Does your homeschool schedule wear you out? Follow these practical steps to have a stress free homeschool day!
This post is sponsored by Teaching Textbooks.
Homeschooling is a big responsibility. And much of that responsibility falls on mom’s shoulders. By the end of the school day, we are often weary, beat down, and worn out if we don’t have a homeschooling plan that gives us a routine and structure we can live with day in and day out.
Perhaps we are trying to do too much or we are letting unrealistic expectations rule our lives or we are simply lost in the chaos of a homeschool day that doesn’t fit us or our children well.
Whatever the reason may be, if your homeschool day wears you out, these practical, easy-to-implement ideas will help you build a calm homeschooling atmosphere you and your children will thrive in!
Anchor your homeschool day.
In my free class 4 Steps to a Better Homeschool Day, I talk about Anchors and how they help you build a framework for your school day.
Anchors are simple goalposts that exist in your day and help to anchor the rest of your routine.
For instance, when I call everyone to our homeschool, we ALWAYS do Bible Time first. Likewise, we ALWAYS end Morning Time with a chapter from our current read aloud book. These 2 “anchors” signal the beginning and end to our Morning Time. The latter also serves to signal the beginning to the kids’ independent school subjects – the ones they do on their own via computer, textbook, or living book.
To learn more about anchors, take my FREE CLASS or listen to the podcast or video below:
Outsource the stressful subjects.
We all have subjects we don’t feel qualified to teach. Either we didn’t learn them when we were in school or we don’t enjoy them or we simply don’t know how to teach them. When we feel stressed by a subject, we won’t be very effective in teaching that subject to our children. So, I highly recommend outsourcing those subjects to someone or something else.
For instance, I’m not very fond of math. I like words much better than numbers and prefer to focus my energy on the subjects I enjoy teaching while letting Teaching Textbooks manage my kids’ math for me. Every day, Teaching Textbooks sends me an update of how my kids did with their lessons, and I can rest easy that they are learning math from someone who is NOT stressed out while teaching them!
GET A FREE TRIAL OF TEACHING TEXTBOOKS!
Outsourcing subjects can mean finding a tutor, using computer software, an app, or an online membership program. It can involve finding a co-op to be involved in or even asking a friend who enjoys teaching that subject to let your child join in!
The big key here is to figure out which subjects completely stress you out (like math does for me!) and find a way to take that subject OFF of your homeschooling plate (like Teaching Textbooks does for me!).
Go with the flow.
Every family has a loose routine to their day that happens “to” them if they were to just let their day go naturally. It looks something like this for a lot of people…
- Wake up
- Get ready for the day
- Eat breakfast
- Feed pets
- Tidy house
- Eat lunch
- Watch TV
- Play outside
- Eat dinner
- Take a bath
- Go to bed
This over-simplified “routine” can be harnessed to create a flow to your day, including your homeschool day! By building off what naturally occurs in your day, you can eventually (and slowly) create an autopilot routine to your homeschool day.
Homeschooling often stresses you out when you try to make someone else’s schedule fit into your life rather than making a unique schedule that fits with how your life already naturally flows.
This does not mean you simply let your day happen to you, but it does mean respecting your unique family dynamic and working with the flow rather than against it.
For instance, we are all night owls here. For years, I tried to force us into an early morning routine that left me exhausted and irritated. When I stopped trying to make someone else’s schedule fit our family and instead started school at 10am to accommodate our late to bed and late to rise natural rhythm, homeschooling (and life!) became much calmer. We get just as much done in a day, but it starts a few hours later.
Take a look at your natural rhythms and let your homeschool schedule reflect that flow!
Find your passions.
As I mentioned before, Math is NOT a passion for me and so I let Teaching Textbooks take care of that subject so I can focus on the subjects I am truly passionate about!
Things like History and Literature make my heart soar, so I share my own passion for those subjects with my children and in turn, they learn so much more from a mother who is excited about the topic she is teaching!
What are you passionate about? Share that with your children! Homeschooling will become less of a chore for you, and your entire family will find more joy and energy in their educational pursuits!
Know your limits.
You’ll often hear mothers who have chronic illnesses talk about “spoons” and how you are only given so many “spoons” in a day and you have to know where to use those spoons and know when you are out of spoons. And not every day has the same number of spoons.
Even a mom not living with a chronic illness can relate to this analogy! And homeschooling moms can DEFINITELY relate!
Homeschooling moms in particular are managing MANY different aspects of life, often for several children at a time. Throw in a pregnancy, a new baby, a deployed husband, a sick family member, a move, or even a new curriculum, and you don’t have as many “spoons” as you once did.
You have to know (and respect!) your limits.
Don’t add a bunch of extra to your day. Don’t volunteer for a bunch of stuff (listen to my podcast on Things Large Family Moms Can’t Do for more about this!). Don’t try to be all things to all people all the time. No one has that many spoons!
As I mentioned before, offload some of your “have to’s” to a curriculum like Teaching Textbooks, so you can redeem some spoons, and then use those spoons wisely! (Perhaps for those things you are passionate about! *hint hint*)
And when a homeschool day starts to go off track, switch gears. Don’t keep slogging along. Put your homeschool truck in 4 wheel drive and get out of there! Don’t waste anymore energy spinning your wheels.
That said, if you find your homeschool day gets off track or bogged down day after day, then something isn’t right and you need to rethink your homeschool day using everything I mentioned above! Again, your homeschool day should work for you rather than against you and if your limitations are not allowing for the schedule you’ve created, then it is NOT the schedule for you!
Don’t forget to check out Teaching Textbook’s FREE TRIAL to help your homeschool day!
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