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aussieannie
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| Posted: July 02 2006 at 5:49am | IP Logged
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If you are someone who does not keep regular good health, what do you think is the bare minimum to do or what would you say is the most effective thing to do in educating your children? I have had a friend recently (school teacher) who has been critical of my educating the children because of my unstable health and so I am feeling particularly bruised and vunerable at present....
Of course, if a posting like this has been already discussed, I would love to be referred to it.
Thank you. 
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Elizabeth
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Dear Anne,
(1)Books on tape in mom's room while they draw with crayons or colored pencils, model dough or beeswax, or watercolor.
(2)Math drill sheets or flashcards (the bare minimum just to maintain what they already know) or maths lessons, again with you in bed.
(3) Time outside in your own yard (for you too).
That's the barest of bare.
I did employ workbooks during just such a season recently.
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Elizabeth Foss is no longer a member of this forum. Discussions now reflect the current management & are not necessarily expressions of her book, *Real Learning*, her current work, or her philosophy. (posted by E. Foss, Jan 2011)
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Meredith
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Oh Anne, first of all BIG HUGS to you and God Bless you for choosing to home educate your children. I'm afraid people are always too quick to judge, especially when they only have partial information. Your friend may or may not know all the ins and outs of your life and therefore has no "room" to make these kinds of comments, nor should she. Aside from that, here's what weve done, and it's much like what Elizabeth has already laid out above:
1-Listen to books on tape, sometimes all in the same room, or each in their own separate rooms if they are old enough.
2-Take turns giving littlest ones "nursery" time: this is where they set up a little quiet play space in a safe room and do music time, hand play games to ryhmes, look at/read aloud board books, have a special "surprise" bag for baby to find things, etc.
3-Magic School Bus Videos from the library go a LONG way in our house, as do other education or science type videos (no twaddle here  )
4-Limited computer time for older kids, ususally a typing program or math related game
5-Any "no mess" art projects, mostly drawing and coloring. I try to have a file folder of animals printed off the computer for sick days.
6-Preschoolers love scissors and a magazine to cut and paste with (perhaps have an older assigned to this activity)
That's what I can think of off the top, fresh air is also awesome if you are up to it too!!
This may no be "bare" at all, maybe try 1 thing each week and see how it goes.
Praying that you feel better.
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Sarah
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| Posted: July 02 2006 at 12:44pm | IP Logged
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Educational videos
Books for them to read themselves
1 book that you can read to the olders--aim for a chapter each day
math drill-calculadder or flashcards
1 workbook that has them doing some writing--like Seton Reading Comp. or even Seton Handwriting has built-in copywork.
I agree with the outdoors, too.
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mary
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| Posted: July 02 2006 at 1:17pm | IP Logged
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when i had horrible morning sickness, my bare minimum included workbooks and a weekly hike at the nature center. i always had art stuff, books and videos for the kids to entertain themselves.
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aussieannie
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| Posted: July 02 2006 at 10:31pm | IP Logged
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Thank you so far for your advise, very much appreciated - my physical health is very much dictated by more thyroid, my body is very resistant to utilizing the medication (after 12 years of suffering badly with it, I changed doctors and had a rare blood test to confirm what the doctor suspected and even now on new natural medication it is taking time to stablize me at the right dose!). People who say they do tolerate homeschooling, look at me and say, "with your health problems, you don't qualify." (and yes, Meredith, as you said they do not KNOW that you still have productive days of some kind with them, it's just that they have a very narrow sometimes false view of they think is productive)
But I will say that since I have been on this forum I have discovered that there are health situations and other such problems that, to me, pose just the same crosses, if not harder ones and so I have been tremendously inspired by how you get through with your God given duties through thick and thin because you believe in it and are passionate about it. It has given me strength, except it gets shaken/tested a little, when I hear the comments like the one I experienced yesterday.
I have some very good ideas now to which I will act upon when these days/weeks crop up.
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Willa
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| Posted: July 03 2006 at 12:57am | IP Logged
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Reading aloud, talking and cuddling and a bit of maths. Those have been the bare essentials for me throughout the pregnancies and other life events. It seems to work! When I have energy to do more, I do more.
Someone on the CCM list once said "baby steps" for education and that helped me with my mindset. A very little bit done with fair consistency can go a long way, with children who feel safe and loved. I think the safety and love part is harder to come by in a school setting. I also think home education is a very different kettle of fish from school, and most people who are used to thinking in schooly terms won't understand how a homeschooler's life works. They won't understand that there can be lulls and sudden bursts... they are used to thinking of step by step, X hours every day.
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Topic: A bare minimum for when you're unwell
