Are you feeling burnt out from homeschooling or just parenting in general? Are you feeling the toll of responsibilities on your shoulders, and it feels like it's getting heavier and heavier by the minute?
Trust me, I understand this feeling. It feels like you still have so much to eat on your plate, but your belly is way past 'too full'. What do you do in this situation? Keep eating or take a break? Put the plate away and come back to it later?
I would choose the latter, and I hope you would too!
When it comes to homeschooling choose the latter as well. When it seems like it's all becoming too much, take a break and readjust. It's okay to reset the whole operation!
Being overwhelmed by homeschooling is nothing new. It is not easy to homeschool your kids no matter how much we encourage you. As a former teacher and homeschooling parent, I empathize with how stressful homeschooling can be.
When you get to a point of burnout, here are 5 tips that I apply on my homeschooling journey to help overcome that feeling of just giving up!
1. Boost your mood, confidence, and self-esteem levels: I've noticed that when I am feeling overwhelmed by my homeschooling journey, I am not feeling confident in my abilities as a parent/home educator. In order to fight the urge to throw in the towel, I get back in touch with my own personal power and the things that I have control over. For example, If I am feeling overwhelmed then that probably means I am in a bad mood. I have control over my mood and can change how I am feeling about the situation to help improve my overall mood. I usually say affirmations, dance to motivating music, crochet or just sit in silence. These things usually make me feel better after a while. I may also decide to clean or focus on another goal so that I feel accomplished in my own personal life to help boost my confidence. You must find things that you can accomplish that make you feel better.
Here are some affirmations to try
I am confident in my ability to homeschool
I know that everything will work out on our homeschooling journey
I am growing and learning everyday
I am qualified to teach my child(ren)
It's okay to make mistakes
I am doing my best and that looks different every day of the week.
I know my child best
I am a great parent
I cannot control everything
I will not give up
I will keep moving forward
I love homeschooling and teaching my child(ren)
2. Make time for your needs, they matter too: Just because you are homeschooling does not mean you have to devote every single day and hour to your children on their learning journey. There absolutely must be some time for you in your schedule. If not, then you will start to feel like you do not do enough for yourself, and that homeschooling is a burden. Please, please, please when you start to feel that way, take some time to meet your needs by asking yourself what do you need to do for yourself so that you can have a better outlook on your homeschooling journey? Whatever your heart, mind, and soul come up with is what you should do. Never forget about you! It may require you to ask for help in order to meet your needs, but do not let that stop you. I know asking for help can be super hard to do, but would you rather ask for help or 'crash out'? We want parents to be healthy and happy first and foremost. Your child(ren) will benefit from seeing their parents happy, not angry, aggravated, irritated, and frustrated because they are not meeting their own needs.
Take some time to be alone and:
shower
read
color, draw or paint
relax
clean the house
take a walk
communicate with friends and family
watch a favorite show
go outside
breathe
catch up on a hobby
do research on your interest
3. Be honest about your feelings: Communicating your negative feelings about homeschooling is a great way to be honest about your situation. No toxic positivity, some days are really hard, and some days are even harder. We are not perfect, we struggle and it is perfectly fine to admit that to yourself or someone else. Being honest about your feelings takes intentional time to reflect. If we don't reflect, we just keep going and going, or like Dory would say, 'just keep swimming'. However, at some point you need to stop, reflect, and be honest about your feelings when it comes to homeschooling so that you can comb through why you are feeling burnout.
Honesty activity: Get a piece of paper and write down your honest feelings about your homeschooling journey by writing down the pro's and con's. Next, write beside the cons possible solutions on how to change it into a pro. This may take deep thought, or ask for advice and help. After finding solutions, work on implementing those solutions either one at a time or however you would like. The moral of the activity is to turn those frowns into smiles, the cons into pros, the bad into good. It is to help you change your mindset to solution based.
4. Accept change: Change is inevitable. It is a necessary part of life and survival. Everything goes through a changing process, even our homeschooling journeys. As our children change so will their learning journey, and with change comes stress. it's not always easy to accept change, especially in the midst of it happening. One day we wake up and our children are no longer newborns waddling on the floor or doing tummy time for entertainment. We must recognize that as our children continue to grow and change so will our homeschooling journeys. Even in our own personal lives things are always changing. We must lean into embracing change before burning out.
5. Give yourself unconditional love and grace: Last, but most importantly, always give yourself unconditional love and grace on your homeschooling journey. When I am feeling overwhelmed, I know I need a little tender loving care. I haven't been engaging in positive self talk, I've been overthinking and I can start to feel it in my shoulders. I usually give myself a hug, and take a deep breath once I realize how stressed I am in the moment. Giving yourself a hug is a great way to show up for yourself in moments of feeling burnout.
Here are some more ways:
Buy yourself a gift for all the hard work you have been doing
Validate yourself and all your milestones, celebrate yourself
Practice positive self talk and affirmations
Apologize and forgive yourself for mistakes made
Have a slow morning and set time aside for a self-love routine
Take deep breaths
I hope this helps a parent who may be feeling burnt out from homeschooling. Trust me, it happens to the best of us! Stay motivated.