Ten Strategies to Stay Calm, Cool, and Relatively Sane When Homeschooling
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Anyone who says homeschooling is easy is correct, but juggling everything else may not be.
You're already trying to balance your share of positions in life: wife, mother, cook, housecleaner; the number of hats a mother wears is pretty high. And then along comes homeschooling which adds an enormous task to an already busy day.
It’s enough to conjure up images of a mental breakdown for many moms.
The real question is: how does one do it all? On top of everything else, how are you supposed to homeschool without abandoning your mind in the process!
I'm going to give you ten strategies you can use as weapons in your "staying sane" arsenal. If you're already a highly organized person, you may already be using them. If you're anything like me, you need to do a little work to turn them into good habits.
Mastering even a few will make a big difference for you. Start with one and make a habit out of it, then move on to the next. Small, consistent steps leads to success.
1) Start Your Day Off on the Right Foot
Create a morning routine for yourself. Decide what you need to do in the morning to get yourself ready for the day. Build a plan around it. If it means getting up at 6:00 am so you can exercise, read half an hour, meditate/pray, and get dressed before the little guys wake up, then that's what you will do. Make the necessary changes to get your routine in place so you are relaxed and calm when your kids wake up.
“When you arise in the morning, think of what a precious privilege it is to be alive—to breathe, to think, to enjoy, to love.”
2) Have a Morning Routine for Your Children
To stay focused and be consistent with your kids by establishing a morning routine for them too. It might look something like this: wake up (preferably around the same time every day), wash faces, brush teeth, make beds, get dressed, tidy rooms, eat breakfast, and do morning chores.
When children know what you expect of them, they'll get into the habit of doing it when they're young, and your life when they are older will be much easier.
3) Determine Your Homeschooling Priorities for the Day
Have your children do the school work which is a priority for the day before anything else. If they get that done first, you can relax (mentally, at least) for the rest of the day and your chances of drowning later in unfinished work will be considerably reduced.
4) Remember, You Have a Job
Nine to fivers do not answer personal calls, leave work to help a friend, or hang out on social media. And neither should you. There will be exceptions but the general rule is that you treat your role as a homeschooling parent as if you were employed.
Unless Someone Is dying, you are at work, "full stop," as the English say
After all, homeschooling is a job. You have answered the noble call to educate your children. Therefore, you have to be your own boss, and this requires discipline.
(By the way, you are allowed to call in sick a few times a year.)
5) Keep Your Phone and All Connections to the Outside World Off
A strange phenomenon when you work from home is that everyone else seems to think you have nothing to do. Your friends and family will call your during homeschooling hours, and if you fool yourself into thinking you can talk for five minutes, you lose.
Five minutes is never just five minutes.
If you want to succeed, and I know you do, you are obligated to train family and friends to understand that during business hours, you are at work and cannot be disturbed.
Remember that your children’s minds are like sponges when they are young, and the time you lose to phone calls and other unnecessary diversions is time you could have used to teach them new things.
Poorly spent time is time we have lost and time we will never get back.
6) Reduce your Work Load
Teach your children to do chores. School-age children can do just about anything around the house you teach them to do within reason. Chores will teach them many useful things as well as lighten your work load and free up some of your precious time.
7) Plan Your Meals in Advance and Keep Them Simple
Let's face it, time is not your best friend right now, and you've got to conserve it whenever you can. Meals are one of the first to take a hit for the disorganized. Shop on the weekends, and try to cook meals that will last more than one night. Casseroles, which can be spread over two nights, such as lasagne or Shepherd's pie, are ideal meal choices for homeschoolers.
“If you really want to escape the things that harass you, what you’re needing is not to be in a different place but to be a different person.”
8) Make Sure Your Children Do Some Form of Active Play or Sports Every Day
It could be in their backyard, the local park, or an activity you organized with other families, but make sure your kids get outdoors. Letting your kids play outdoors and burn off some energy after studying is guaranteed to put them in more peaceful and relaxed moods later which helps you too.
9) Have an Evening Routine to Wrap Up the Day and Wind Down the Kids
Whether it's reading out loud or playing board games or playing music together, do something that involves the whole family and puts the kids in a more relaxed state.
When it comes time for bed, you can put lavender or wild orange essential oils on the soles of their feet and back of their necks to help them fall asleep quicker, and then read them some bedtime stories.
10) Lastly, but Most Importantly, Take Care of Yourself
You are the engine that is driving this train, and you have got to stay in good shape physically and emotionally. To support your well-being, have at least one or two things you do every week week without your children.
It may be going out to dinner with your husband, having a coffee with friends, taking a yoga class; you decide, but make it something that reinvigorates you.
Otherwise, you may succumb to the same fate as the green sports car of my youth did. After driving from Santa Barbara to Palm Springs during a heat wave, there was a loud blast from the engine and clouds of white smoke poured out from under the hood.
Thankfully, it turned out to be nothing more than the car needing to blow off some steam.
As moms, we can do the same thing when we don't take care of ourselves.
“Come back!” the Caterpillar called after her. “I’ve something important to say.”
This sounded promising, certainly. Alice turned and came back again.
”Keep your temper,” said the Caterpillar. ”
Know what you have to do to keep yourself from overheating, and hold fast to it like a rider holds tight to his horse's reins when he gallops down a hill.
Don’t miss our free download, Ten Books Every Well-Educated Child Should Read.
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Elizabeth Y. Hanson is an Educator, Homeschool Emerita, Writer, and a Love and Leadership Certified Parenting Coach with 20 years of experience working in children’s education.
Utilizing her unusual skill set, coupled with her unique combination of mentors, Elizabeth has developed a comprehensive understanding of how to raise and educate a child. She devotes her time to helping parents get it right.
☞ Disclaimer: This is not a politically-correct blog.
