When Life Gives you Lemons . . .

It's been a few weeks since I've participated in the TOS Blog Cruise, life's been busy and some of the topics haven't been ones that I have much to say about (and others, like last week's . . . tell about your field trips" I have TOO MUCH to consolidate into one post, since we go on "field trips" so often LOL).  But anyway . . . this week's topic is homeschooling during illness or other difficulties.

This is where our unschooling leanings really kick in and are invaluable!! We've been blessed to not have to deal with any major illnesses or other big difficulties. But, big or small, my firm belief that children (and all of us) learn from life, comes into play and means that "doing school" doesn't become an added stressor in already stressful times.  

Sick kids can mean a few days of educational videos and tv, computer games, and, book reading.  Sick Mommy (or siblings, or Daddy) can help the non-sick child(ren) learn selflessness (why yes, I do consider character-building to be an important part of our "school"), as well as learning more about herbs and other natural remedies. Having Mommy out of commission or needed to take care of whoever's sick can also mean asking the non-sick child(ren) to do more of the cooking (so much great math can be learned in the kitchen! Why do boring old worksheets when you can just go back some cookies for math class?). 

As the big girls get bigger, they are also able to do more "school" independent of Mommy . ..  their typing, lap harp, copywork, etc. And by the time Little Bit is ready to "do school" the big girls will be able to take over for Mommy and help her with her schooling if necessary. 

Since my children ask 1001 questions about anything and everything, a "new to us" sickness or other out-of-the-ordinary happening in our lives, can also be educational as they try to understand what's happening, and we can learn more about that, either at the time, or after the fact, by looking things up online or getting books from the library (my pregnancy & Little Bit's birth was a 9 month anatomy lesson!).

So to summarize, we handle illness and disruptions by just going with the flow, and we all learn together as we work together to get through whatever life sends our way.