5 Helpful Ways to Reduce Overwhelm in Your Homeschool Day

Learn how to make homeschooling easy and reduce overwhelm and stress in your homeschool day with these five helpful tips.

Are you waking up exhausted each morning before you even open up a schoolbook? Do you end each day frustrated and overwhelmed, wondering if you’re cut out for homeschooling?

Yes, homeschooling your children is hard, extremely important work. But it doesn’t have to be overwhelming.

Continue reading for five ways I’ve found on how to make homeschooling easy and much less stressful.

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How to Make Homeschooling Easy and Less Overwhelming

1. Make self-care for yourself a priority

Homeschool moms have so many demands placed on them throughout each day. Lessons need taught, younger children need cared for, meals need cooked, and the house needs cleaned for starters. If you’re like me, you probably put everyone else’s needs before your own.

However, remember that you can’t pour from an empty cup. Easier said than done sometimes, I know! You need to make yourself a priority too. Trying to give and give when you have nothing left will lead to burnout.

I know because I’ve been there myself. It’s hard to wake up each morning feeling defeated before you even put one foot on the ground. Motivation is a struggle when you’re trying to just make it through the day.

You have to take care of yourself and your needs too. How are ways you can do that?

• Enforce a daily quiet time, even for your older kids who no longer nap.
• Try to get outside everyday. Even just walking to the mailbox is enough to clear my mind most days.
• When you need an immediate break, make sure the kids are safe and head to your room for a few minutes. Maybe hide a stash of emergency chocolate for these times!
• Take an evening shower or bath after the kids are in bed or another adult is home to watch them. Enjoy a few minutes of peace with no one knocking on the door.
• Grab a book to read under a warm blanket.
• Try to get out of the house by yourself once in awhile.
• Go to bed earlier. It’s so easy to stay up too late at night enjoying the peace of a quiet house.

Afternoon Quiet Time

Homeschooling families tend to be around each other quite a bit. This is great at developing close sibling relationships, but we all benefit from time to ourselves as well. Introverted moms especially can use time each afternoon to recharge. I know that if I don’t have a bit of time each afternoon to myself that I’m completely stressed out and frustrated the rest of the day.

Your kids benefit from a daily quiet time as well, especially your introverted children. This is a good time to rest, read, or play alone. We’ve chosen to let our kids use their Kindles for some screen time during quiet time. It’s the only time of the day they can use them. A bonus is that this means they usually stay in their rooms and don’t come down to tell me they’re bored!

2. Organization is a must

Along with self-care, homeschool organization goes a long way to keep you from being overwhelmed. Even if you don’t have a homeschool room, you do need to find a way to organize your homeschool materials. Grab some pretty baskets for each child to hold their homeschool materials. Additionally, look for room in cabinets for places to store homeschool materials like math manipulatives or games. Having a place for everything will keep your homeschool organized and save you much frustration.

Read this post on homeschool organization for more ideas. You’ll find ways to organize your time, lessons, and your materials to keep your homeschool running smoothly.

3. Take the stress out of dinner

One way to end your days completely stressed out is by not knowing what to make for dinner, am I right? For years, I’d talk about needing to have a plan for dinners and would write out a weekly menu. But after a couple of weeks, I’d be back to staring in the fridge at 4:00 pm, wondering what to make.

So a few years ago, my husband and I decided we needed to come up with a routine for menu planning. Now we sit down as a family to plan meals each week. It’s made meal time so much easier. Plus we hardly ever eat out, which saves us time and is healthier.

4. Create a schedule for your days–and follow it

Kids thrive on routine. They love knowing what’s going to happen next. It helps them feel secure.

Creating a homeschool schedule is good for you as well. You’ll have much less stress and feel less overwhelmed during the day when you have a routine in place. You can create time for schoolwork, time for yourself, and time for household chores in a balance that works perfectly for your family.

When you have scheduled time for your responsibilities, you can focus on the task at hand instead of worrying when you’ll find time for other tasks. You can relax and enjoy reading aloud to your kids without stressing about time for the laundry in the back of your mind.

5. Have a plan for everyone

Finally, make sure that you have a plan for each day. Just like having a daily schedule, planning ahead will save you stress and frustration each day.

This planning doesn’t have to be super detailed, nor do you have to follow that plan exactly. But it does help to at least have an idea of what you’re doing each day. I like to create a rough homeschool plan for the year each summer. That way I know that I’m covering what my kids need to learn.

In addition to a yearly plan, I also plan out each week. Not just schoolwork, but I also have a plan for keeping my younger child busy. Along with our routine, this weekly plan keeps me on track and helps all of us know what we’re doing each day. The plans fit right into our daily routine. It’s a great way to minimize overwhelm in our homeschool.

Homeschooling is a huge responsibility, and one that can feel downright overwhelming. But when you follow these simple tips, you will have much less overwhelm in your days. You’ll realize you know how to make homeschooling easy. Make time for self-care, create a meal plan, and keep your homeschool organized. Doing these along with your daily routine and having a plan will reduce the overwhelm and frustration in your homeschool. You and your kids will all benefit from less stressful days.