©Lori Laws & Write the Vision
This is what I’m hearing from so many homeschool moms. I’m not sure I can do it another year. How can I do it all? How can I do even part of it well? I hear you.
This is what I was hearing from myself too as we finished up our annual planning time and I marched into the new week with a long list of things to accomplish.
I think I felt this way ever year of our 21+ years of homeschooling. Some days I still feel that way and my children have all graduated and I’m no longer homeschooling.
Some simple things I do to handle the stress are:
1) Prioritize – This way the important things are sure to get done. There was a season in our homeschool that my husband decided that if we got devotions and Scripture memory work done we had a good day. [Tweet “There are seasons like that and we need to recognize them and not beat ourselves up over them. “]
2) You can catch up on academics but character training needs to be done daily. It’s difficult to repair character issues so we need to place these above academics. Training our children in Godly character must be at the top of the list. I know it’s challenging to stop in the middle of a lesson – again – to cover something we just covered five minutes ago, but you will reap the rewards down the road.
“And let us not be weary in well doing: for in due season we shall reap, if we faint not.” Gal 6:9 KJV
3) Stay in the Word. Do whatever is necessary to stay connected to the source. “I am the vine, ye [are] the branches: He that abideth in me, and I in him, the same bringeth forth much fruit: for without me ye can do nothing.” John 15:5 KJV
[Tweet “Do whatever is necessary to stay connected to the source. “I am the vine, ye [are] the branches: He that abideth in me, and I in him, the same bringeth forth much fruit: for without me ye can do nothing.” John 15:5 KJV”]
4) Stop and evaluate often. Talk and pray with your husband. If something isn’t working ask your husband and the Lord what you should do. Often times our husbands are looking at the big picture and see things we don’t see, and the Lord always has great ideas.
When we started homeschooling we had three children under 6 and our youngest had leukemia. When I asked the Lord how to homeschool under those circumstances He helped me plan to pack a bag of all our homeschool supplies and each time we had to make a hospital or clinic run Emily grabbed her bag and we homeschooled in waiting rooms etc. I share more in our article Homeschooling with Chronic Illness
“For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the LORD, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.” Jer 29:11 NIV
[Tweet “He does know the plans He has for you and is anxious to share them with you – all you need to do is ask.”]
What do you feel the most difficult situation you are facing right now?
©Write the Vision
Finding Joy in the Journey,
Phyllis
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Phyllis Sather
Proclaiming God’s Faithfulness at:
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© 2015 Phyllis Sather
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This is so true sometimes we are so overwhelmed by our circumstances that we forget that God can see us through anything.
Amen… I need to be reminded often.
I love this list. We are getting ready to embark on our homeschooling journey so this is a great list. This applies to so many areas of life.
That’s great Kelly. Be sure to contact me if I can be of any help. Phyllis@Phyllis-Sather.com
I agree with prioritizing. Stopping and putting things in perspective brings me back to reality and I can drop some stress when I realize that I don’t need to worry about some things in the moment. If i can’t control it, I shouldn’t stress about it 🙂
Alice, prioritizing really does help. I keep a separate list of what I’m doing today so I’m not so tempted to see the big list of all I have to do.
Wow, your homeschooling story is inspiring. Thank you for sharing, really useful info for both those that do and don’t homeschool.
Thanks Sophie. Hoping you can apply some of my ideas.
I’ve never homeschooled my own children, but it is something I have strongly considered in the recent months. After watching my best friend homeschool it seems a little overwhelming to me. However, I can certainly see the benefits of being at home with your children all day. I’m still going to consider it for the near future. Thank you for sharing.
I know you wouldn’t regret homeschooling your children. It is challenging, but the results are well worth the time and energy it takes.
The character issues are the ones we have been lacking and now it feels like an uphill road 🙁 Any suggestions for ways to start teaching them now?
Michelle, I would start with the one that bothers you the most. Don’t try to work on everything at once in an effort to make up – work on one until that is in place, then the next one. We used to study one character quality a month and we would all work on it as a family. We would encourage the children to point out when they saw someone practicing that character quality. I would post the character quality and it’s meaning on the fridge on a big 8 X 11 paper as a reminder to us all, with a Scripture to go with it. Please feel free to write me if you have more questions. Phyllis@Phyllis-Sather.com
Hi Phyllis – Yes I do feel overwhelmed right now and I don’t even have children!
I can see you learned a lot from homeschooling though. Thank you for sharing your tips.
I’d love to know what’s behind the name susiefruitcake! Thanks for stopping. Take a deep breath and prioritize – that’s what I’m telling myself right now.
[Mat 6:34 ESV] 34 “Therefore do not be anxious about tomorrow, for tomorrow will be anxious for itself. Sufficient for the day is its own trouble.
My parents homeschooled me and my siblings and I loved it! If I have children I would homeschool them. Thanks for sharing this with us!
Great! I enjoy meeting homeschooled adults and am delighted to hear that they would homeschool their children too. Thanks for stopping by.
This is great advice even for those who don’t home school. We need to instill character into our children daily. Thanks for sharing!
It really is one of the most important things we can do as parents. Thanks for stopping by.
I don’t homeschool my children but I do like to focus on education during the summer months. These tips should prove useful when I am feeling overwhelmed. Thank you for sharing.
Glad you will find them useful. Thanks for stopping by.
I don’t homeschool my children, but my mother homeschooled my step brothers and sister. I would say that she’d agree with your tips, especially #2. She was definitely working on their character moment to moment. She was very intuitive in this regard.
Thanks for stopping by Cristina and sharing this. I’m glad you enjoyed it.
I applaud your efforts with Homeschooling. You have included so great tips as well. We can do anything with a little FAiTH! 🙂
Thanks Pam, but I just kept looking to the Lord and taking the next step. Hope some of my ideas are helpful.
These are some of the best homeschooling tips I’ve ever read. It’s so important to keep all of these things in mind, and many times they seem to get lost in the mix of it all. Thank you so much for sharing your wisdom with us.
I’m delighted that you found it helpful. Thanks for stopping by.
Do I feel overwhelmed? I’m not sure there is anything else I do feel every day.
I have to remember to prioritize things in a different way. Unfortunately, everything on my list each day seems to be a top priority, but there has to be some that aren’t. I just have to dig deeper and truly prioritize for a greater good!
I have to agree with you Staci – I usually feel overwhelmed much of the time too. Right now I’m trying to spend more time prioritizing and just putting the top 3-4 things on my days to-do list. If I finish them I go back for the next item on the list, but I don’t like starting out with a long, long list so I feel defeated before I begin.
Usually I’m having a stressful day if I’m expecting too much of myself or I’m trying to please too many people. When I have a ton of things to do, I try to do the important stuff first, and it usually involves daily scripture study. Once I do the really important things, the other things just fall into place. But reading the scriptures helps me to calm down, get perspective, and remember that the Lord wants me to succeed, even if it’s just a silly to-do list.
I find the same thing Whitney – after time with the Lord in the Word, the other things fall into place.
My 7 years of homeschooling our youngest daughter taught ME many valuable lessons too. I still prioritize my day each day, evaluate my course and make corrections, even to this day. Your commitment is to be admired.
I often have so much to do that if I don’t prioritize my head just spins and I don’t know where to start.
Great advice, thank you so much! I am in my second year of homeschooling. I love how you said character training comes first. That is so encouraging. 🙂
I’m glad you were encouraged Chellie. Thanks for stopping by and have a fantastic time homeschooling.
I was homeschooled growing up, and I love the flexibility of my schedule. My parents for sure focused on, “You can catch up on academics but character training needs to be done daily”, character over academics. Which is what makes homeschooling different than public school and some private schools. It neat to hear the behind the scenes of someone who homeschooled. 🙂
I just love meeting adults who were homeschooled. Do you think you will homeschool?
I’m always overwhelmed. Yesterday was a horrible day, but when I finally prayed, I had a sense of calmness and was able to handle things without having a nervous breakdown. I work full time from home and if I had to add homeschooling on top of that I would probably lose my mind so my hats off to the homeschooling moms.
I’m so sorry you had such a rough day, but glad you turned to the Lord. That’s what homeschool moms do too!
Great post! I am not a homeschooler but my daughter is only 3. I have been thinking about it and will have to come check out the rest of your blog when we are ready to decide.
Oh do that Angela. You will never regret homeschooling! I can guarantee that. It’s been such a blessing to our family. We’re hopeful that all of our grandchildren will be homeschooled.
These are great ideas. I’m just starting to homeschool this year (my oldest is in Grade 1) and we’ve had a good year so far. Next year my second daughter starts Kindergarten and my husband is a bit worried about how I’ll teach two kids but I’m looking forward to it. It’s still good to know how to prepare and to be ready for things. 🙂 Thanks for sharing!
You’ll do fine Bonnie. I would guess that you are already doing kindergarten with your daughter – working on colors, animal sounds, counting…most school happens during the process of every day life.
I don’t homeschool, but sometimes I feel overwhelmed trying to take care of my three young children and manage all the day-to-day things. Thanks for these tips. They can still apply to what I do on a daily basis.
Homeschooling isn’t a prerequisite for feeling overwhelmed. They certainly can apply to being a wife, mother, and homemaker.
Such a great post, I can relate to some of it as a secular homeschooling mom! Thanks for the tips!
Thanks for stopping by Jennifer. I’m glad you were able to get some good information out of my post.
I love that first picture that you started off with. Thanks so much for reminding us to prioritize and stay in God’s word during difficult times. Thanks for this 🙂
The best place to be is right in the center of God’s will. 🙂
Great words of encouragement! I am sharing this with my homeschooling friends!
Thanks for sharing Cheri. I appreciate that.
I really wish I’d considered homeschooling when our kids were young. I really didn’t even think of it as an option, but I am confident that even with its challenges I would have kept them at home today.
We can only make the best decisions with the information we have at that time. I’m sure you did a good job of parenting even if you couldn’t homeschool.
Your words are so true for any large undertaking, especially marriage and parenting.
Definitely! You can easily get overwhelmed if you don’t have a plan.
I think character building is so important, home schooling or not! Thanks for sharing.
My husband always said, You can catch up on academics, but character needs to be taught while they are young. Thanks for stopping by.
Nice post. It’s interesting to read about homeschooling, though I feel plenty overwhelmed even though I don’t homeschool.
Homemaking is a full time job, and so is homeschool. When you homeschool you have two full time jobs.
Thanks for the tips. I don’t have children yet, but when I do I plan to homeschool them. My parents homeschooled myself & my younger sister and I think they handled it very well.
Nice to talk with another grown up homeschooled woman. Good to hear that you had a positive experience and plan to homeschool too.
Great post! This is great advice for every challenge you face in life.
Thanks Amy.
I am not a homeschool mom, but I feel this way often with work and raising the kids and family. I loved your post and I think it will hit home to a lot of moms. Thank’s for sharing!
Thank you for your encouraging words. I do think most women deal with a level of being overwhelmed most days.
What good advice to remember. I’ve been a teacher for a big district for 15 years. I sometimes wish I could home school my kids. Best of luck to you! Thanks for sharing 🙂
It’s good to know there are good teachers in the schools, but I too wish you could homeschool. It’s been such a blessing to us. Thanks for stopping by.
Really, 1 – 4 could apply to everything we do – it’s just good practice. I home schooled for many years in different ways, but always tailored to the kids’ needs. It’s exhausting and I have to admit I’m glad it’s over. BUT, I’m also glad I can look back and say I did all I could to get my kids, along with others’ kids, on their feet and on their way as educated well versed adults. What can be better? Keep going! You’re doing a good thing for your kids.
You’re right Val. When we finished I felt like I was suddenly unemployed. Come August and there were no lesson plans to work on. But now I’ve settled in and with three young adults at home in various stages of work/school I still find plenty to keep me busy.
I am not a homeschooling mom, but working from home and still taking care of the house and family is very overwhelming. Thanks for the tips!
Homemaking is a full time job – anyone who has done it knows. Hope you found something helpful in my article.
Wow, I’m in awe of your commitment! Twenty one years of homeschooling is a huge accomplishment, especially given the medical obstacles. Congratulations and thanks for the advice that I think applies not only to homeschooling, but life in general!
It does apply to all areas of life Staci. Thank you for your thoughtful words.
While I don’t homeschool our kids, #2 can really apply to anything. Godly training of our kids has to come before other things. It’s easy to forget that when we get busy. Thanks for the reminder today!
It certainly is Jennifer. I’m glad you found it helpful.
I am not a home school mom, but I found these tips useful for where I am in my life now. Especially “Prioritize” and “Stop and Evaluate Often.” As a new mom it is so easy to get lost in the hustle of everything you have to do. But those tips help you take stock of yourself and make sure you are getting done what “really” needs to get done, and casting aside less important things.
So true Cami. Having a plan really takes care of a lot of the pressure. Thanks for stopping by.
Thanks for joining us for Friendship Friday at Create With Joy, Phyllis – I hope you are having a fabulous week!
Did you know that there are now TWO link-ups at each party?
The first link up is ONLY for the prescribed social media link-ups of the week. I am only allowing social media link-ups on this list to make it easier for participants to follow one another.
The second link-up – the one with the photos – is the traditional Friendship Friday Blog Hop.
Could you please add your post to the second list – the Friendship Friday Blog Hop? I don’t want anyone to miss out on your wonderful post.
Thanks so much for blessing us with your godly words of wisdom each week. Have a wonderful weekend!