10 Ways to Ditch the Homeschool stress

We live in a great day and age for homeschooling, there is an endless supply of information right at our fingertips. With the click of a mouse or the tap of a finger we can find encouragement from other homeschool moms without having to leave the comfort of our home. We also get to reap the benefit of the freedom to homeschool because of the hard work from homeschool moms that have done it before us.

Even with all this ease and comfort, homeschool stress is a real thing. When I first started homeschooling the amount of information that I was bombarding myself with STRESSED. ME. OUT. I always felt like there was another method or curriculum that was better than what I was doing and I was going to fail my kids because I wasn’t doing it.

Related: Pros and Cons of Homeschooling

And I’m going to be honest, all this togetherness all the time was also something I had to get used to because I pulled my kids out of public school. And you know, homeschooling four kids 1 ½ to 8 can add a little bit to your homeschool stress.

Over the years I’ve dealt with homeschool stress in a variety of ways. As I share these with you remember that we’re all created with different strengths and weaknesses and what works for me may not work for you or vice versa.

Here are 10 Ways to ditch your Homeschool Stress

• Make morning prayer/ bible time an essential

The bible and the Holy Spirit have great power to give you the peace you desire. Make your time with God a priority at some point during the day.

Most people do mornings, but we’re not all morning people, I get it, so find sometime during the day to spend time with God and reap the many benefits from that.

I have a prayer journal that I use to keep my prayers organized so I don’t leave anything out. When I don’t use it my mind strays and before I know it I’m wondering what I’m going to cook for supper.

• Volunteer or help someone more needy than you

Volunteering and helping others can help relieve some of the stress your feeling. Your concentrating on someone else’s problems rather than your own.

Studies show that many people release the chemical oxytocin, which is that feel good chemical, when they volunteer and help someone in need. Not only are you helping someone else who is needy, your also helping yourself.

• Get Enough Sleep

This one just seems like a no brainer, but stress and lack of sleep is like an endless cycle. When I’m stressed I can’t sleep; when I can’t sleep I get stressed out easily. So, what’s a girl to do?

Related: 10 Mistakes Homeschool Moms Make

• Don’t Compare Your Homeschool Experience to Someone Elses

Your homeschool experience and how you are doing it is unique. I mentioned that we have encouragement from thousand of homeschool moms with the click of our mouse; this can also stress us out. We can get into the game of comparisons and think we should be doing this or that because so and so is doing it.

Just remember that you, your family, and your kids are unique only unto yourselves. Just because you’ve been advised that this worked better for someone and you should be doing it too doesn’t necessarily mean you should.

• Be Organized

This is something I struggle with because my temperament screams organization, but my personality doesn’t seem to listen. I’m working on it though.

Funny Story- We school at the kitchen table and all of our stuff is in a book case and a cubicle shelf.I spent a day organizing and getting everything in it’s place so I would know where everything is and wouldn’t have to go searching for it.

My 8 year old daughter, who LOVES to organize and LOVES cleanliness, apparently didn’t know this. She went back through everything the weekend before we were going to start our year and reorganized everything.

First day of school rolled around and I didn’t know where anything was. I’m still trying to find what she did with some of it.

Get your stuff together, literally. Get everything in one place. If you’ve got a homeschool room count yourself blessed and don’t let it be a mess. If you school at the kitchen table make a designated place for everything so that your not scrambling through the day trying to find books.

Find a homeschool planner to plan out your days, weeks, and whole year. I’ve got a great one that I created. It’s beautiful and functional. Go check it out.

• Know that You Don’t Have to Do It All

It’s okay if you can’t do it all. Your house doesn’t have to look perfect. Your life doesn’t have to look perfect. You don’t have to be perfect.

You don’t have to do every subject every day. Utilize some looping.

Looping is basically a fancy term for making a list and getting through it by the end of the week.

Use copywork to teach language arts and simplify your day. Don’t try to do every single craft in your new kindergarten curriculum. (Unless your crafty, then just have at it.)

• Get a Hobby

Find something that brings you joy. Read a book, start exercising, learn how to crochet, start a blog, write in your journal, go horseback riding, start a new hobby. Just find something to do for yourself that takes your mind off the task at hand.

• Stop Buying Curriculum

There’s something refreshing about getting a box of curriculum in the mail, taking it out and smelling the smell of new curriculum. It’s also fun to try something new and get out of the rut.

Stop. Stop buying more and more curriculum. It’s adding to your homeschool stress. You feel like you have to use it or else it’s wasting money. You also feel guilty because you’re wasting your old curriculum. Am I right?

Get what you first decide on and the rest can wait until you find this curriculum isn’t working or that you actually do need the other.

• Take a Field Trip

Plan a field trip every few weeks. Get away from the house and learn through another medium. Field trips are a great way to solidify what we have learned or to learn something new. They also take our mind off of our stress for a while and let us have a good time.

• Take a Break

When you feel like all else fails take a break. So what if it’s been 3 weeks since your last break. This is the beauty of homeschooling.

If I had a guess, I would guess this is one of the things you love most about homeschooling; the freedom. Utilize it and don’t feel guilty about it.

So there they are; 10 ways to ditch your homeschool stress. Homeschooling is hard and can be stressful at times. Remember to give yourself a little grace and don’t expect anything to be perfect.

Get your homeschool year organized with this beautiful planner. With over 10 sections, this will make your year easier and well planned.