Avoiding Homeschool Burnout

If you are a homeschool mom then you know how there are seasons in life that we all feel overwhelmed with the day to day task of homeschooling our children. And many times we are just barely avoiding homeschool burnout. School must be done even when mom is tired and unmotivated, so how do I pull myself out of that “homeschool burnout” mentality and keep pushing through the daily monotony?

I use music. It is amazing how music can change everyone’s outlook. If I can feel myself slipping into a rut (bad attitude) I start the music as soon as my husband leaves. It helps me to get busy right away. It helps the children to wake in a better mood and when they see me being productive already they are motivated to get moving too. Once the day is moving I turn the music down a little but still let it play during school time. The praise and worship playing in the background is sometimes just the help I need to keep my heart focused and in check during the chaos of the day.

I have also found that breaking up the routine helps everyone rekindle that love of learning we all strive for. Sometimes it can be as simple as a trip to the library for the morning, or maybe a special breakfast of cookies and milk, a “fun day” full of nature walks and drawing or science experiments if the weather is nice. In seasons of extended cold or rain we will take a day “off” and watch educational movies or play board games for school that day. It is just enough to change things up and help us to have fun with our school day.

Use what works!! I can’t tell you how much this has helped me to avoid homeschool burnout. I used to struggle with it often, but in the last year since we threw off much of the published curriculm and went with more student lead learning things run smoother, attitudes from the children are better, and with everyone relaxed and loving and living learning I find that I crave the routine and flow of our day when we “do” school. I even miss it when we don’t have it. But this was not the case when I was striving to make my homeschool look like someone else’s. Find what works for you and your children and study what you enjoy. Keep looking until you find something that you can fall in love with. And then, you can truly enjoy the freedom of homeschooling.

One more thing that my children love is to have a “cooking day”. Let them help knead bread or scoop cookie dough onto the pan. Make a pasta salad and let them chop all the veggies and stir in the dressing. Cooking is a great life skill and following a recipe can be a great fraction lesson as well. You can do school with no books and everyone will be spending time together.

Just remember, love your children and love spending time with them. One day we will miss these homeschool days though that seems hard to believe right now. One day at a time results in eternal impact if we do it right. So, dear momma, stick with it, make it fun and embrace your calling as a homeschool momma. It is a high and noble calling and not one to be taken lightly.