Cycle 2 Week 20: Homeschooling Through a Sick Week
Some weeks in our homeschool flow smoothly. And some weeks, someone wakes up with a cough and a stuffy nose and everything shifts. Cycle 2 Week 20 was one of those weeks for us, and I want to talk about it because I think this is something every homeschool mom faces and not enough of us talk about honestly.
My little boy was under the weather this week with a cold, and it changed the whole shape of our days. But it did not ruin our week. It just made it look different. And I want to share what that looked like because if you are in the middle of a week like this right now, I want you to know — you can still homeschool through it. It just might look simpler than usual, and that is more than okay.
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When Sickness Comes, You Do Not Have to Power Through
Before I walk through our week, I want to say something to the mom who is sitting on the couch right now with a sick child curled up next to her, wondering if she should try to push through a full school day.
You do not have to.
When one of your children is not feeling well, the most important thing you can do is care for them. That is not abandoning your homeschool. That is living it out. Some of the most meaningful lessons our children will learn have nothing to do with a textbook. They come from watching their mama drop everything to bring them soup, sit with them, and pray over them when they feel lousy.
Homeschooling when someone is sick is not about doing everything you normally do but harder. It is about simplifying with wisdom, caring for the child who needs you most, and trusting that a few quieter days will not set anyone back.
Here is what I have learned over time. When sickness hits our house, I ask myself three questions. What do we need to keep doing? What can wait? And how can we use this week to love and serve the one who is not feeling well? Those three questions have taken so much pressure off of me, and they shaped everything about how our Week 20 went.
What We Always Keep — Morning Devotional Time
No matter what is happening in our house, I try to keep our morning devotional time. This week was no exception. Even with my little boy not feeling great, we still gathered together, read from The Child’s Story Bible, and started our day grounded in Scripture and prayer.
Some mornings were shorter. Some mornings my little boy just listened as he sat on my lap. And that was perfectly fine. He was still there. He was still hearing God’s Word. And honestly, there is something especially sweet about reading Scripture together when someone in the family is not feeling well. It reminded all of us to pray for him and to be thankful for the health we do have.
This is the anchor of our homeschool day and it is the last thing I would ever drop. Even on the hardest days, beginning with God’s Word always makes the day feel meaningful. If you are in a sick week and wondering what to hold onto, start here.
Math and Language Arts With the Well Kids
During a normal week, we try to get math and language arts done in the early morning while things are calm. This week, I focused on doing math and language arts with my girls who were feeling fine and as soon as my sick boy woke up, we switched gears and focused on him.
We still used The Good and the Beautiful for both subjects, and we got through what we could on the days we could. Some mornings were full lessons. Other mornings were partial. And I did not stress about it.
One thing I love about The Good and the Beautiful is that there is no pressure to stay on a rigid schedule. When my little boy was feeling better toward the end of the week, we were able to do a bit more and pick up where we left off without any confusion. Nothing was lost and the curriculum was waiting for us when everyone was ready.
I also want to note that we are REALLY enjoying going through the Good and the Beautiful Language Arts! My daughter is loving learning to read and the little books that come with the Level 1 curriculum are perfect first readers for her!
If your child is sick and missing a few days of math or language arts, please hear me — it will be fine. A few days of rest will not derail their progress. What your child needs most when they are sick is to get well, and the schoolwork will be there when they are feeling better.
Keeping Our Daily Subject Focus Simple
Even though we simplified a lot this week, we still loosely followed our daily subject focus. Monday was geography. Wednesday was history. And we fit science in where we could. Having that simple framework helped me feel like we were still moving forward even on a scaled-back week.
On the days we did sit down for subject work, my girls who were feeling well opened their Cycle 2 Memory Work Activity Books and completed the activity page for that day’s subject. These pages are quick and simple — just a few minutes of coloring, tracing, or fill-in-the-blank — and they gave us an easy way to stay connected to the Week 20 memory work without asking too much of anyone.
We also kept our memory work songs playing throughout the week. This is one of my very favorite things to do during a sick week because it requires absolutely nothing from anyone. The songs are just on in the background while we go about our day — while I am snuggling with my sick toddler, while the girls are coloring, while we are all just being together. And the memory work is still sinking in.
A Week of Serving Each Other
One of the things I wanted to be intentional about this week was using it as an opportunity to serve. When someone in our family is not feeling well, it is a real and natural chance to teach our children what it looks like to love and care for someone who is struggling.
My girls had the chance to practice compassion and selflessness in small but meaningful ways throughout the week. Bringing their brother his water. Speaking quietly when he was resting. Choosing to be patient when our plans changed because of how he was feeling. These are not lessons I can teach from a textbook. They are lessons that come from real life, and they matter deeply.
I also gave myself permission to let go of things that usually feel important but were not essential this week. No extra games. No elaborate activities. No deep dives into subjects. Just the basics, done with care, and more time spent simply being present with my family.
Sometimes the most Christ-like thing we can do in our homeschool is set aside our plans and serve the person in front of us who needs us most. That is a lesson worth more than any worksheet.
What Geography Looked Like This Week
Monday was geography day, and this week we learned about south central Asia — Laos, Thailand, Cambodia, North Vietnam, and South Vietnam.
My well girls completed their geography activity page from their Cycle 2 Memory Work Activity Books and we listened to the geography song for the week to the tune Skip to my Lou. We kept it simple and did not add any extra activities beyond that.
I did continue reviewing geography with my oldest using her Cycle 2 Geography Passport. She is working toward Geography Subject Master this year, and even during a sick week, taking ten minutes to flip through the passport and review past weeks was very doable. It is such a quick and effective tool for keeping all the material fresh, and I am so glad we have stayed consistent with it even on weeks like this one.
If your child is also working toward geography mastery, the Cycle 2 Geography Passport makes it easy to stay on track even during your simplest weeks. You can grab it in my shop!
What History Looked Like This Week
Wednesday was history day, and this week we learned about the Vietnam War. We kept it very simple. My girls spent a few minutes doing their Vietnam War activity page in their Cycle 2 Memory Work Activity Books and we read through the history placemat together.
The placemats continue to be such a gift on weeks like this. They gave us just enough information and visual detail to introduce the topic without me needing to plan or pull out anything extra. We looked at the placemat, talked through the key ideas together, and that was enough.
That was it for history this week. Activity page, placemat, and the history song. On a fuller week we might have gone deeper into the topic, but this week the basics were plenty.
All together, just like geography, history takes around thirty minutes. It feels gentle, steady, and very doable.
Cycle 2 History and Science Placemats
These brand-new Cycle 2 History and Science Placemats are designed to make memory work fun and interactive for kids, whether you’re using them alongside Classical Conversations or on their own as a way to dive deeper into history and science.
Each placemat is filled with colorful visuals and simple explanations that bring the topics to life. Just print, laminate, and use them again and again during meals and review time. They’re an easy, no-prep way to dive deeper into the history and science topics with your kids. Get your set for Weeks 19-24 below. The other three quarters are also available HERE!
What Science Looked Like This Week
This week we learned about the second law of thermodynamics, and we continued building on the song we started last week to the tune of I’ve Been Working on the Railroad. My girls loved adding the new verse, and singing together was one of those moments during the week that felt normal and joyful even in the middle of a sick week.
We completed the science activity page in the Cycle 2 Memory Work Activity Books and read through the science placemat together. The placemat made it so easy to introduce the concept without any extra planning, and a few minutes of reading and talking through it together was all we needed.
Even my sick boy perked up a little for the song, which made my heart happy. Music has a way of reaching our kids even when they are not feeling their best.
The Great Energy Race Game
We did play this fun Thermodynamics game I made this week while my toddler napped, which helped us understand energy and what these three laws are all about. You can grab this game, as well as a fun Latin Bingo and Shapes game from my resource library below!
What We Skipped This Week and Why That Is Okay
Here is what we did not do this week. We did not play many review games. We did not do any extra geography activities beyond the activity page and passport review. We did not do a science experiment. We did not do handwriting every day. We did not add a European country to our workbooks.
And you know what? Everyone is fine.
When I look back on this week, I do not see a week of failure. I see a week where we cared for a sick child, still covered our memory work, still read good books together, still started every morning in God’s Word, and still learned. We just did it more gently.
Dropping things during a sick week is not laziness. It is wisdom. It is knowing that not everything on your list is equally urgent and that some things can wait while you tend to what matters most right now.
Reading Through It All
One thing we never skip, even during the hardest weeks, is reading. This week we still curled up together and enjoyed picture books that connected to our Cycle 2 Week 20 memory work. Reading aloud requires almost no prep, and it is one of the most valuable things we do in our homeschool.
During a sick week, there is something especially cozy about it. My girls would curl up on the couch with a blanket and just listen while I read. My sick toddler often wanted to sit and read with us too. It was calm, it was sweet, and it was still full of learning. If you are having a week where everything else feels like too much, just read. Read good books with your children and call it school. Because it is.
One picture book we especially enjoyed this week was Ketzel, the Cat Who Composed by Lesléa Newman. Since we are learning about composers right now, this one was a perfect fit and the girls absolutely loved it. Check out my whole post about how we learn about composers and lots of fun resources here!
We also have a few chapter books going right now that we are really enjoying. We are reading The Trumpet of the Swan during lunch, which has been such a sweet addition to our midday routine. We are also reading the kids’ version of Heaven for Kids by Randy Alcorn, and at night before bed we read Little Pilgrim’s Progress by Helen Taylor together as a family. These read-alouds have become some of my favorite parts of our day, and even during a sick week, they kept going. They are the kind of books that everyone looks forward to, and my sick girl especially loved just resting and listening.
If you are looking for great books to go along with each week of Cycle 2, be sure to check out my Cycle 2 Picture Book List where I have gathered read-alouds that connect to every week of the memory work!
The Beauty of Homeschooling Through Hard Days
This is what I want to leave you with. Homeschooling does not stop when life gets hard. It bends. It flexes. It looks different. But it does not stop.
When someone in your house is sick, you have the freedom to simplify without guilt. You can care for your child, slow your pace, drop the extras, and still have a beautiful and meaningful week of learning. You are not falling behind. You are showing your children what it looks like to love well, to serve sacrificially, and to trust that God is faithful even in the messy, hard, unglamorous weeks.
Some of the most important lessons your children will carry with them have nothing to do with thermodynamics or the Vietnam War. They will remember that when they were sick, their mama was there. Their sisters were kind. And their home was a place of comfort and grace.
That is homeschooling at its best.
A Final Encouragement
If you are in the middle of a sick week right now, take a deep breath. Do the basics. Read good books. Play your memory work songs in the background. Care for your child. And give yourself permission to let the rest go.
You are not a failure for having a simple week. You are a faithful mom doing exactly what your family needs. And when everyone is feeling better, you will pick right back up and keep going. That is the beauty of this life we have chosen.
If you would like more encouragement and simple ideas for Classical homeschooling, you can:
- Browse my Cycle 2 resources here
- Visit my YouTube channel for weekly memory work ideas
- Or join my email list for free games and encouragement
Wherever you are in your homeschool journey, I am cheering you on.
Picture Books for Cycle 2 Week 20
Here are all the picture books we enjoy this week:
- How to Build an Orchestra by Mary Auld
- A Child’s Introduction to the Orchestra by Robert Levine
- Never Play Music Right Next to the Zoo by John Lithgow
- Ada’s Violin: The Story of the Recycled Orchestra of Paraguay by Susan Hood
- Ketzel, the Cat Who Composed by Lesléa Newman
- Wishes by Muon Thi Van
- The Floating Field by Scott Riley
You can see my ENTIRE Cycle 2 picture book list for each week of Cycle 2 here!
A Few Simple Review Games for This Week
We did pull out a few of these fun review games in the afternoons to keep memory work fresh and fun. This week I created a science game, a Latin endings BINGO game, and a geometry review game that match Cycle 2 Week 20.
These are not required to have a successful homeschool week. They are simply tools that make review feel joyful instead of repetitive.
If you would like to use them with your children, you can sign up below to receive the free downloads.
