5 Tips for Handling Sick Days While Homeschooling

• Trying to homeschool while feeling ill, taking care of a sick child, or your homeschooled child being sick can be stressful and potentially prolong the time of recovery.

• Having your child work independently, letting an older sibling be teacher for the day, having an online day, simply taking the time off, and listening to your body or your child’s body are all relevant ideas that can be applied to a sick day to help homeschooling families.

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Everyone gets sick at some point. It is just a part of the human experience. However, homeschooling while you are feeling ill or juggling a sick child while still trying to homeschool your other children can be difficult.

There are several ways to look at homeschooling while one or more members of your family are sick. Some families take the day(s) off while members are sick. Others have a more relaxed, easy going school day. If it is just you as the teacher that is sick, you may want to keep the routine and lesson plans but have your child work independently. On the other hand, if it is your child that is sick, you may want to have a more relaxed day of learning through watching tv and playing games. One of the most loved aspects of homeschooling is that you can school anytime and in any way. Which means there is no wrong way to handle sick days.

Here are 5 tips to help you deal with sick days.

1. Encourage Working Independently

This tip is more for when you, the teacher, has fallen ill or if you are preoccupied taking care of a sick child. If you are the type of homeschooling family that has a lesson plan set up in advance, you can encourage your child to work through the lessons on their own. The child who is well can work on specified pages in their curriculum books, worksheets, reading materials, or watch pre-selected videos. This may take some gentle encouragement on your part if your children are young or some redirection if your kids are easily distracted. You will be free to rest, relax, and recuperate or stay with a sick child while still being available to answer questions for your child if needed. This is also a great way to help teach them responsibility and see how they prioritize their own work.

 2. Let an Older Sibling be the Teacher

This will also work for times when you are ill or if you are tending to a sick child. Let one of your children take on the roll of teacher. Have them go over the lessons with younger children and make sure they are completing assignments. This will also help the “teacher” review past concepts and give them the opportunity to share their own knowledge and skills in each subject. For extra fun, let the new teacher pick out the daily snack, decide on lunch, and/or give out stickers for good behavior and staying on task. Tasking a child with being the teacher for the day helps teach responsibility and leadership skills as well as frees up some of your time to get well or help another child get well.

3. Have an Online Day

Having a purely online day will help you out if you are sick or tending to a sick child, or gives a child who is not feeling well an easy school day. I have some sort of online learning every day for my children. This may be an educational game, interactive worksheet, or a video that goes along with our lessons. Letting your child have a day where they watch educational videos and shows that help teach current concepts or play some games to review lesson ideas will allow them to rest and take it easy while still learning. You can use these online tools as review or as reinforcement of current units.

ABCya is a great online resource for ELA and math games for elementary and early middle school children. PBS Kids offers both science and math games as well as full episodes of their popular shows. Disney Now offers an array of games for elementary and middle school children featuring some of their favorite characters in critical thinking and math skills. It also includes games from National Geographic Kids. If you are looking for specific games or videos to go along with your current lessons check out our free resources page. It is separated into grade level, subjects, and then sub-subjects areas to help you easily find everything that you are looking for.

 4. Take the Time Off

Homeschooling is essentially schooling around life instead of scheduling life around school. Taking a day or a week or even a month off of schooling to deal with an illness or illnesses is completely reasonable. You can always make up school at a later date. If you take off for just a day or two you can spread that work out a little each day for the next week and not even notice the extra work. If you need a week or more off you can use some “break” times that have been schedules or just extend the school year into the summer months. There is no strict time to stop schooling each year. Homeschooling is meant to work on your schedule, not the other way around.

 5. Listen to Your Body

If you or your child are just feeling bleh, you may want to continue on with your regular day. Or maybe a lessoned, slower version of your schedule, taking time out to rest. On the other hand, if someone is feeling poorly with a high temperature or some other serious illness you will probably want to consider just taking the day off. Pay attention to your body or the way your child is acting. If you are trying to push through the day but you are overly tired or your child is falling asleep at the table, call it quits and take a nap. If you feel like nothing productive is actually getting done, throw on a video or educational show and just relax with your child.

There is no reason that you need to strictly adhere to a schedule. And there is no rule that says you cannot take a day, or a week, or a month off. Listening to your body, or that of your sick child, is the best way to help everyone get well and that is the most important thing.

What does your family do to help make sick days less stressful? Share some of your helpful tips with the community in the comments below.