Avoiding Homeschool Burn Out

Homeschool burn out is a real thing. I've been homeschooling for 14+ years, and I've experienced burn out many, many times - even to the point of putting some of my children in public school! I've tried to pinpoint some of my "burn-out triggers" so I can recognize when they creep up on me. Maybe you're experiencing burn-out and don't even know it!

Trigger One - Busyness

Being too busy is a surefire way to give me homeschool burn out syndrome. With five kids still at home (and one on the way) it's too easy to get "too busy." Often I don't even realize that I'm being overwhelmed with activities until it's too late. It's easy to balance everything in my head - but once I start juggling the actual balls of activities, I often get overloaded quickly.

Right now, I'm teetering on the brink of "too busy." I have one playing tennis up to three times a week, one that does tae-kwon-do twice a week, speech lessons an hour away from home once a week, midweek church services, Bible Drill with two of my kids, and other church responsibilities. I can feel "overload" coming on pretty quickly.

The questions I ask myself when I get too busy are: What activities can we do without? What activities are causing us more stress than joy? What activities can I drop without disappointing my children? Sometimes I have felt the need to have no activities for a while, and my children have not suffered for it. I think family time will trump extra-curriculars any day!

Trigger Two - Curriculum

Curriculum choices are never easy to make. I know I spend hours pouring over samples and contents and reviews to see which curriculum choices may work for my children. Sometimes, though, the curriculum we choose can contribute to burn out.

Are there too many components to your program? Shuffling back and forth with books or manipulatives can quickly get frustrating. Is there too much reading aloud for you or your children's preferences? Are the book choices dull or dry? Is there too much writing, or researching, or busy work? Are your children bored? overwhelmed? underwhelmed? 

I like to stick with curriculum for the entire year if possible. Switching sometimes creates more problems than solutions. However, you can tweak your curriculum as much as you'd like to suit your family better. You can always select a different read aloud than is listed, do some of the written work orally, cut out the busy work and moving pieces if possible, and add some fun projects (or take them away!). 

Sometimes a curriculum switch is necessary. If you feel that way, then switch! It may just the change you need to squash the burn out.

Trigger Three - Lack of Organization

It's easy to get overwhelmed when you aren't organized. If you're constantly look for the book you need, trying to find a pencil or sharpener, searching for the art supplies you bought last week for this week's project...you're going to get frustrated!

Homeschooling requires a lot of moving pieces - books, notebooks, binders, scissors, glue, pencils, crayons, and more. Having a place for everything, and everything in its place, helps tremendously! I try to keep our homeschool area organized, so I know where everything is all the time. I keep a basket with our current read-aloud books as well as my teacher's guide. This makes it easy to grab the basket and start school!

My kids each have bins with their school books in them. They know just where each thing is - math books, grammar books, reading books, science books. We have one bookshelf dedicated to just our current year's homeschool books. Finding a new book or activity guide is made really simple this way. I have a caddy with pencils, pens, markers, colored pencils, scissors, and glue sticks. We keep our sharpener right in the dining room so we never have to search for it. These are simple things to implement that help keep us organized each day. 

If a lack of organization is causing you to feel the burn, then I suggest you take a week off of school to get organized. Dump everything out, purge what you don't need, and find new homes for the items you use daily or weekly. Invest in baskets and bins, tubs and crates, caddies and buckets. It will make things much easier on you!

Those are my top three homeschool burn-out triggers and what I do about them. Pinpointing the triggers has helped me to avoid burn-out and get myself back on track. If you're feeling weary in your homeschooling year, try to identify any problem areas that could be causing you stress. Brainstorm some solutions for these problems. Take a week or two off of school and decompress. Change what you can and fix what is broken.

What are your burn-out triggers?