Saving My Sanity {Homeschool Tips}

5 Sanity Saving Tips for Homeschool Moms

Homeschooling can drive a mama crazy sometimes. Believe me when I say that I have had my moments of wanting to give up. (You can read about one of those times here.) Thankfully the Lord has encouraged me along the way and even directed me to find some creative ways to stay sane while homeschooling my crew.

Trading Unrealistic Ideals for Practical Solutions

One of the biggest sanity savers can be letting go of unrealistic ideals. We need to find realistic solutions that we can implement into our own homeschool. For me, that meant letting go of my dream of teaching all of my children together. I wrote more about my “divide and conquer” method here.

Daily Routine

Having a daily routine or simple schedule can do wonders for saving a homeschool moms sanity. This is not a strict schedule with set times rather a sequence of tasks and activities that we follow.

We try to stick to the same order of events for the day but the times that each event happens changes depending on when we all wake up and how long it takes everyone to get ready. Having a daily routine helps everyone know what is expected of them at any given time without forcing us to fit activities into scheduled time slots.

Short Planning Sessions

Spending just 30 minutes each weekend planning for the next school week can make a huge difference. Most of the curriculum I use requires minimal to no teacher preparation which should make it easy to jump right in to school on any given day but I find it beneficial to spend a few minutes ahead of time looking over the materials and making adjustments for any activities or appointments that might take away from school time.

If I know we are going to be at a doctors appointment on Wednesday I might schedule several days worth of worksheet type assignments for that day and move history and science lessons to another day. Just a few minutes of planning on the weekend can make the entire week go more smoothly.

Preparing Lunches the Night Before

Taking some time the night before to prepare lunch for the next day gives you one less thing to think about while homeschooling. I haven’t been as consistent with this one as I’d like but when I do have lunches prepared ahead of time the day seems to go so much better. It gives me an extra 20 minutes of school time with my older kids that I would otherwise be spending making lunches. It also allows the younger kids to start on lunch while I finish up instructing the older children. And it gives me one less thing to worry about during a stressful time of the day.

Daily Rest Time

At any given moment their seems to be six kids needing six different things from me. This makes me feel like my mind is being pulled in six different directions and my heart rate is six times faster than it should be! Having a daily rest time allows our family to regroup and relax and gives me a mental break. I only have one napper in the house right now so rest time just means finding a spot to be still and quiet.

Most of the time the kids read (or look at) books but sometimes we listen to music or an audio book or just close our eyes. Rest time averages about 30 minutes but sometimes we go a full hour while other times we can only squeeze in 5 minutes before heading out the door to an activity. It’s a huge sanity saver for me, whether 5 minutes or 50 minutes, because it allows me a few moments to quiet my mind and heart and regroup for the rest of the days events.

What do you do to save your sanity while homeschooling?