One Room School~Difficult pregnancies

Most of us have had to deal with a difficult pregnancy at one time or another. And whether you are homeschooling or not it is never any fun. But if you are homeschooling then I hope I can provide you with an idea or two on how to continue schooling without losing your mind during this difficult period. I certainly don't have all the answers but it is my hope to be able to bless others with what has worked for our family. Normally I don't experience sickness until my 5th or 6th week. Hopefully I have found out right off the bat that I was expecting in hopes of giving myself a week or two of prep time before sickness sets in on a daily basis. As with schooling in any circumstance planning is KEY. Have daily schedules set in place for each reading child. Feeding off of a schedule can help lead children to continue "somewhat" on their own for a couple of months. A non-reading child normally is still young. Young enough so that if you scaled back their schooling for a few months no harm would be done. There is a lot of snuggling time for those little ones when mom is 'off' sick and I'm sure that makes up for any lost academics! However, this can possibly be a time for stressing out too if you're not careful. If you choose to let the younger child or children scale back on their schooling for a bit then it is important NOT to stress over it as that only makes a difficult pregnancy even more difficult. Embrace this time with your little ones and know that soon enough they will be reading and doing their math problems!!! If you are able; before you are laid up most of the days I found it so very useful to have meals pre-made and in the freezer. Even 5-7 meals ready to eat can be a life savor. I like to do this near the end of a pregnancy as well. Except I try to increase the amount of meals to more like 10-20. Incorporating the help of older children here is a huge blessing. Even just having some meat cooked, chopped, and frozen is a milestone. So in a nutshell....

Freeze meals ahead of time. (This is helpful for me whether I'm expecting or not)

Have schedules made for each child. Keeping them on auto pilot as much as possible is great.

Having a list of some great family videos to order from the library

Declutter as much as you can~even without babies and pregnancies this is a huge blessing. Remember, all that 'stuff' you own means accountability.

Keeping a list handy for them is a plus. I know that even the thought of food can be difficult so I like to have my family decide the menu for a while until I can begin to wrap my brain around the idea of food.

Try to schedule testing, evaluations, curriculum planning/shopping, etc. for a future date if possible. Along the same lines having all needed supplies on hand is helpful. Paper, pencils, markers, notebooks, etc. It has been such a blessing to be able to direct a child to the 'school pantry' to find a new folder crayons, or whatever rather than having to think about school supply shopping. Scaling back on those 'extra curricular' activities is also a life saver. Not having to load children into the van and running town is a must for me. And if possible, have daddy or an older child run errands and do the shopping.

Got toddlers? There isn't much entertaining that a sick mom can do for a toddler. Aside from just keeping them close by reading stories or cuddling with them there isn't much else that can be done. Older children of course are great with toddlers so if you have any in your home make sure they get some turns playing with "the baby." Napping with the toddler is something else that helps me. I don't normally have my own nap time but during difficult pregnancies this is a must and since the toddler needs one too it works out perfectly.

SPIN OFF~What are the causes of morning sickness? While this is just speculation I have to think it comes pretty close. Basically it comes down to a healthy diet. I have found through my experience that if my diet is as close to 'natural' as possible then my morning sickness is lighter and lasts a shorter time. Unfortunately, while I believe this is true I've not always adhered to making the best choices when it comes to my food. Researchers at Cornell University believe that the sickness and vomiting is perhaps the body's way of ridding itself of toxins during the most delicate time frame of the early developing infant. Hence, the sickness is at it's worse in the first few months. (I prefer to think of it as "God's way" of protecting the infant!) To read the study you can go HERE.