One time when I was home schooling my girls I came down with a horrible case of the flu. Although I usually work right through illnesses, this one just about knocked the stuffing out of me. I spent most of my time in bed or in the bathroom. The first day was the worst so I just let my kids have the day off, took time out for myself, and figured we could make up the work another day.
By the second day I finally felt I would survive the flu bug, but still didn’t have the strength to put any lessons or homework plans together. So, I told my kids to do some research on the flu. They could look information up in the encyclopedias we had and online. I gave instructions for them to write a report, draw a diagram, and discuss preventive measures, so we could avoid the flu when it was circulating around next time. Then, I went back to bed and let them work on their own.
What did my kids come up with? First of all, I must say that I was really surprised and pleased with how seriously they took the assignments. With Mom dead to the world it would have been so easy for them to spend the day watching television rather than doing any work. However, the fact that I seldom get that ill made them a bit worried, and curious too. What on earth could attack their mother so badly that she didn’t even have the strength to lift a feather?
Each of the girls wrote a thorough report on the flu virus. One chose to focus on the Spanish Flu epidemic of 1918 and how it killed an estimated 50 million people worldwide. Another wrote about causes of the flu and preventive measures such as keeping the immune system strong, disinfecting areas with an all-purpose bleach cleaner, and washing hands (there’s a novel idea for kids!).
They also drew carefully labeled diagrams of the flu virus, though my youngest chose to draw a picture of what she thought a flu virus would look like if it were a super-villain. It was quite imaginative!
As a home schooling parent, you can turn almost any situation into a learning opportunity. Instead of stressing over how you’ll come up with lessons to keep the kids interested, stand back and take a look at some everyday things that can become homework for the day. You’ll be surprised at the things you can come up with.