5 Tips to help home schooling while chronically ill.

5 tips to help home schooling while chronically ill, will hopefully make your life that little bit easier. Let me start by saying that home schooling is hard. The vast majority of us are not teachers, and we did not choose that profession. However, here we are finding ourselves knee deep in school work and unless your children are perfect scholars, I’m pretty sure there have been a few hurdles along the way.  Add to that the inconvenience of chronic illness and you have a much bigger issue.  Most of us living with chronic illness and autoimmune diseases deal with a lot of pain on a daily basis and have managed to get ourselves in to some sort of routine to combat the worse parts of it; here is an example of a healthy morning routine.

This routine could now be turned completely upside down because of the little people running around. I do believe though that success can be had which will in turn help with your psychological well being, after all, no one likes to feel like they are failing at something every day. So here are my 5 tips to help home schooling while chronically ill. Creating a day where everyone is happy.

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1

Create a daytime routine for yourself.  I know some people are probably rolling their eyes already. Thinking that your poor little people have enough of a routine when actually at school and you think a break from that is needed.  I truly believe though that structure helps.  Children are used to structure in their day and if you create a routine that doesn’t feel too strict I guarantee that it will help them to feel secure.  A simple routine that involves down time works well. For example start the day with some family time, to relax the atmosphere, yoga works well here. As does meditation which is a skill that will benefit children in the years to come.

Follow this with few hours of school work (the time will be dependent on age of course). Break this up with a break for a small snack, to keep them nourished and help them focus again.  When work has finished give a long lunch break and then start the afternoon with a P.E lesson. Most children think of this as playing anyway and there are loads of ideas on the internet.  After this do not be tempted to let them reach for their devices and have their “own” time as this generally results in the unwanted behaviour we all dislike. Instead think of some other structured but fun things they will enjoy like learning a language, audio books, reading, colouring, drawing, learning a new instrument or watching a documentary.  Follow this with half an hour of tech time on a device of their choosing, and the day is done.

Create a routine for yourself also. This one is particularly important if you help your condition with a great tried and tested routine already.  Do not just accept that the routine you have created to make your day easier has to stop now that your children are home, just change it!  Make a list of all of the things that you would ordinarily do to help yourself on a daily basis. Like a hot bath, some reading time, a yoga session, or a walk. Think of a way to put all of these things back into your new routine.  Could you get up before everyone else to have some down time to yourself?  Can your partner watch the children while you have a hot bath? Could you have a family walk instead?  It is important to look after yourself still, whatever that looks like to you, make the time.

2

Involve the children in everyday household tasks.  Younger children love this, you could get them helping for hours. Why do you think children have toy kitchens and vacuum cleaners? They see it as a game!  Even older children will benefit, they will learn valuable life skills. No parent wants their child to leave home not knowing how to use the washing machine or clean up after themselves.  They may even enjoy learning new skill, like how to cook.  This will stop the day being all about school and gives the added benefit of children being able to help when a flare hits, double joy!

3

Make a proper bedtime routine. It is so easy to create a good bedtime routine during the week but most people relax this at weekends. The trouble with this is that at the moment everyday feels like the weekend. It is all too easy to allow bedtimes to become free for alls.  Children need sleep to function well.  If you have tried to home school a tired child, you will know what I am talking about!  You may think that you are being kind and fun by letting them stay up late. Honestly, you are doing the opposite. You will be creating conflict for the following day.  If you happen to wake up to a difficult health day too, then you have let yourself in for a difficult time.  Chronic illness is unpredictable, so plan for the worst and get those kids into a good sleep routine!

You are also not doing yourself any favours by letting this slide. When do you get your down time without children around?  The older the child, the harder this can be as they do not go to bed early but they can be told that you need some space. You can ask them kindly to have some of their own time in their rooms.  Use this time for you, for whatever you need.  That hot bath, just sitting in front of the TV, catching up on reading or just having an early night.  Your time for yourself is key to feeling like you are looking after number one. If you are not functioning well, the chances are neither is anyone in your household.

4

Be kind to yourself. Try to remember how it felt the last time someone was kind to you, maybe bought you some flowers or made a nice comment on how you looked.  Now imagine that feeling could be felt all of the time without anyone else being involved.  Learning to be kind to yourself takes time and commitment. It doesn’t come naturally to everybody but it is incredibly important. Especially when times are tough.  The way you speak to yourself really does matter, so make it positive.

You may be in pain or discomfort with your illness but that doesn’t mean that the kindness should stop because that is when the negativity creeps in.  In fact the opposite is true; this is when the kindness towards you needs to ramp upwards.  Having an autoimmune disease or a chronic illness is tough. Start telling yourself that the fact you are managing it and still functioning while having to now home school your children is a fantastic achievement.  Try to see the positives in everything. You are dealing with so much, a lot more than most people can imagine so give yourself some credit and be kind.

5

Move more.  This one may not be popular to begin with.  I know that for me personally when I’m in a lot of pain the last thing I want to do is go for a walk or have a good stretch let alone workout. The main thing on my mind at that time would be wondering if I could sneak away to my bed at any point without anyone noticing (fat chance).

However, movement is essential, it will help with mobility, freeing you from your stiffness or easing pain.  Obviously I’m not telling you to do a vigorous workout when you are in a flare, but a little movement will really benefit you physically. Especially if you combine this with fresh air and sunshine which will boost your mood and your vitamin d levels. Which is an added benefit (although let’s not forget the fun that could also be had with a wet weather walk too).

It will also benefit you psychologically, exercise boosts the hormones needed to feel happier and you will feel proud of yourself for doing it too.  If it is good for you in this way then it is obviously good for your children too and can double up as a P.E lesson.  Kids need to move more now than ever, especially in lock down when everyone is more sedentary naturally.  A huge benefit of this tip is that it will break up the day nicely and stop everyone feeling fed up with being still, indoors.

So here are my 5 tips to help home schooling while chronically ill. I really hope this helps in some way,

Health and happiness

Laura x