Homeschool With a Newborn

If you’ve ever tried to homeschool with a newborn, you know how challenging it can be. Fitting lessons and activities into a busy schedule of nursing, diaper changes, snuggling, and naps can frazzle any mom! 

Our youngest little blessing is already 4 months old and just a delight to all of us. We have finally slipped back into a homeschool routine that works well. However, in the weeks after he was born and during the modified bed rest I was on in the month before, I learned some tips and tricks that kept our homeschool moving forward. 

Homeschool with a Newborn Tips and Resources

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5 Tips for Homeschooling with a Newborn

There are many ways you can approach the whole time period of bed rest or newborn days when it comes to homeschooling. Of course, you can just take the entire time off and call it a blessing of homeschooling flexibility! However, if you want to keep your homeschool progressing during these times, there are a few strategies you can try. 

  1. Lighten the Load – Cut the workload in half or more by scaling back to just reading, writing, and math. Don’t worry! You will pick up history, science, geography and more soon enough. For now just focus 
  2. Automate the Day – Practice a routine that requires as little of your involvement as possible. Give yourself plenty of time before baby is born to teach the kids to make more of their meals and snacks. Have individual baskets with their work that they can grab each morning and bring to you for questions. 
  3. Textbooks and Workbooks – Forego unit studies and higher-prep lessons during this short season. Instead, find some workbooks or textbooks that your kids can do mostly on their own or with a little help with you. 
  4. Read, Read, Read – If you’re like us, you have shelves full of books that can be read and re-read. Stock up on good living books in various subjects or just determine to hit your shelves and read them all during this time! Bonus: extra face to face time for your kids, which they will need when there’s a new baby taking up most of your time.
  5. Outsource Lessons – Take advantage of DVDs, online programs and classes, and digital curriculum. Find out what Netflix or the library has available that fits with recent or future lessons. Load up a mobile device with great educational ebooks and literature. Download some fun educational apps!

My Favorite Tool for Homeschooling With a Newborn

During my bed rest and the first month or two after our most recent baby was born, we incorporated several of these strategies. There is one curriculum, however, that really saved my bacon during this time. 

The First Grade Curriculum from True Aim and Blue Manor Education is a completely digital curriculum comprised of several ebooks. We’ve used the Pre-k/K curriculum in the past and loved it, so I was fairly confident it would be a good fit. I wasn’t disappointed!

I love that the First Grade Curriculum requires NO preparation on my part and covers a great base of subjects for my child. Here are the topics included: 

  • Bible
  • Early readers
  • Famous people
  • Phonics
  • Grammar
  • Aesop’s Fables
  • Fractions
  • Multiplication
  • Character
  • Memory verses
  • Birds
  • Dogs
  • Plants
  • Tools
  • Countries
  • Geographic Features
  • Formation of America
  • U.S. Government
  • Christian Beliefs
  • Biology
  • Skeleton 
  • Nervous System

While the other kids were playing or doing their own lessons, I would tell my son it was time for “Blue Books” and he’d go grab the iPad and plop on the couch. Many times I had a specific book I wanted him to start or complete, but other times I’d just let him choose. Sometimes he’d read aloud to me and other times just read quietly and enjoy the pictures. 

My son reads at a second grade level and was able to read most of the ebooks with a little help. He chose to start with the Bible book but his favorites were the books on dogs, birds, and tools. He was able to snuggle up next to me while I rested or nursed the baby and read aloud or quietly to himself. He enjoyed being able to jump around in the set of books!

The Blue Manor Education ebooks are ones that kids will want to go through again and again. My goal has always been to get them to go through all of the books at least once and repeat individual ones as much as they want. There are times when one of the kids is doing an online lesson and the other wants to do “screen time” as well, so we pull out the blue books. It’s handy for so many situations!

Blue Manor 1st Grade Curriculum Giveaway

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This Post Has 7 Comments

  1. StaceyN

    I have a 3 year old who will be 4 in January and a 1 1/2 year old.. I’m also due with my third child in August so I’m a little intimidated about staring home school with my oldest. I really want to home school my children and if I won this I’m hoping it will give me the confidence I need to get going!!

  2. Gabby@MamaGab

    We just started these last week and we’re enjoying them! It’s great for times when mama needs some rest but we still want the kids to learn!

    1. Tauna

      Yes, they are so helpful for that! Thanks for the comment Gabby. 🙂

  3. Meaghan

    This is a great post. We have a baby due in the summer, so I’ll be checking back here for tips.

  4. Ashley

    I’m new to your blog and came across this post, it was super helpful! We had a baby in August 2016 and then SURPRISE!!! We had another baby in September 2017, so this is my second school year trying to homeschool with a newborn and sometimes it’s just plain rough!

    1. Tauna Meyer

      It really can be! I have had 6 now and taking time and keeping things easy has been a lifesaver. 🙂

  5. Kamile

    Yay! Thanks for sharing 🙂 I’ve worked full time with a baby while homeschooling my daughter and so can you! we can do this! it’s not easy. It is overwhelming at first and also isn’t the ideal situation, but if homeschooling your kid is important to you and God has called you to this lifestyle, it can and should be done 🙂

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