We start homeschooling with the best of intentions, educate our children. But how does a homeschool mom make it work? How do you keep the house clean, get meals on the table and homeschool your child? Balancing it all is not easy but you can do it.
Balancing it all as a Homeschool Mom
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A Homeschool Mom Needs to Plan
I love my Happy Planner, it isn’t full of pretty stickers, but full of things that I hope to accomplish each day from blogging, to household chores for myself, to appointments or fun that I want to do with my family. I have a Happy Planner big enough that I use it to keep track of all that stuff PLUS our homeschool plans, like what book and what chapter in the book we’ll be reading, etc. I even write down our weekly, repetitive things like “story time” at our local library. It’s all in one spot for me to look at with a quick glance.
Chores
I have to have my family helping out around the house or nothing would ever get done. I am one person, I cannot do everything alone. Hubby works all day so he can’t be here to help as much, though he is great at throwing together a supper when I just don’t feel like cooking.
Each of my kids have chores that they do everyday to help out:
- unloading and reloading the dishwasher
- taking the dogs out
- setting and clearing the table
- keeping their rooms tidy
- keeping toys out of the living room
Homeschool Mom Needs to Wake Up Early
I get up before everyone else in our house, well, maybe not before our pup, he wakes up with my alarm too. I take this time to make and drink coffee, exercise, and just wake up in general. Hubby often comments on the weekends how cranky I am when I first get up… you know when the kids are getting up, and everyone is talking to me and demanding things. Just let Momma wake up!
Homeschooling
Picking a homeschool curriculum that is open and go, and easy to use. I think this is the best thing that I have done as a homeschool mom. Bookshark is open and go, no long hours of planning and trying to figure out what we’ll be doing each day.
No matter what curriculum you choose to use, make use to plan ahead a little so that you aren’t getting frustrated and searching and trying to figure out what you are going to be doing each morning.
Try to keep your homeschool things together in one space so you aren’t searching all over you home for books, pencils, etc. We have pencils with our craft stuff but also keep pencils with our homeschooling things. Pencils and erasers disappear quickly so having backups helps.
Self Care
It doesn’t matter if your self care is exercising, going out for coffee alone or with friends, or hopping into a bubble bath. You need to remember to take care of yourself. That’s why I am up at least an hour and a half before everyone else here. I use that time for me, to exercise and to drink my coffee in peace.
