't know what your schedule is, but if you normally take the summer off, maybe you could do school all summer and then take 2 months off after teh baby arrives. Then if you have problems with mastitis, bfing issues, complications from birth, or a colicky baby, then you can focus on dealing with that and not feel like you are pulled in a million different directions, kwim? Or, if you have a really easy baby that sleeps through the night right away and doesn't make you tired or frazzled, then you can have a really great relaxing babymoon with the kids for at least a few weeks and pick up school whenever you feel like it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pretty in Pink Posted February 12, 2009 Share Posted February 12, 2009 I've always taken a short break when baby arrives, maybe two weeks. I also plan ahead so that during those first few weeks back at lessons (when baby is 3-4 weeks old) the lessons are ready to go and there is no need for planning on my part. I have had uncomplicated deliveries and great recoveries with each of my babies. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HomeOnTheRanch Posted February 12, 2009 Share Posted February 12, 2009 My baby was born on a Saturday, we came home from the hospital on Sunday, and we were doing school again on Monday. For the month prior to the birth I was schooling from the couch, so the only difference after the birth was that I was holding the wee one instead of having him inside me. I HAD planned on taking a few weeks off, but it was too chaotic. The "order" of school calmed everyone down. It was much easier for us to do school than not do it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
*Inna* Posted February 12, 2009 Share Posted February 12, 2009 I'm due in September too and decided to start first grade as soon as we done with all the K lessons I planned. Then, after the baby comes, take a break (1-3 months). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
patchfire Posted February 12, 2009 Share Posted February 12, 2009 I was due in mid-November, so we started three or four weeks earlier than we usually did. If I had thought about it, I would have started even earlier than that! She ended up being over a week late, so instead of taking off a week plus Thanksgiving week, we just took off two days plus Thanksgiving week, worked for two more weeks, then took three weeks around Christmas. Honestly, that worked better in terms of the baby, too, to do a few weeks before 1 month and then have a break around 6 weeks. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Veritaserum Posted February 12, 2009 Share Posted February 12, 2009 It took us about two months to get back into the swing of things. My most recent baby was born at the end of June, so we were on a summer break anyway. The hardest was my mid-September baby. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KerriF Posted February 12, 2009 Share Posted February 12, 2009 I had a baby in November. I had started our school year early so that we could take 6 weeks off. We ended up taking 8 weeks off. I didn't think that was too bad until I read about ladies starting back to school days after having a baby :D I couldn't go back so soon I had to take the time off. I'm glad a planned ahead for it. hth Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lisa Kjeld...in CA Posted February 13, 2009 Share Posted February 13, 2009 I HAD planned on taking a few weeks off, but it was too chaotic. The "order" of school calmed everyone down. It was much easier for us to do school than not do it. I have found this to be completely true in our family as well! I've had four babies born during the school year and it was always easier to just keep schooling then to have no schedule. Congrats on your newest blessing! Lisa Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Oakblossoms Posted February 13, 2009 Share Posted February 13, 2009 For those who are schooling just a few days later.... Do you just do the next thing or did you prepare a written plan? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
susie in tx Posted February 13, 2009 Share Posted February 13, 2009 I had our newest at the end of October. I'd planned for her to be late, but she was two days early. We still needed to finish 2 weeks of TOG, so we did. She was born on Tuesday, and by the end of the week, we were back to doing TOG. I also did a little math with the olders while we finished up our TOG unit. Then, we took a 3 month break. Going back, I went very slowly, adding in just a couple of things per week until we got going strong. The change in routine was hard for all of us. I hadn't planned on a 3 month break, but I'm ok with it. We'll just school through the summer until we finish what I'd planned for the year. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JoyfulMama Posted February 13, 2009 Share Posted February 13, 2009 I HAD planned on taking a few weeks off, but it was too chaotic. The "order" of school calmed everyone down. It was much easier for us to do school than not do it. :iagree:I planned on taking at least a month off the first time, but only took about two weeks of both times - while there were others coming and going visiting and helping and such.... Then we needed some rhythm to the house, so we would do simple things for school, but it was something... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jami Posted February 13, 2009 Share Posted February 13, 2009 I had planned to take a couple of weeks to a month off. But I was due around New Years, so it would have been part of a Christmas break as well. Well the baby arrived about 3 weeks after her due date, so we'd started up school and had been back at our schedule while we were waiting for her. But by the time she arrived the kids had been sick for over a week, I had been feeling miserable, we weren't getting much done in general. I felt *so* much better once she was here and the rest of the family was finally healthy, so we jumped back into our routine about 10 days after she arrived. I echo those who've found that life flows better here with the routine in place. My oldest is not-yet-8 though and so school doesn't require as much of the day as it would if I had older kids. So we can do school and then have plenty of time to snuggle baby, nap, etc. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Susan in TN Posted February 13, 2009 Share Posted February 13, 2009 I always plan to take off at least a month, but with a bit of light schooling to do in the meantime - things the kids can do on their own like math, reading, or listening to lessons on tape, etc. If my baby was due in Sept., I would probably plan to get as much schooling done in the hot summer months beforehand, and then take off a good month when the baby came. My kids would enjoy the outdoor weather more then. My last baby (#6) was born in early January, and we just started back to a full schedule of lessons this past week. My older kids did a few lessons during the break. I'm glad I planned for a longish break because since the baby was born, we've had to keep the house in order for several showings and I've had a UTI and strep throat, none of which is conducive to full throttle schooling. :tongue_smilie: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Veritaserum Posted February 14, 2009 Share Posted February 14, 2009 (edited) My last baby (#6) was born in early January, and we just started back to a full schedule of lessons this past week. My older kids did a few lessons during the break. I'm glad I planned for a longish break because since the baby was born, we've had to keep the house in order for several showings and I've had a UTI and strep throat, none of which is conducive to full throttle schooling. :tongue_smilie: Yeah, when mom goes down things tend to fall apart around here. I've got mastitis this week coming off of a week when we were all sick. We lost about 10 days there with everyone being so sick. I think we'll do some heavier school days in the next couple of weeks to make up for it. It really works best if we can finish up around the same time as ps due to kids coming over wanting to play or assorted outdoor activities being available. Edited February 14, 2009 by Veritaserum mommy brain--forgot to type some words Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Suzanne in ABQ Posted February 14, 2009 Share Posted February 14, 2009 I took two months off. I wouldn't trade that time for anything. It was so fleeting. She was so little for only such a short time. I held her, and smelled her, and curled her up on my tummy (trying to picture how in the world she fit in there). I made wonderful memories that I will treasure forever. We may have gotten "behind" in grammar and math, and perhaps we could have done some history (as I had intended), but we just adjusted to life with baby. I'm so glad we did. (Incidentally, we caught up with all that coursework with no problems). When it was time to go back, I just started with one subject, and added in more each day or two. Within a couple weeks, we were doing a full day. Schooling with a baby was easy (compared with schooling with a preschooler). Babies sleep so much (at least mine did), and it's easy to do read-alouds and feed the baby at the same time. If your baby is due in September, I'd start your school year at least a month early, so you'll be able to take all the time you need without feeling guilty. Then, just enjoy that baby! Blessings, Suzanne Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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