Motherhood is a hard job. It is nothing short of a balancing act. It can be especially challenging to juggle when you add working to your homeschooling mix.
Think about it? Trying to work (whether it is part-time or full-time), managing household duties, maintaining relationships (friendships or otherwise), and then adding in homeschooling to top it all off is a lot. It can leave you feeling mentally devastated.
Some days you will feel like a superwoman, but there will be days where you may not even want to roll out of bed.
To experience fewer of those days there are some simple techniques you can start incorporating into your daily life. These lifestyle changes will help save you time and your sanity.
Here are 4 of them you can start trying today:
1. Start Managing Dinnertime Effectively
One of the most critical times for families is dinnertime. Each day you will spend time planning meals, cooking meals, and cleaning up from those meals.
In order to combat all the time that goes into these meals especially dinnertime, you want to create effective ways to manage your nightly, family meals.
Some strategies you can try are:
- Meal Planning-take time to write out weekly meals
- Meal Prepping-preparing one or more dinners ahead of time and storing them I do M-W-F cook days with Tu-Th as leftover days. My husband cooks on Saturdays and Sunday is our finish everything that may be left from the week.
- Time Blocking for Meals-setting a time to start prepping, cooking, eating, and cleaning nightly. I use 7-9PM that is for cooking and eating. After the house has calmed down then I go back and wrap up cleaning before 9PM.
- Splitting the Duties-if you are able to split the nightly dinner duties with someone try alternate cooking or cleaning. I love that as I cook my husband will wash dishes and keep things in order.
And my favorite option is to try ordering in, grabbing take-out, or cooking a frozen dinner.
There are plenty of healthy meal options you can order from your favorite restaurant. They probably have some type of delivery service and there are plenty of frozen dishes that aren’t TV dinners.
We love the frozen pasta meals that can be jazzed up on the stovetop to make it delicious. Add some garlic, spinach, and additional seasonings it’s like a fresh meal.
2. Set Some Non-Negotiables for Yourself
The second most important thing is that you HAVE to be able to manage your mental health if you want to juggle all the duties of motherhood.
You must figure out what are your non-negotiables. Put them in place and follow them religiously.
What brings you happiness? Peace? Comfort?
I love to read, do puzzles, and paint. What do you love to do?
Start by setting a monthly time for that activity. If possible, give yourself a day where you can focus solely on relaxation and taking a mental break. If you can’t do a full day then try a biweekly option where you can set aside a few hours for yourself.
An extra step is finding others to help offset the burden for you. Pair up with another mom or friend and help each other. Try alternating with one another during the month to watch each other’s children during your “me days”.
Bonus: If you can get with other moms and have a ladies’ day out once a month or so that’s even better. Try going to lunch, a nail date, or even a spa date it will be just the mental break you need.
3. Create a Weekly Schedule
Managing time is one of the main skills you have to master as a mom. I feel like I have said that about each one but this one and mental health are the biggest ones.
The BEST way to do that is by creating a weekly schedule.
Maintaining that schedule will dictate how well you can juggle work and home life.
This schedule should not be some rigid, inflexible life. Yet, it should provide stability and give you and your family some daily expectations.
For example, working from home and homeschooling gives you the flexibility to set when you teach and how. You can add in meals, cleaning, you-time, and more as it would work for you.
Always try to carve out time for yourself throughout the day for small graces, such as a coffee break, time to read, or even a weekly nap. Mix that in with your monthly non-negotiables and use it to maintain day-to-day life for your family.
Everyone works better with a set schedule, especially children. Setting some type of alarm or reminder will greatly improve the likelihood of you following through with the schedule. So set them accordingly.
4. Be Kind to Yourself
Why is it so easy for us to beat ourselves up when we mess up or don’t get something done?
That is a behavior we must change!
It is such an important thing to remember to simply be kind to yourself.
If something doesn’t go the way you planned it…it’s ok. Forgive yourself. Life happens.
Things will come up that you can’t control and you have to accept that. Some days you will just want to take a nap or just take a shower without someone looking for you.
THERE IS NOTHING WRONG WITH THAT.
So, remember to be kind to yourself even when it’s hard to. You deserve it. You are doing enough. Remember that.
If you feel alone then check out the coping with signs of mommy burnout post. It asks the hard questions to everyday moms, not just homeschoolers. Their answers just may surprise you. This is a two-part series you can find the one specific to homeschool moms here and here you can find the one for moms with kids in public school.
Or if you need some inspiration then head over to the positive affirmations post and get the freebie to keep you encouraged.
The Key to the Juggling Act
Overall, making these lifestyle changes will not only save you time, but it will really save you from burnout.
Burnout is a real thing, especially for moms.
It happens to everyone and the best way to avoid it is with the solutions mentioned above.
So, really take the time to try and add them to your daily routine.
Even if you can’t manage to try to do all of them pick the one you think you struggle with the most then try it out and watch how they change your life as a working homeschool mom.
You can do this. It won’t be perfect every day because that is an illusion.
so let’s be transparent…it’s HARD. It can feel impossible.
Sometimes it’s simply just about surviving until the next day. But it is all worth it.
Updated 01/17/2022
Last Updated on January 18, 2022 by Kierra