Tips for homeschooling during illness
Like so many others, our family has been battling the dreaded lurgy – aka Covid – for the last week. All of us except my husband have had it. That’s 7 people, all going down one after the other! It’s been tiring though quite manageable, but it does mess up the normal life and homeschooling schedule somewhat.
Here’s some tips for managing homeschooling throughout times of sickness:
1. Go easy on yourself
Remind yourself that you’re only human. Relax. Even if you’re not sick, lots of time will be taken up in the nursing of sick kids. This often means lost sleep at night too. Allow yourself and your sick kids lots of time to properly rest, which will speed recovery.
2. Lower expectations of school work
Give yourself permission to achieve less – MUCH less – than in a normal school week. Especially if you are also sick.
3. Do something special and restful
Perhaps watch a movie or documentary instead of some of your usual activities. We don’t watch a lot of tv, so an afternoon movie makes times of illness feel a bit less boring!
4. Don’t forsake routine
Even though it helps to scale things back, it’s still important to have a routine. It just makes things run more smoothly and reduces the fractiousness that comes from too much unstructured time. As much as possible, encourage the well children to carry on with school work to keep them occupied. Obviously they might have to be a little more independent than usual. Stick to your usual snack and meal times.
5. Caring for the sick child
Let them choose whether they want to rest in their bedroom or on the couch where everyone else is. Some kids don’t like being left on their own! They still want to feel part of it. Encourage them to sleep or read, but if they’re eager to do some school work let them go for it!
Kids love being on the receiving end of special treatment – let them lap it up and enjoy being fussed over (for a brief time!) Our 5 year old was delighted when she finally got sick, because she had been feeling quite left out of all the special treatment! It didn’t take long for her to realise that it’s actually not a whole lot of fun – especially feeling nauseous or having a headache – but she is still relishing the extra attention.
6. Capitalise on the experience
Being homeschoolers, we love to see how every experience is educational! Encourage your older children to participate in the nursing – taking temperatures, fetching necessary supplies etc. I wouldn’t get them administering medicine though as that’s something important to keep track of yourself. Perhaps you could even read or watch some educational material on e.g. viruses.
7. Sharing the load
Get the well children to help with covering the chores that the sick ones usually do, rather than taking it all onboard yourself. This not only saves you from being run ragged, it reinforces the fact that you’re a family and you all pitch in when needed. If they complain or are unwilling, remind them that when they are sick their siblings did/will do the same for them.
8. Don’t forget to treat yourself!
Especially if you are also sick, remember to treat yourself to some nice things to eat or a night off cooking (order in takeaways) or have a relaxing bath, read a good book, watch a movie.. whatever feels a little bit special.
