Homeschool World Forum

[andra]

In a few months, my family will be relocating and we will be pulling our children out of public school to homeschool.
We are relocating so my husband and I can finish our degrees and I would like to go on to get my Masters.
I had homeschooled my children in K & 1st grades, but had to quit due to poor health and having sooooo many doctor appointments.
I have a host of health problems, but the most dibilitating are Fibromyalgia and Chronic Fatigue. It had gotten better for a while, but it is really bad right now. Some days the exhaustion is overwhelming, and by evening, I can hardly walk.
Am I biting off more than I can chew?
Does anyone have any tips on how to homeschool from bed, feeling brainless?
I do so good on somedays and wonder why I even worry about it, but then on bad days I am overcome with doubt about whether I can give my kids the education they need.

Any advice or ideas would be very welcomed!
_________________
Andra

[4given]

I am so sorry that you are struggling . I have no diagnosis but am in the "multitude of doctor's appt." phase. Whatever is ailing me, is not as debilitating as what you are experiencing. So, I just wanted to express my sincere sympathy and to assure you that I am ABSOLUTELY positive that others on this forum are successfully hsing with severe illnesses. Hopefully, they will be along shortly with some encouragement and advice.

[momo3boys]

My only advice to you, is to enjoy the flexibility of homeschooling. If you can't teach one day, have the children do what they can and when you are feeling better do more. DON"T feel guilty about not being able to do things all the time. It will only make things worse. Enjoy the flexibility.

I too pray that you feel better and you have my hope and prayers for you future and healing.
_________________
Phi 4:13 I can do all things through Christ which strengtheneth me.

[ArkansasHomeschooler]

Andra,
You might want to find a program that is student directed. That way, your children can follow assignments when you are "down," and when possible you can work with them.

When I was pregnant, we switched from a teacher directed approach to Switched on Schoolhouse. My daughter doe very well, even when I was on bed rest for most of the last trimester.

Sheila
_________________
Visit--- http://christianbooksandbibles.weebly.com ---Christian Books and Bibles for my slowly growing blog and full bookstore.

[andra]

Thank you all for your encouragement and tips.

I will look into a program that can be done with out as much teacher direction.
I am very fortunate that my children love to learn, and many times will do projects on thier own that are very impressive.
I think I need to retrain myself to realize that home school isn't just public school at home, and that they will be educated no matter how often I might not feel well.

We are all getting quite excited about homeschooling.
_________________
Andra

[momo3boys]

[daymin123]

Ok, I recently have decided to start business of furniture and I need business grant for that. But I have some questions about that. What’s the real deal on US Govt. Grants? Has anyone you know ever applied for one and actually got one? Are they hard to get? How hard is the paperwork? Also is there a good site that is legitimate about these grants? Any helpful info would be greatly appreciated. Thank you.
_________________
government grants for small business

[cwilsey]

I know exactly how you feel, I also have fibromyalgia and chronic fatigue and I know how hard it is to deal with this disease and homeschool at the same time.

Don't set schedules is one thing I have learned over my years of homeschooling. You can have some basic idea what you want to cover but since we feel fatigued so easily don't get overwhelmed because you can't finish everything.

When you feel tired one of my favorities is watching educational tv or dvd's with the kids. There are some great shows out there that teach alot. Another thing that works for us is a website called Teach With Movies. They have hundreds of movies that are considered educational and they tell you what subjects are being covered.

I homeschool both my children, my son is 14 and my daughter is 9 and they are both learning disabled and have autism spectrum disorder. So our days are full of challenges but we learn together and take one day at a time.

[emtswife]

Andra,
I can sympathize with you because I also have FM/CF. I have the same questions and guilty feelings that you are having. The first thing that you have to remember is that "life" can be educational. A few of the things that I have learned is that just because you are not sitting down and "actively" teaching your child does not mean that they can't learn. On "bad" days, I may give my daughter some worksheets, that I know she can do on her own. It may be math that I know she needs to practice, a fun art project or whatever, just things that will not need your attention. I come up with ideas on "good" days, so I will be prepared for the bad days. As another poster said, you can watch educational videos with/without them. There are lots of websites that have them for free, although I am not coming up with them right now. Maybe other posters can help me out there. Just keep in mind that you are not going to "ruin" your child if you can't teach them something for a day or two. I believe the benefits of homeschooling will far outweigh the "bad" days, in the long run. Good luck! And you can PM me if you ever just need someone to talk to!

[Regina Hogsten]

My 15 year old son has been sick for many years. The past 2 years he has been very ill with several new diagnoses. Schooling has been difficult. He can learn just fine, but is too sick to concentrate. I am hopeful next school year, his many conditions will be under better control. Anyway, for now, I joined Netflix to rent DVD's which are easier to tolerate when he feels lousy, which is most of the time. I just checked out Teachingwithmovies.com. This is a possibility. Thank you
Any other suggestions for learning when you feel lousy? Any software that is educational, engaging, and fun?

[Theodore]

Well, history is fairly easy, there are endless numbers of historical movies (esp. war movies) to choose from. You can probably also find movies or TV shows for most science topics. Reading, language arts, and spelling will all come naturally, assuming he does sufficient reading. That still leaves writing and math, however, which he won't be able to learn passively or through computer software. He can certainly use a computer to type his essays (I do very little writing by hand myself), but feedback from a human being is necessary, and for math there's still nothing that beats working out textbook problems on paper. Not all learning will necessarily be fun, I'm afraid.

On a personal note, I have relatively small lung capacity and tend towards lung infections myself, so I know what it's like to feel bad (certainly in the mornings) and have to stay in my room most of the time. If I may ask, what health condition(s) does your son have, and what's his weight at right now? I was at my worst point when I had a series of lung infections and my weight dropped under 100 pounds, but now that I'm up over 145, things don't affect me quite so badly.
_________________
The Farming Game - Software Edition for Mac and PC
The board game has sold over 350,000 copies worldwide, garnered many awards, is used by over 2,000 schools, and is used extensively by homeschoolers.

[Lorelei Sieja]

I homeschooled my four children from 1988 until 2004. It took me a while to "find my stride". The first year we schooled every day the public school met, and took days off when public school was off. But I realized later that this schedule was arbitrary. It didn't matter if I schooled on Monday or Saturday, or if I schooled all summer long and took December off. I only had to log a certain number of days of school to meet the federal requirements.

My kids were soon performing way above grade level, which is quite common for homeschooled kids, even if they aren't particularly gifted. Part of this is because the overall education of our nation has dropped in the last 100 years, but also because one-on-one tutoring is ALWAYS better than classroom instruction.

Anyway, to get to the point, one year I lost a child in childbirth. It had been an extremely stressful year. We'd discovered early in my pregnancy that the infant was not going to survive long after birth. He was diagnosed with Trisomy 18 - a more severe birth defect than Down's Syndrome, which is also called Trisomy 21. My son would be severely retarded, but have multiple health defects, making survival unlikely. The doctor recommended inducing labor immediately, holding a funeral, and getting on with our lives. The community was outraged, as this amounted to abortion. I didn't know what to do, but prayed about it. Eventually, the doctor was forbidden to to the procedure, and recommended that I go out of state. I decided to do nothing, but to carry my son and pray for a miracle.

I got a partial miracle. I prayed that the omphalacele would be gone. It went away. (This is a deformity of the umbilicle cord, the first sign of a birth defect seen in the ultrasound). But my son was not healed. He still died moments before birth.

I went into a severe depression. Just getting out of bed in the morning was challenging. I was tired all the time, but had difficulty sleeping. My blood pressure was high, my energy level was low, and my health was poor. We tried to homeschool, but often we got nothing done.

We also moved in this period. Not far, just a few miles, but the home we had been renting was sub-standard and unsafe. But a move is still difficult, even when you're healthy.

Well, I began to realize a few things.

1. There was a reason for my son Adam. God doesn't make mistakes. I might not ever understand it, but there was a lesson to learn from this. Heaven became more real to me. I would never see my son again unless I could join him in Heaven. I'd better make sure that I was on the right track, and bring all of my children along, too. After all, my ultimate goal was not raising geniuses, but raising godly children.

2. What was really important: I wanted my children to be kind, and considerate. I wanted to cover the real three "r's": Responsiblility, Resourcefulness, and Respect.

3. No one was going to know if I didn't do school "today". Or tomorrow. My kids could pass a standardized test for their grade level even if I didn't school at all for a year.

4. Don't sweat the small stuff. It's all small stuff. As far as schooling goes, that is.

So I'd agree with the other people who've suggested that you just don't school on the "bad" days. But I'd take it a step farther. Don't school on bad days, and Don't Feel Guilty about it! Just by homeschooling, you are giving your children a great gift. No doubt they are doing better than they would have in public school. Pat yourself on the back, and relax. Enjoy your children. I'm so sorry that you must suffer with this debilitating illness, but this too is part of God's ultimate plan. There must be something your children can learn from this. Perhaps they will learn more independence, or greater compassion. Relax, and love them. And may God bless you and yours.

Lorelei
_________________
Lorelei Sieja
www.raisingcreativechildren.com
Nurturing Creative Young Minds and Wiggly Bodies