homeschooling mommies - check in

[welldone]

so, how are we all doing, now that most of us have babes in arms and are starting to head toward normalcy?

nak

asher is five weeks old, and i'll be honest--i have no idea how you ladies do it. i know i'll figure it out eventually, but right now, we haven't done school since before i went into labor. we have this luxury because my oldest is only barely five, and i started kindergarten a year early knowing the baby was coming and we could always take it slow and extend into next year.

but, i need to hear how you get everything done! my baby is very fussy and can rarely be put down. i'm having a difficult time getting cooking, cleaning, loving the kids, caring for the nonstop nursing/crying/peeing baby--and i'm supposed to school, too? :

*deep breath*

[ComfyCozy]

Well I'm 2.5 weeks out now...I guess a bit closer to 3 really. The kids did a little this week, but I'm still trying o get them out of their first qr. I am still getting meals, though that will stop next week. The baby's staph infection has sort of thrown things off again, but hopefully that will resolve quickly and we'll get back to some normalcy.

Serina, frankly, you don't get it all done, at least not until you have older ones who can pitch in, but I've come to learn that homeschooling isn't just an educational choice. It's a total lifestyle that involves lots of sacrifice and compromise. Those sacrifices usually come in the form of accepting the messy house, and doing laundry on the weekends when we'd rather be doing something else...things like that.

Don't be hard on yourself. Every pregnancy and birth has seriously thrown our homeschooling off, so much so that my 10 year old, who used to be a year ahead in the early grades, is now right on par with kids her age. We've actually lost a year's worth of schooling due to the morning sicknesses and newborns. It happens, but it's not the end of the world. It's really because of the homeschooling that we know we either have to take a major hiatus on having children, or accept that this baby might be our last.

Just take it one day at a time and don't be too hard on yourself. Enjoy these early days with the babe. You won't get them back, but you can always school into the summer.

[lisarussell]

my baby is only 6 days old and we haven't done any school. Babywearing has helped, though with other children.

When you can't do much make sure that what you do matters.

When life is overwhelming, we do math. IN fact, my girls really have done math since baby has been born, but only my older two (14 and 11) because their math program (saxon) can be done without any input from me (usually) all I have to do is check it (and fight with my 11 yr old about redoing everything she's gotten wrong)

[*Lindsey*]

I was doing preschool things with DS in the spring and we haven't done anything since then. He keeps asking, "When can we do school?" and I'm just like, "uhhhh..." Maybe when Hazel and Lucy are 5.

[Stayseeliz]

I'm peeking in from the Oct board but this is an interesting thread to me! I have an 8 week old and we're hs'ing my oldest who is 6.

Someone gave me the advice to cut back to the basics while we're adjusting to the new baby. Do math and reading and let everything else be "extras". This advice has saved me sanity!! I make sure DS gets his math and reading done each day and if anything else gets done then GREAT! But I don't worry too much about it.

Now that DD is a tad older and sleeping a little better we were adding back in history, etc. But that all went down the tubes when we got nasty head colds this week. I'm the sickest and I feel horrible..Hoping to get back into the groove of things next week.

It all works out eventually. Personally I'm thankful that I'm not having to get DS to the bus or having to drive hime to school at 7am everyday. That would NOT be fun right now!!

[welldone]

Bumping for other tired homeschooling mommies who might not have seen this the first time.

I appreciate all of your input. It's nice to hear from others who have done/are doing it. So, I'm not the worst teacher in the world for not starting school back up yet, eh? That's nice to remember.

[mommybytheWord]

Well.... Piper is now three weeks and I have 2 that I am homeschooling. I have not done as much as I should. Every time I put her down she cries to be picked up. I used the pouch with my other babies and it worked great but she HATES it! She squirms and grunts the whole time. I have done math and reading/writing for about a week every day. And I have had the oldest read some. I have not had the time to plan out activities and such. Makes me feel kinda bad. But my boys do not mind. They would rather not do school anyway.

I did do a Christmas craft today. Just a easy one but they had fun!

[Kontessa]

We have managed a little something every day but our rythem is still very off and not getting in all the lessons I feel like we should be. Still, it is all the more reason for me to argue with hubby to wait a hand full of years for the 4child he wants so we can catch up from this baby!

It really helps having my husband home as he takes any chance to turn something into a learning experience that he can. LOL This can however be annoying when other things need doing and he is slowing us up with explaining everything and letting the kids "help" LOL I should just be happy for the help though right?