Stress-Free Homeschooling

And just like that, parents across the United States became homeschooling moms and dads. Do you need help with some stress-free homeschooling?

The thought of homeschooling my children feels completely overwhelming and yet here I am. Now that I’m about a week into our new routine, I have a few tips to share to help you school at home while minimizing the stress.

Find Out What Your Children Need To Do

Figuring out what to teach and how to teach your children is the first step. Luckily, our teachers send assignments every day so I know what to “teach” my kiddos. If you don’t have information coming from your school, there are tons of great, free resources available right now. But keep it simple. Find a website or two that offer age-appropriate and fun lessons for your kids in at least math and English. But don’t overdo it! Keeping your kids learning and active is great, but not if they have so much work they are continually getting frustrated. One of my daughters gets two math assignments from her teacher each day. One totally frustrates her and brings her to tears, so guess what? We don’t do that one because she doesn’t need to. And that relieves stress for both of us!

Create a Loose Homeschool Schedule:

Implementing and sticking to an extreme schedule can cause unwanted stress. But then again, having no schedule can also feel stressful! So make a homeschool schedule, but keep it loose. What’s working for us? My kiddos wake up on their own, write out their to-do list which includes assignments from teachers and chores from mom, and get to work. We have lunch, then finish any work still uncompleted. Then the kids are allowed to read, run around outside, nap, play board games, bake or whatever they want. We usually plan one fun activity in the afternoon that we all do together. After dinner, they can hop on their electronics. 

Let Real Life Experiences Teach Lessons

Don’t get too hung up on sitting your child down to teach them all their subjects. Let real life teach them. Have your child make a grocery list with you using the store flyer and coupons to teach them economics. Bake something together for lessons in math and science. Read out loud to your children for English class. Turn on some music and have a dance party for combined music appreciation and indoor recess. For history, tell them stories about your parents and grandparents.

Let Them Be Bored

Let your children know that you won’t be entertaining them every minute of their homeschooling time. At some point, you’ll need to get your own work done or just have a much-needed break. Institue a quiet time or an outside time every day so that you can do what you need to do. Kids can get very creative when they are bored, but they have to feel that feeling first. Let them feel the uncomfortableness, and see what cool things they come up with. 

Have Some Fun

In our busy lives, we often wish we had more downtime with our families. Well, we now have that in abundance. Do some things with your kids that you never seem to have time for: a family kickball game in the backyard, a board game marathon, a relaxing movie night, a scavenger hunt in the house, teach your kids to sew or bake, work together on a house project, etc…

Homeschooling is hard, especially when you had no intention of ever doing so. To relieve the stress, lower the bar, let your kids be bored, and try to enjoy this extra time with your children. 

Share and join us on social media!