How To Homeschool With A Baby: 9 Sanity Saving Tips
Are you a homeschooling mama expecting a baby? I’ve been there several times and am here to share my best tips for staying sane during this busy time.
Homeschooling with a baby can seem incredibly overwhelming. That’s because it is!
Not only are you keeping a tiny new human alive, but you’re also taking on the responsibility of educating other children.
It’s a commendable job, but it is not easy. You have to manage diapers, ever-changing baby schedules, breastfeeding, AND schoolwork for children of various ages (not to mention toddlers!).
Luckily, you can apply a few easy hacks and mindset changes to make this a sweeter, easier time. With these tips, you’ll be able to bond with your newborn AND ensure your children get a quality education.
9 Sanity-Saving Tips For Homeschooling Babies + Toddlers
1. Prioritize Your Sleep
By my fourth baby, I realized that outside of keeping my newborn alive, sleep had to be my #1 priority.
It can be challenging to nap during the day when you have other children underfoot, so I opted to go to bed within an hour of when the baby did.
During this time, my newborn would wake up at least two times a night to feed. And going to bed early ensured I had the mental energy to homeschool my other kids and care for a new baby.
Yes, this meant I had to forego my usual nighttime rituals: reading, spending time with my spouse, and getting some precious alone time.
But during this short season, I needed that extra sleep to recover from the pregnancy and have the energy and mental clarity to homeschool the next day.
By the way, I do not recommend getting up early during this time, unless you can do so while still recovering from the pregnancy! There is so much pressure to get up early and get it all done… I say recover and rest as much as you can!
2. Lower Your Expectations
Lowering homeschooling expectations can be challenging for some of us (anyone else with a type A personality?).
But with my fourth baby, I realized perfectionism wasn’t in the cards. I loosened up on my homeschool expectations, and we spent a lot of time enjoying nature together, painting with watercolors, and reading aloud.
Now that my kids are older, I can see that the unstructured creative time has only enhanced my kid’s academic abilities. It’s so beneficial to focus on play, nature and quality literature when they are young.
Yes, we also followed an easy reading and math curriculum, but if we needed to take the day off, we did. And I have no regrets!
3. Reading Aloud
I’ve mentioned reading aloud several times, but this activity is so essential to quality education and so redeeming when you have a baby that it’s worth repeating!
If all you can do to make it through the newborn phase while homeschooling is reading aloud to your children, you are doing enough!
Three months of relaxed reading of quality literature while you snuggle your baby and your older kids play, create, paint, or play with play dough is time well spent!
Reading aloud has numerous benefits: your children will have expanded vocabulary, increased comprehension and sharper critical thinking skills, and more vital empathy and creativity!
If you’d like to add more of a curriculum around your read-aloud time, I highly recommend the Read Aloud Revival or Five In A Row. Both curriculum feature and relaxed and bookish approach, perfect for a newborn period and have quality book recommendations.
4. Make (Short) Lists
Making short to-do lists helps combat the overwhelm of homeschooling with a new baby.
This is not the time to deep-clean your home or memorize the New Testament with your children. It is, however, an excellent time to set short, easily attainable goals.
A homeschool to-do list with a baby may look like this:
- Read aloud for 30 minutes
- Short Bible Study
- Help the second grader do 20 minutes of math
- Go for a short nature walk
- Clean the bathroom
- Make dinner + do dishes
This is a reasonable to-do list when homeschooling little ones with a baby. Checking a few things off a list daily can feel satisfying when the baby takes priority, and it takes a lot of work to get much done.
Remember that you can add more to the daily schedule as your newborn ages and settles into a routine. Those bleary-eyed days truly go by so fast; try to enjoy this time as much as you can!
Bonus Tip: Once kids can read, you can make them their own to-do lists. This can include work like handwriting practice, math worksheets and English!
5. Take Advantage Of Nap Times
Baby nap schedules change so much in the first year, making it hard to get into a consistent rhythm. If you can, use those nap times to work on subjects that require more of your focused attention, like math and reading lessons.
After my fourth child was born, we did Bible study and read aloud right after breakfast. Then, the older kids ran outside to play until the baby’s first nap.
This gave the older kids some much-needed time to run, jump, and spread their wings while I had time to clean up the kitchen and rest for a minute or two. (Little Zeke watched from his swing!).
Once the baby was ready for his first nap, I would call the kids back to do math, English and history. This schedule worked very well for about six months.
6. Wear Your Baby
Baby-wearing can be a lifesaver as long as your back can handle it! Use a wrap or an Ergo to carry your little one around as you go about your homeschool day.
I’ve done a few field trips while wearing a baby, and I treasure the memories of being so close to my youngest while having an adventure with the older kids.
7. Hire Help- If Possible
Hiring a mother’s helper after my fourth child was born was an excellent choice for our family.
Two days a week, Naomi would stop by for a few hours after we were done with school to play with the kids and help clean. She was such a blessing to our family, and the extra help gave me a little bit of mom margin to rest and relax.
You can seek help from friends or family, hire tutors, or look for house cleaning.
If anyone offers to help you with homeschooling, meals, or childcare after the baby is born, always say yes!
(By the way, I realize how hard it can be to find a sitter! There have been many times where I have not been able to find help, and my heart goes out to you if you are in this position now).
8. Embrace Easy Lunches + Paper Plates
At three kids, I realized I needed to become best friends with easy lunches.
Luckily, easy lunches can easily be healthy lunches. Boiled eggs, sliced vegetables, fruit, cheese, bread with creamy butter, and lunch meat are easy and nutritious lunch options. (Get superfood ideas for your kids here).
Don’t judge me for this- but I always use paper plates for several months after a baby is born. It saves me time and energy and makes life a little easier!
9. Extend Yourself Grace
With sleep deprivation and the demands of a newborn, that first year after a baby is born can be incredibly stressful. This is a great time to lean into God’s grace and extend an extra helping of it to your children, as well!
Homeschooling with a newborn poses many challenges, and I wish I could go back in time and learn to go with the flow just a bit more!
If you are going through a rough patch as you homeschool and nurture a tiny babe, remember that this season, too, shall pass.
If you need to, throw on a nature movie for the kids, settle down on the couch, and let the kids learn while you snooze!
