Homeschooling through trials and tribulations

With SLO having surgery on Friday and then recovery after that, homeschooling is going to have to go into survival mode for a while. This isn’t the first time this has happened. We faced it earlier this year with my mom’s illness and before that with my still birth and even with pregnancies and childbirth. But I have managed to work out a few strategies that help us to get through times when my attention has to be divided.

1. Concentrate on the essentials. For the younger kids that means math and reading. For Jr. high and high school it includes math, reading and science. Now is not that time to make a wall sized relief map or plan a gazillion science experiments. Time for that will come later. In times of stress stick with the essentials.

2. Lord knows I’m not the most organized housekeeper, but we do have some semblance of order and I’d like to try to keep that. I can make kids responsible for their share of the chores so is easier for me to hold them accountable and that makes the whole household run smoother and gives us more time for homeschooling.

But before I had older kids I concentrated on the stuff that absolutely had to get done and that included laundry and cooking. You have to eat, and you have to have clean clothes. Cleaning out the closets or scrubbing the floor could wait.

3. Extra stuff might have to go. I prune out my own extra obligations first and then pare down extra stuff that the kids are involved in if I have to.

4. There’s no law that says you have to homeschool only between 8 and 3 Monday thru Friday, September to June! Homeschooling can happen in the evenings, on the weekends and even in the summer time! We made up a lot of the time we missed with grandma’s illness and funeral over the summertime. If we have to do that again this time we will.

5. Educational movies are also part of homeschooling. In fact the Bravewriter Yahoo Group even encourages watching movies to talk about plot and interpretation. They even have a list of must see movies! This can be a great fall back plan for really hectic days.

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