Homeschooling with a new baby?

[taralv]

I know that I've read some threads along these lines... I am due in February, and this will be our second year of homeschooling (dd will be in 1st grade). We don't have a super rigid schedule, but I am a little worried about the interuption that will happen with a new baby. I also have ds who will be 3 in November, so it's going to be a circus for a while, and I plan to take a break for a month or two. Anyone else out there with some experience, suggestions?

Tara

[mary3mama]

My eldest child (nearly 8) has always been homeschooled. When my daughter arrived in December I worried and wondered and couldn't figure it out at all at first. For me it's actually far harder to keep the middle child (DS#2, nearly 4) occupied. DS#1 has many things he enjoys doing and the baby just does whatever we do and is usually quite happy. Preschoolers are a bigger issue for me. :

When I was planning ahead, people told me to do the homeschooling when the baby napped. Well, she doesn't nap all that much, and it's almost always in arms or in a carrier.

Usually DS & I will talk about what we want to do with our day, whether he wants to do computer work, or build, or draw, or paint, or read books together, or just play with his brother.

Somehow we get it all in there, especially with nature walks and library/museum visits. The DS#2 is learning by osmosis from whatever we do together, so I don't really think or plan much for him educationally speaking...he's definately purely unschooled (as I personally believe all children should be until 3 or 4 or until whenever they show you they are ready for something more...)

So I guess I'd say that I just try to provide them a rich learning environment and go with the flow. We aren't really the curriculum-based types, here, so it works for us and the baby isn't really that complicating to the whole thing.

One last thought, since you have months to go, I'd recommend you start working towards independent activity development with your older child. Since my 2 boys had each other to be with/play with I didn't have to do much in the first month or so after the baby had come. I just sat back and watched them being brothers together. It was nice...but not what everyone has to look forward to.

I'm rambling now...

blessings,

[umbrella]

My oldest was 5 when my youngest was born. I was pretty bushed early on, and so we did a lot of reading on the couch while the baby nursed. I had to ask dh to make sure to take her out on the weekends, because I wasn't getting her out during the week as much as we were used to. We also did more in the evenings that we had before.

[phathui5]

We take a week or two off of homeschooling when we have a new baby in the house. Since we homeschool year round, we have a lot of flexibility to take off when we need to.

I'm with mary3mama who said that it was easier to homeschool with a baby around than a preschooler. I never had a problem nursing the baby while I worked with ds, but with dd I had to find things for her to do.

[arlecchina]

I HS my 13 year old, we prolly took about 6 weeks off when my 3 month old was born, but I figure with all the nursing probs he learnt lots in those 6 weeks anyways

(we sorta unschool anyways so he didnt learn any less than normal and prolly more, but again, he's 13 so I have it pretty easy)

[sagira]

An experienced homeschooler told me that having the baby around and you modeling how to take care of, hold the baby, diapering the baby, bathe the baby and all the little things you do is a whole education in itself and definitely warrants whatever time you feel you need to take off from "real schoolwork".

I'm due in August and my son, who's only 3.5, I believe will be learning a lot just from having a baby sister

[jillc512]

Originally Posted by sagira

An experienced homeschooler told me that having the baby around and you modeling how to take care of, hold the baby, diapering the baby, bathe the baby and all the little things you do is a whole education in itself and definitely warrants whatever time you feel you need to take off from "real schoolwork".

I'm due in August and my son, who's only 3.5, I believe will be learning a lot just from having a baby sister

That is such a good point! I still forget how much learning happens when you're not looking and just living. (And I want to unschool -- how long will it take to get this into my head? )

[ABand3]

If you don't mind the Christian pov, read "The Baby Is the Lesson"

[2 in August]

I've got a dd who turned five just days after I had ds. School changed for her. We used to do more unit studies now we are def more unschoolish. But she still is learning and growing. My biggest problem is spending time 1 on 1 with her. Dh and I were just talking that she is doing lots of attention seeking lately. So I need to work on that. But it is def doable to hs and have a baby around.

[PancakeGoddess]

Anyone else doing babies and big kids (like 10+)?

[mama in the forest]

Over the years I've had lots of newborns with big kids. Right now I have an 11 month old with 5 others who are : 3, 5, 7, 9, & 19. Our story is a good one - we unschool, so everything is just life. Living life and learning every day without pressure to "do" any particular thing, and without stress. I can't imagine how difficult it would be if I thought my kids should be doing any particular thing!

[taralv]

Thanks for all of your responses. I really enjoy homeschooling and so does dd - I think I was worried that I would be somehow not living up to my end of the bargain. The funny thing is that she does seem to learn more when we are taking breaks from school. In fact, we are supposed to be taking the summer off, and my "morning" sickness is so awful that I'm not trying to do anything at all, but she has been reading so much more and finding new games, etc... So, I think we'll be fine. In fact she loves looking at this old book that someone gave me that shows what a fetus looks like from week to week. She's always asking me what week I'm on so that she can look up what's happening right now. I am not sure that I want to know, but she's having fun. Ha. It's just good to hear support from other moms. I also agree that it's harder with ds (2). He is harder to pacify when I'm trying to do something that requires one on one time with dd. So, it will be an adventure.

[punkie4god]

I am so happy to see this post. This will be our first year of more structured homeschooling and I am due in October. I am confident that it will work out, but I'm just not sure how that is going to look yet...

[momto l&a]

We aren't doing to well here with a new baby and hsing.
Actually we did worse me being preggo and trying to hs.

Sure she learns things but not as much as I or she would like.

I am a lousy preggo woman.

[taralv]

For some reason, this pregnancy has hit me much harder than my first two, so I'm not much of a pregnant mom either. Yesterday we spent about an hour outside with the kids' bug bucket picking up and "examining" different creatures. It was nice because all I had to do was catch the bug and put it in the observation bucket. Then I could just sit there on the porch while they looked at it. Anyway, I hope that my energy levels pick up once this first trimester is over, but I'm trying not to be too rigid about what we can and cannot accomplish. Our state does have testing requirements, so she has to do a certain level of work, and that does make me a little more motivated to get some work done this year. I don't know. We'll just have to see what happens.

Tara

[Aeress]

In NY I am not required to send my kindergatener, so it takes some of the pressure off of me. Right now, I am gathering our curriculum, assessment and lessons. By gathering I mean, collecting documentation that fits my philosophy about how children learn. By the time the baby comes in Oct, I should be organized but I plan to just read alot and wait and see how we are adjusting to life as a family of 5.

[suziek]

ABand3,

I'm a happy agnostic, but I loved your link! Thanks for posting it.

[JillyH]

Actually homeschooling with a baby was easy. This year my little one was a toddler and wow was that hard! I am hoping next year will be a little easier. She wanted to do school with us this year from her preferred spot - on top of the table

Jill

[cravenab00]

Originally Posted by ABand3

If you don't mind the Christian pov, read "The Baby Is the Lesson"

A Pagan gal here, but I LOVED that link! How true! Thanks for posting it.

[Panthira]

Originally Posted by PancakeGoddess

Anyone else doing babies and big kids (like 10+)?

We have a 15 yr old here. She's mostly unschooled though.

My 3 yr old wants to start school badly, and normally I wouldn't even think of doing this with such a young child, but he's really into book learning. We're going to take the plunge with him and try a curriculum. I think he's the only one of my children so far that digs on that stuff, weird kid.

I'm having a baby in a few weeks, so this would be a good trial for me to see what can be accomplished. I don't think the new baby will be much of an issue at first, but the 18 mo. old sure will be challenging.