Sustaining a Joyful Homeschool to the End

When you begin homeschooling, everyone will remind or warn you with comments like:

Homeschooling is a marathon, not a sprint

Be sure to avoid burnout

Advice is all good and well in theory, but then, one day it hits you – and you experience it for yourself. 

After a decade of homeschooling, I finally get what everyone is talking about… burnout is real! It really IS a marathon, NOT a sprint. 

Around five years ago I began running.  I had never been a runner as a child or young adult, but started running in my mid-30s.   Now that my body was free of carrying and supporting young children, I was keen to exercise regularly.  I had walked in the past, but found that running was a more efficient use of my time.  So I began running a lap around the park next to our house each day and slowly built up to 6kms and beyond. 

When I do longer runs, I’ve certainly recognised the need to take it easy at the start. One thing that I didn’t take too long to notice is that if I start off too hard, I will certainly struggle to complete the distance.

This is just like homeschooling. 

We are often conscientious and invest well into setting up a rich home education for our children, that we do not have a whole lot of perspective for the future. 

The biggest question we need to ask is:

At what pace do we need to go to last the distance?

We all dream of enjoying peaceful and joyful homeschooling days with our precious tribe.  The reality is if we do not pace ourselves well or plan for the long-term, then we are at risk of burnout and potentially need to give up our dreams. 

So how do we know at which pace to run our homeschooling marathon?

The challenge with this question is that we all go through seasons.  Each of these seasons with varied factors of -time, capacity, responsibilities outside of the home, ages / stages / needs of children and so on, require a difference pace. 

I wonder if the better way to tackle this is to factor in practices for sustainable homeschooling no matter how short or long the journey will be. 

Let me make suggestions for the way to not just pace ourself (as we do not always know what distance we will be running), but to keep us refreshed and enjoying our journey to the end. 

1.     Finding your own groove – not copying others.  You do YOU!

When we begin homeschooling we seek to discover and follow others to see how to do it.  It’s easy to quickly fall into the trap of comparison.  This will leave us feeling discouraged, inadequate and flat.  Comparison is the thief of Joy.

You and your children are uniquely created with your own interests, experiences and gifts.  Lean into who you are and discover your own family’s groove.  Read more BELOW: https://fourlittlelearners.wixsite.com/website/post/finding-your-groove.

2.     Protect time at home with your children

If there’s a queen of FOMO – it’s me!  Choosing to educate our children at home it’s too easy to think about all the things they are ‘missing out on’ at school.  We want the best for our children and that can be interpreted to take every opportunity presented before you.   Be it a sporting, musical, cultural, homeschool workshop and so on.  All of these opportunities are wonderful!  And, it is valuable to enrich your child with activities outside of the home.  However the problem arises when we spend too much of our time juggling driving, dinner prep, house responsibilities to enable our children these opportunities.  Often this comes at the expense of our margin, connection with those we love most and eventually our sanity.  Keep in mind our goals and dreams for homeschooling as we make decisions for things outside of the home.  Less is more.  Protect time at home to provide the peaceful and joyful time learning with your children.

3.     Regular retreats – daily, weekly, monthly

Prioritise space for yourself – to care for you; body, spirit and soul.  When you do this, all those around you will benefit.  Rather than waiting until we are pushed to our limit, be proactive. 

I like the daily, weekly, monthly model. 

Day: Take minutes each day to do something life giving – a quiet cuppa, a rest, a walk.  Even 5 minutes can be so powerful, but half an hour is amazing.  Find a time in your schedule that suits – morning, afternoon or evening.  Weekly: Similarly, take an hour or so each week to set aside for rest or life giving activities – walk on the beach, watercolour, playing music, a long nap.  This will keep your cup full and revive you for the week ahead.  I personally take half of Sunday to nap, read, journal and swim.  This time has become an absolute life line for me.  Given our week is quite full in this season of life, I need my Sunday afternoon to prepare me for the week.  Without it, I do struggle to keep the same pace during the week. 

Monthly: Finally, set aside a day or two each month to enjoy doing things you love. It may be a challenge to find this time with all the comings and goings in your home, however, protecting this time will be so life giving and keep you in a healthy place for the long term. 

4.     Build a village around you to share the journey and the load

Find others to walk with to share and support you in your homeschooling.  This may be regular catchups with like-minded friends where your children connect and play well while you have a quiet conversation.  It may be including grandparents in your journey to practical support you while you homeschool with younger children or house responsibilities, or they may take some of the teaching load to invest into the children themselves.  Or it may be connecting with a co-op group of other homeschoolers.  Be sure to find a village to support your children’s relationships but also your own. 

5.     Reflect and celebrate on your HS journey each year.

Educating our children at home is often a thankless and overlooked task.  There are no reward certificates, academic ceremonies or scores to mark progress and success.  All the more reason to create our own!  At the end of the year, or at a significant point during the year (perhaps when the moderator comes) be sure to celebrate!  Go out for a family meal or icecream.  Take a fun day to a theme park or zoo.  Mark the year and all the hard work with celebrations! 

We might not know what pace we need to run this marathon of homeschooling as seasons come and go.  But by proactively implementing these ideas into your everyday life, you can maintain good health for yourself and your family. 

Imagine if we were to carry through a week and a year and a decade feeling (for the most-part) peaceful, joyful and enjoying our homeschooling journey? 

I want to look back and be grateful that I slowed down in the process to finish my homeschool journey well.

Happy Homeschooling,

x Penny