Hope For Homeschoolers

Give yourself permission to take a break.  When you home school, you are not governed by the clock.  There are no bells signaling your children to quickly put away their math books and start their language lesson.  You don’t have to wake up at a certain time in the morning, which also means that you don’t have to go to bed at a certain hour either.  Therefore, if you are feeling tired, worn out, beat up, stressed out, then take a break.  Is there a project that you really want to finish up today that doesn’t involve the children?  Then do it!  Let your children entertain themselves.  School doesn’t have to be drudgery for them or for you either.  Do you really want to bake a cake instead of reading that history assignment out loud?  Do it!  If the kids can help, then that’s great.  If you really want to hide in the kitchen and be alone with your cake baking, then do it.  Is there a book that you want to read?  Let your children see you put your feet up and read it.  If they want your attention, then suggest that they get their books out and do the same.  What’s wrong with a little independent reading time that doesn’t involve sitting on the toilet?

I have found that it is important, especially if you have girls, to show them that we need to take care of ourselves.  Unfortunately, my daughters found out what happens when I don’t take care of myself.  This happened at a time when I was trying to work outside the home, home school, and help aging family members at the same time.  It was just as stressful for them as it was for me.  I remember falling into bed after work one day, because I had suffered from a terrible headache for over a week.  I woke up to my oldest, who was eight years old at the time, patting my face and saying, “I love you, Mommy.  You’ve been workin’ too hard.  I wish you would just stay home with me….”  That gave me my second wind.  At that point, I worked harder than I ever had, and paid off as many debts as I could, bought a crappy little house that would be mine for as long as I wanted it, and began my life as a stay at home mom.  Don’t get me wrong.  I was not, and never have been a single parent, but the need for money and the threat of not having a roof over our heads from month to month took a toll on me and my husband.

Since then, I have discovered that I can get just as busy as I did when I was working outside the home.  The difference is that I no longer have a boss breathing down my neck, and I can jump off the hamster wheel whenever I need to.

When you take your break, and I hope that it’s soon, you should do something that you enjoy doing, even if all that you do is watch soap operas.  Let your children have a day to do what they enjoy doing, even if it’s not time for Fun Friday, as I mentioned in my previous post.  Use your learning journal, at least the first time, to jot down a few notes about what the children did while you were on your day off.  Did they do any artwork?  Did they play with their construction set? Did they help you in the kitchen?  Did they play outside?  Did they read or watch anything educational on television?  Keep in mind that what is considered fun to the home schooled child might be a little different and delightfully more productive than that of the public schooled child.  Give credit where credit is due.  The children still had school even though you didn’t participate in every aspect of it.

Another helpful hint is to keep as many of their educational materials out so that the children can get to them.  To your surprise, your history buff will read ahead in her history book, and your math genius will have a great time working in her math workbook.  In fact, I hate workbooks, but I have few that my tween can do just because she likes to do them and can do them without my help.  Do your children have educational software?  Then let them play their “games” while you take a loooooong bath.  See how that works?

I love home schooling, and I love the freedom that home schooling offers, but a wise women will take breaks for herself so that she doesn’t become crabby and impatient with her family.  Remember, you make the rules now, and you run your home school on your own terms.  If you want your home school to have independent study time every afternoon so that you can read your favorite magazine, then do it and don’t look back.  If you learn to take time for yourself, you will be pleasantly surprised to find that your children will know that it is all right for them to do the same.

Have a Great Day!

Laurel Santiago

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