Homeschooling presents plenty of challenges under normal circumstances, but a whole new set of challenges arise when the homeschool parent goes through illness or medical issues that demand lots of time in bed. Some of us have been there for short amounts of time over the years, – a virus here and a cold there – but there are some who have been on bed rest long enough to homeschool in spite of it. That’s where Kaylene from This Outnumbered Mama comes in. She’s stopping by today to share her tips on homeschooling from bed:
I am so excited to be here sharing with you all, and a big thank you to Miss Emily for having me! I’m Kaylene, a homeschooling mama of 3 (soon to be 4!) and for the last few weeks I have been stuck on modified bed rest. I am experiencing a “high risk” pregnancy, and I get to be out of bed for roughly 1-2 hours a day.
With three boys 5 and under, that can cause extreme chaos in a household! I’ve been lucky to find a few ways to help us all survive and even get some of our homeschooling work done, all while being stuck in bed for the large majority of our day.
How to Homeschool from Bed
Focus on Independent Skills
This can be hard if you have mostly littles, but even my five year old has some homeschooling work that he can complete himself. For us it started as handwriting, and now that he’s reading more independently, there’s more that he can complete on his own. We may have had to put off on some of the fun history and science projects for now, but he can read stories, complete a few worksheets, and focus on math which is one of his favorite subjects. Find a few activities your kids can do on their own and focus on those for the time being!
Change Your Ideas About School
There are so many things that we can count as homeschooling for our kids! When you’re on bed rest, you may need to re-evaluate what you think about homeschooling and give yourself some grace. Sometimes instead of using our science curriculum, we watch Magic School Bus or Sid the Science Kid. We have watched How to Train Your Dragon in place of a history lesson which opened up a great discussion about how we believe differently than others do. Playing play doh, learning to help prepare lunch, doing chores, or even helping play with younger siblings can all count as homeschooling lessons. Homeschooling is about teaching our children about life, not necessarily checking boxes off of our curriculum guides.
Read, Read, Read!
This will be easy for you if you’re already doing literature based homeschooling, but if you tend to be more strict about worksheets and formal lessons, trust me and take this advice! Let your kids snuggle up in bed with you (assuming they can be gentle) and read all that you can. Classic fiction books, fun science books about whatever topic your kids are interested in, historical fiction books, literally anything. Have your kids read to you, read to your kids, chat about what you read. This is all stuff that you can easily do from bed! You can make it even more fun for the kids by having jammie days and read ins. Anyone remember that from school? They were my favorite days in elementary school. We wore jammies, brought blankets and pillows, and got to spend the whole day reading our favorite books. Instill a love of reading, and put the work sheets off for a while!
Give Yourself Grace
Above all, give yourself some grace. It’s really difficult when you’re on bed rest, I know, but it’s so incredibly important. Some days you may be too worn out to do much of anything, and that’s okay! You are doing the very best that you can to keep you and your little one healthy. Whether you’re on bed rest to try to avoid preterm labor, or due to pre-eclampsia or some other issue, you are doing exactly the right thing for your family. Give yourself some grace, and remember that this is only a season. If your kids have a few too many cold cereal breakfasts or you need to put homeschooling off for a few weeks, you are a great mama, and you’re doing everything you can. Definitely give yourself some grace.
If you find yourself on bed rest, or even just confined to bed for a few days with an illness, keep these tips in mind. You can homeschool from bed with just a few simple changes to your normal routine. Stay well, mamas!
Kaylene is a Christian mom who blogs at This Outnumbered Mama. There, she shares about homeschooling, faith, parenting, special needs, and being outnumbered by the boys in her house! You can get to know her by stopping by her blog and connecting with her on social media: Twitter – Facebook – Google+ – Pinterest .