Homeschool Sick Day

What do you do when your home schooled child is sick? It has been ingrained in me that my children should attend school 180 days a year. But, if you think about it, if your child was in public school, even she/he would be allowed some sick days. J recently had a bout with Croup which ended us at the hospital at 4 in the morning for treatment. You could tell J wasn't feeling quite well enough to work through school but was she sick enough for a sick day? What did we do? Well, for starters, I let go the guilt of having a sick day and not sticking to my schedule. Then we had some fun while sneaking in some learning,

I didn't want to overwhelm J so we started out reading our National Geographic Explorer magazine on my iPad. We read about pandas, the solar system, China's clay soldiers, and how birds of paradise attract mates. We love how the app brings all forms of National Geographic together - great pictures, movie clips, and learning. It was definitely worth the price of the subscription - which was generously supplied by Grandma and Grandpa. (Thanks mom and dad!)  Then I brought out a 100 piece puzzle that we had yet to try. J wasn't sure she could do it but she completed it.

J has been watching Dinosaur Train lately and has been on a dinosaur kick. Next, J suggested that I bring down the dinosaur puzzle to complete. Kaleb decided to help with that one. He got somewhat frustrated when his pieces wouldn't fit together. I would arrange them so he could just pop them in.

Then, of course, I had to sneak some learning. I suggested that J search our animal encyclopedia for the dinosaurs in the puzzle. I gave her some paper and asked her to write the names of the dinosaurs she found to label the puzzle. She loved this.

She wrote the dinosaur names and added them to the puzzle. She found all most all of the dinosaurs that were pictured in the puzzle.

After an episode of Dinosaur Train during lunch, she wanted to bring down her dinosaur animals to play. Although we might not have had the "traditional"school day, I can say that J definitely learned more about dinosaurs and she was able to rest when she needed. Hope your week is sickness free.