It’s not easy to be a homeschooling mom. Besides all the other tasks every mom needs to do (laundry, cleaning, meal prep), you are still a wife and a mother. And you just need to find time to do it all. However, you only have 24 hours in a day to do everything you’re supposed to do (plus sleep!).
Time management is one of the biggest struggles for homeschooling moms. So, here are five tips that will help you organize and balance your life to save your sanity (and your family’s as well).
1. Determine Your Priorities
Deep down, you know you’re not superwoman; you know you can’t do everything. So, you need to establish priorities to make sure that you’re completely focused on your main goals. Something that can help you establish these priorities is to discuss them with your spouse. Simple questions regarding how you see yourself in the future, as well as your family, can help you prioritize, besides allowing you to see the bigger picture. Click the image below to grab the free How to Prioritize Worksheets. These works sheets will help you to determine your priorities, set goals, and develop an action plan!
2. Write Everything Down
With so many different things to do every day, you just need to make sure that you do everything that you planned out to do. So, one of the best things is that you actually have some kind of routine where you take care of some tasks, like preparing the meals, doing some laundry on certain days, etc. Besides this routine, you also need to make sure that you write down all the tasks that you need to accomplish during the day. When you know in advance what you have to do and why you need to do it, you’ll be more focused to get through your list.
3. Mix Subjects
You know there’s no way you can teach beginning math and reading at the same time. However, there are some subjects that can easily go together and this may save you a lot of time. Just think about History, Science, Character, and the Bible. They can easily go together – as a unit study.
But this can also be implemented when you’re teaching kids of different ages. While your older child may take notes about what you’re saying, your youngest can start to fill in blanks, for example. Another thing you can do to make sure they have learned why you taught them is that while your oldest child writes a paper about the subject, your younger child may do a multiple choice test.
4. Multitask While Grading Papers And Tests
Before you think I’m crazy, hear me out. When you need to grade tests and papers, you should have your child next to you. While you’re checking his paper and you see he missed a question, you can take the time to explain to him what was requested and how he should have answered. This will save you a lot of time and your student will be learning from his own mistakes, which is much more effective.
5. Simplify
Yes, I know how that sounds but I just wanted to make sure that you were paying attention. You just need to make your life easier and simpler. Some things you can start doing include eliminating the unnecessary busy work, start planning easier meals, or simply redefining what a clean house is for you.
How do you stay organized and balanced in order to keep your sanity?
Raki Wright is a wife and working mom of a 14-year old son and 7-year old daughter. She shares tips to balance work, family, and make time for you on her blog Outside the Box Mom.
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Jennifer Holt says
These ideas are excellent! One additional thing that I always did when I taught in the public school, and I have found useful in my homeschool is allowing my kids to switch papers and grade. All pencils have to be put down, and only a pen can be used to grade! This way, I have papers graded in half the time, and it opens up a discussion as to why each child chose the answer they did. Just a little tip that has really helped us! 🙂 Thank you for such helpful content!