Taking Sick Days...

OK moms, let's talk sick days for a minute. If you were a working girl before kids, you know you always had sick days. If you felt under the weather, or even a full blown illness, you could call in sick and stay home and rest... in the quiet. 

When we have kids and start homeschooling, however, sick days seem to feel nonexistent. Why is that? Husbands still get sick days. They can call in whenever they need to, and stay home hiding out in the back room feeling lousy. But we moms don't feel like we are able to do that. 

The biggest reason, obviously, is the fact that we have little people running all over the place who don't really care if you feel bad. They still need and want to be fed (EVERY. SINGLE. DAY.), and they have endless energy that needs to be used up. Another reason we don't give ourselves permission to have sick days is that we are totally and completely responsible for our kids' education. If we miss a day, what is going to happen to them? Are they still going to learn everything they need to know and get into college one day? Are they going to be failures in society because you neglected them for one sick day? The thought is just too much to deal with!! (Add a touch of sarcasm as you read that, please...)

The truth is, your kids are not going to fail in life because you are sick one day. Life is going to go on. In fact, they will be so much better off if you JUST ADMIT that you need to rest because you feel bad, instead of trying to muster up strength and ending up a grouchy zombie of a parent who's snapping at everybody in their path. Trust me. I know this from experience. It's OK to say you need to call a sick day. 

Last week, I had just such a day. Lucky for me, I had this little gem on my shelf! I had checked out this Lego Brickumentary from my library the week before, and we hadn't had a chance to sit down and watch it. I really was thinking it would probably be something just to kill some time and give them an excuse to watch TV. But oh my! It was so packed full of great history and science and all kinds of other information! And an hour and a half later, my girls turned off the movie and went to try out some of the cool things they'd seen with their own Legos. Perfection! 

So I wanted to give you a few quick ideas for some creative, EDUCATIONAL things you can keep in your back pocket (or on your shelf) for days that pop up that you just can't make anything happen. Because those days WILL come up. 

1. Keep movies on hand! Any kind of documentary, history, geography video will work! But please, make it a fun, kid-friendly one! Something that they will actually enjoy! Your local library is a wealth of resources! Look for something like Drive Thru History or Liberty's Kids. 

2. Pull out board games! We all have them stashed in a cabinet somewhere, and most of us rarely pull them out. So when you DO pull out the board games, everybody is excited about them. It has the potential of keeping your kids busy for hours! Plus, it's a great family bonding time for your kids. 

3. Check out Youtube! Think about the things your kids are interested in, and then let them look up Youtube videos all day on that subject. If they don't have anything in particular they want to learn about, you can check out something like Mr. Demaio, who has a ton of cool videos that are all educational! My girls have binge watched Youtube videos of Appalachia's Homestead with Patara, and learned a TON about homesteading, farming, and chickens! 

4. Go to your library often and keep a great selection of books at your house! I have a shelf dedicated to our library books (so they don't get lost and cause me to have to pay ANOTHER FINE!). If I just can't get anything together, I send my kids to the library shelf to choose one of the great books we've got waiting. We always have a selection of history, geography, science, and just fun reading books. Just know, these are fun, engaging books, and not just rote facts. That is so boring! Get fun books that will cause them to WANT to read!

Those are a few ideas to get you going. But there are lots more to pull from if your kids get tired of those things. School does not have to be a wash just because you need a break day. And you shouldn't have to pull it together to teach your kids if you're sick. You can feel good knowing your kids are still doing something educational, so you aren't a failure of a mom. And you can go take some meds and go to bed! (Or you might enjoy propping up on the couch watching that movie with them!)