When I was a kid, I hated to stay home from school because I was sick. Honestly, even if I were sick, I wanted to be at school. I loved it so much!

But, it’s never a good idea to get the whole class sick, so I’d stay home with my mom. I would rest in bed all day, reading books. I have fond memories of my mom reading books to me when I did not feel well.

Being a homeschooled student, my son will have different experiences. Yesterday was his first “sick day” of the school year, since a bug has been visiting our family this weekend: it was finally his turn!

There are a number of benefits to a homeschool sick day. Here are some of them. 

My son slept in. He slept very late (until after 8), which was my first sign that this was going to be a different day. If he were in school, I’d have had to disrupt his sleep to see what was the matter. I’m glad I could just let him be.

Watching educational streaming movies lets school come to us. There are so many educational streaming shows available to us within a mouse-click. Since sick days often mean less energy, watching an educational movie is a great way to use the low energy hours of a sick day.

My son did not miss school. No, I did not make him sit down at 8 a.m. for our first subject of the day. In fact, he did not do any school at all until well in to the afternoon. But when he was feeling a little better, he asked to do a little bit of school. I was happy to indulge. Besides, even when he felt ill I could put on an educational video that aligned with our current plans! Since I know our weekly plans, it’s not hard to adjust the plan to be more passive.

My son did not need to wait to run to the bathroom. With the risk of sharing too much information, I’ll just say that my son spent most of the day running to the bathroom. In school, the moment he realized he was sick, he’d be in trouble. I have always thought asking for permission to run to the bathroom was asking for trouble! (That said, obviously teachers need to have control of their class in some way!)

We read together. I have fond memories of reading a book with my mom when I stayed home from school. I like to do the same.

There was no question of “is he well enough?” or not. I think sometimes parents are tempted to say “it’s been 24 hours” and assume that the sickness has passed. Often there is that stage of “feeling a lot better but still probably pretty contagious.” As a homeschool parent, I did not have to make that decision: we’re staying in until we’re sure. There’s less chance to spread the virus that way, and yet we’re not missing school!

I’m sure there are other reasons that homeschool sick days are less stressful and frustrating than sick days when kids are missing school. It’s never fun to be sick, but at least we now we’re taking care of the sickness first. Missing a few hours of school is second thought to health.

image credit: dollarphotoclub