Make your homeschooling days easier with these tips
Sometimes you can feel tired of homeschooling even before the school year starts. It makes burning out during the year so much more likely. Besides teaching you also have to get the children dressed and clean, then there are also chores to be done. Life doesn't even end at home, there are outside stress factors to deal with. Maybe you're even supposed to go back to work soon. It's a lot to deal with! Here are some tips to make daily life possible for a homeschooling parent.
Start a morning basket routine. The easiest method that's known to be very effective. Also known as the circle basket, you collect small bits of learning together and do them first thing in the morning. It can be singing, reciting poems, playing a board game, even sharing your dreams, or doing some math. Whatever is easy to get into and get you a quick win. Parents say this is an effortless way to ease into learning without the kids putting up a fight. Every family does this in their own way. Just find what they (and you) enjoy that is quick and easy to get into, and make it a routine. An extra tip is to keep the activities as oral work, it's a good way to reduce the risk of complexity.
Take time for yourself. This is crucial. Wake up 30 minutes earlier and take a walk, read a book, or put makeup on. Try different things and notice what makes you feel good in the morning - then do it regularly. If you're having trouble waking up early, just know once you get into the routine it will feel good and your days will go much better as a result of it. Set your coffee machine to auto-brew coffee in the morning if the smell of coffee is what gets you in a good state of mind. If mornings really aren't your thing you can also take time to exercise or meditate in the afternoons. Get your significant other to take care of the kids. Some activities are okay to do together with children. Like reading (to each their own book) or walking (but then no complaining!). Also, notice what gets you down in the morning and compensate in the evening. Like if you don't like a messy physical space, make the effort to pick up stuff before bed.
Get schoolwork done before lunchtime so you have the rest of the day to think and deal with whatever is running cycles in your head. If you're bothered by problems outside of home then it's even okay to cut the day short to go deal with them.
Organize schoolwork. There are a few tips here. First, if you haven't already you may want to get an all-in-one curriculum with teacher guides so you wouldn't have to compile everything yourself. It's a good idea to get an overview of tomorrow's lessons before bed so you don't wake up surprised, your mind is already prepared. You can use the workbox method to organize materials into numbered boxes so your child can go through them one by one on their own (and ask for help when they need it).
Schedule the day. Not only do you have a better idea of what to expect, but you can also get a better idea of what activities take longer than expected. This will get you thinking about what activities can be improved and maybe dropped altogether. Make sure the whole day is planned from dressing and brushing teeth to the study work. If it's too much for you do it for just one week and you'll already get a much better overview of what's taking up your time.
If you're not already doing the morning basket, that's the best place to start, and after that figuring out how you can take time for yourself is incredibly important.
If you're already in the middle of the school year and just can't take it anymore - you should consider taking a longer break. Family pressure can be a big source of stress, read about how to deal with that. Moving to an all-in-one curriculum does have some issues to consider.