1. Take a little time each day for yourself. In prayer, reading the Bible, walking in the garden, exercising, reading a book. Our first and foremost responsibility is to our husband, children and home, but in this there should be a 30-minute slot just for you.
2. Make your meal plans and shopping lists. This doesn’t mean you need to rigidly stick to it, but at least you know you have the right healthy foods in your home available to make meals and wont waste time and money in check out queues at the end of the day.
3. Limit your children’s extra murals to one sport and one cultural when they are younger. We moms tend to suffer from FOMO (fear of missing out) but after many years of homeschooling I know that opportunities always come around again.
4. Spend more time with your children away from the desk and books than at it. Yes…we need to make sure we get the discipline studies done so that our children progress academically, but that is not where the job ends. Plan some happy memory making activities with your children whether it be nature study, hikes, picnics, drawing together…
5. Make sure your children know how to help in the home by doing chores and caring for their own bodies and spaces. You can get a free chore e-book here. It includes free printable chore cards.
6. Make time for your husband. Your children’s stability can be directly linked to the quality of relationship you have with your husband. If parents are out of sync then the home is out of sync. Start with a walk around the block, a dinner out, a quiet moment or two or three and learn to connect again if your life has been all about the children and homeschooling.
7. Limit screen time in your own life and your children’s. There are more and more studies coming out about the damage being done to children’s brains due to extended periods of time spent at screens – whether phones, tablets, computers or TV. This does not mean parents are exempt from damage but a hour or two on Facebook or reading blogs is just as damaging to a moms brain as an hour or two gaming on children’s. Experts recommend no more than 40 minutes at a time with a 20 min break 3 times a day at a maximum.
8. Invite people into your home and life that you believe can benefit your children and their futures. Have a meal together, let your children be exposed to adults who are in their field of interest.
9. Do not see the desk and books part of HOMEschooling as your children’s education, but count all of life as their learning. Make those opportunities by visiting more museums, libraries, play board games, get them to help you shop for meals etc.
10. Connect once or twice a month with other like-minded homeschooling families where you can encourage one another and let the kids see they are part of a bigger whole.
Wishing you the best for your 2016 homeschool journey.
