Virtual School: When Do You Call In Sick ?

In the virtual school and homeschool learning environment, it can get challenging to figure out when to call in sick. As a learning coach, when am I too sick to supervise? When are my kids too sick to do school? There are times when a sick day is needed, even when we are learning at home.

When our kids are going to in-person learning, there are guidelines to help us understand when we need to keep our kids home. In the current Covid-19 era, those rules are much more strict than they were in the past so that we can all work together to stop the spread of the virus. Now that the learning is at home, when do we need to call in sick, and how do we do that?

I’m going to address this challenge on two fronts. What do we do when we are too sick to supervise the learning, and then how do we tell if our kids are too sick to do school? 

1. Sick Day for Learning Coach

Over the years, I have had several days when I could not do my learning coach job. Recently, I took several weeks off for my recovery from breast cancer surgery. That was by far the longest time that I have taken off over the past 13 years.  

Usually, if I am well enough to drag myself out of bed and get showered and dressed, I will be able to supervise the learning. I have two tiers of sick days in my back pocket that I will draw on when I’m not feeling well.

Partial Sick Day

I call a partial sick day when I’m fighting a cold or if I’m experiencing fatigue from medical treatments. I’m able to get up and function, but I need medicine and more rest than normal. Here are some of the symptoms that usually cause me to plan a “partial sick day” for myself. 

• Runny Nose
• Cough
• Sore Throat 
• Cramps
• Recovery from imaging/ medical procedure (minor)
• Headache
• Fatigue

On the partial sick days, I will try to get myself showered and back into comfortable clothes. Then, I sit on the couch and supervise the learning from there. I can enjoy my blankets, a cup of tea, and I have even been known to take a nap on the couch.

When I was fatigued from radiation treatment, I would spend most of my day on the couch and have the boys come to me for help.

On some partial sick days for myself, I will call a homeschool minimum day so that the learning is abbreviated and works better for my energy level.

Full Sick Day

There are times when I have been completely unable to supervise the learning at home. On those days, I need to call a full sick day for myself. 

Here are some reasons to call a full sick day :

• Surgical Recovery
• Vomiting/ Diarrhea
• Fever
• Covid-19 diagnosis/ self isolation requirement
• Severe Pain
• Extreme fatigue
• Emotional distress

When my kids were in elementary school and could not do their schooling if I wasn’t supervising, I would put on an educational video and go back to bed. Sometimes, I needed to ask for help with the supervision, especially if I was really ill.

If it looks like you may be unable to function for days or weeks, then I would encourage you to set up a plan so that someone else can supervise the schooling in your absence. Unfortunately, we don’t have a substitute teacher line that we can call as homeschooling parents, but we can reach out to our family and friends to see if they can step in.  

If you are too sick to function, please go back to bed, and leave the schooling for another day. There will be time to make up the learning another day. If you are a virtual school parent and can email the school and keep them in the loop, please do that. When I was undergoing treatment for breast cancer, I made sure that the homeroom teacher knew what was going on so that he could help as needed.  

2. Student Sick Days

When are the kids too sick to do school? In general, it has been rare for my kids to need a full sick day.  They really prefer not to get behind in their lessons, so when they feel under the weather, they might take their laptop in bed to do school or move things around so that their lessons are easier on a day they feel lousy.

Partial Sick Days

Here are a few of the reasons that my kids have been known to have partial sick days at home

• Runny/ Stuffy Nose
• Sore Throat
• Cough
• Recovery from immunizations 
• Recovery from dental work
• Orthodontic Pain
• Minor injury

Full Sick Days

Sometimes the kids are way too sick to do anything. If that is the case, it is time for a full sick day! Here are some of the reasons that may warrant a full sick day for the kids.

• Fever
• Vomiting/ Diarrhea
• Surgical Recovery
• Braces installation/ removal
• Covid-19 
• Broken bone
• Severe injury

If you know that a procedure is coming up, your kids may be able to work ahead and plan for the non-school/ recovery day. But, that may not always work due to the schooling policies. Ensure that you let the school know what is going on and obtain a doctor’s note if necessary.

If you are a traditional homeschooler, then you don’t need to worry about the absence procedures! 

Sick days look different when the learning is happening at home. In many ways, it is easier to stay on track because it is possible to do the lessons with a runny nose. But, when we are too sick to function, it is time to switch modes, shut the virtual schooling down, and take a full sick day.