Surviving & Homeschooling through the First Trimester of a Pregnancy

It?s a beautiful life. The kids arise with happy hearts and are ready to learn each day. There are no interruptions or unexpected events to ruin your beautifully planned schedule. Then you see the positive symbols on a pregnancy test. You?re expecting another blessing from God!

So, maybe your days don?t look quite that pretty, but everything continues as normal for, oh, about a week. Then it hits: morning sickness. Or in my case, all day nausea and extreme exhaustion. Or maybe what you experience is even worse with something like hyperemesis gravidarum helping you become great friends with the bathroom floor.

In the midst of your nausea and exhaustion, the world continues on. The dirty dishes pile up, while at least three times a day people come to you expecting a meal. A mountain of dirty clothes has overtaken your laundry room as small children run naked claiming they have no clean clothes. Young people surround you expecting to be taught and all you want to do is sleep.

Welcome to the first trimester of pregnancy, Mom!

I learned pretty quickly with this, my third pregnancy, that I can?t do it all. I can?t do all the laundry. I can?t do all the cooking. I can?t do all the dishes. My husband and others can help me with the house. If you have older children, rely on them to help pick up the slack. Give it up! Let go of anything you can possibly let someone else do for you.

My kids need me more than those things, so they need to be my priority. If I?m having a good day or even a good hour, I need to prioritize that for them.

I?m one that doesn?t like to take medications unless I absolutely have to. Though my nausea was extreme, I didn?t want to take drugs. I found natural ways to manage,?but if those symptoms got worse, my doctor was ready to write a prescription for me. I took it one day, one hour, and even one breath at a time.

Rest was above all the thing I needed most. With a five year old and a two year old running around the house, rest is hard to find. Try movies and quiet games. Have them snuggle with you in bed. Even with littles, time for plenty of rest must be found.

Homeschooling continued for us during this crazy time called the 1st trimester. For us, the priorities were the three R?s plus 1:

• Reading
• Writing
• Arithmetic
• Bible

We operate on a 4 day schedule, with Fridays left over for things we didn?t get to earlier in the week. That alone takes some of the pressure off of me as mom and teacher. Each day, we focused on the following:

• Read the Bible. Jonathan, my five year old is one of those early readers. I?ve been working with him for the last few months to develop his own devotional time. He reads one chapter each morning from his NIV Study Bible turned Child Training Bible.
• Read a book. Jonathan always has a reader or chapter book of some sort in progress. He knows that to get any electronic device time, he must read at least one chapter in that book.
• Journal. As a part of Jonathan?s devotional time, he writes in his Bible journal. He writes something he learned, copies a verse, or writes a question. Through this he?s practicing his handwriting, notebooking, and composition.
• Math. We have been using Math Mammoth?s Light Blue Series Grade 2 this year for math. Each day, Monday through Thursday, we do one lesson together.

If we accomplish these things in a day, I consider it a successful homeschooling day.

I didn?t step foot into our homeschool room for eight weeks. The couch and Mommy?s bed became our primary homeschooling locations. Don?t stress about where you school. Your whole home can be a place of learning, and that includes Mommy?s bed.

When all else fails, take a day off. Really, it?s ok. You have my permission. Don?t worry about accomplishing anything. Ask a friend or family member to take your kids for the day. I promise, the world won?t fall apart if you do absolutely nothing for a day.

I?m now into my second trimester and feeling much better. Relief does come. It may not come as soon as you?d like, but it will come. I deal with depression. Some days were really, really hard. I just had to focus on the reason I was miserable and remember that in the end, all this nausea and exhaustion will be worth it when I hold Baby #3 in my arms next spring.

Take heart Momma, it is worth it and you?ll make it through the 1st trimester and the rest of your pregnancy.

?

Amanda Pelser is former church communications director turn work-at-home(schooling) mom to two little boys, Jonathan (5) and Jacob (2). She?s been married to her high school sweetheart, Josh, for over 9 years. Between teaching and chasing little boys, she writes about faith, motherhood, and homeschooling at The Pelsers plus works with bloggers and ministries on technical and virtual assistance projects. Amanda has also written an ebook about depression called Finding Joy in Depression.

Source: http://www.hedua.com/blog/surviving-homeschooling-through-the-first-trimester-of-a-pregnancy/

Tulane player injured fox sports frank ocean obama speech amber rose kindle fire drew peterson