![[(Child Training Tips : What I Wish I Knew When My Children Were Young)] [By (author) Reb Bradley] published on (August, 2014)](https://m.media-amazon.com/images/I/51SnOcJL+QL._SL500_.jpg)
If you’re feeling overwhelmed, these secrets to stress-free homeschooling will help you keep peace, joy, and purpose in your days. After homeschooling eight children over 31 years, I’ve learned the practical, Bible-centered strategies that keep burnout at bay. In this post, you’ll discover:
How to keep God at the center of your homeschool
Simple ways to reduce overwhelm and stay on track
Tips for building strong relationships with your children
The mindset shifts that make homeschooling easier and more joyful
If someone asked you to describe your homeschool, would you use the words peaceful and joyful?
That’s what we all hope for—but sometimes stressful feels more accurate.
I’ll be the first to admit that during my 31 years of homeschooling eight kids, there were plenty of stressful seasons. But I also learned that stress doesn’t have to be the “normal” state of homeschool life. With intentional planning and the right priorities, you really can create a homeschool that runs on peace instead of panic.
Here are my 11 best secrets to stress-free homeschooling—ones I wish I’d learned sooner.
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If you are feeling stressed about homeschooling, let me encourage you that it doesn’t have to stay that way! Here are some tips to make your homeschool year (relatively) stress-free!
Often when we are overwhelmed, busy, and stressed, the first thing we let go of is our time with God. It’s SO easy to let it get crowded out! When we start skipping that time with God, it makes things even MORE stressful. We begin doing things in our own strength and wisdom, rather than seeking God’s strength and wisdom.
Everything that we do in our homeschool needs to rest on the foundation of our relationship with the Lord. We need to hear from Him and His Word daily in order to be the moms He wants us to be.
“Your word is a lamp to my feet and a light to my path.” – Psalm 119:105 (ESV)
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Build your homeschool on the foundation of your relationship with God. Even 10–15 minutes of Bible reading and prayer each morning will set the tone for your day.
If you struggle to find time for God, there are some tips in Secrets To Finding Time For God As A Homeschooling Mom.
Ask yourself: “If nothing else gets done today, what truly matters most?” Make a list of your priorities, and make sure that your daily activities reflect those priorities. If your day gets crazy and you don’t accomplish everything you hoped to, at least you will have accomplished the most important things.
Start your day by building your kid’s faith (Bible reading and memory), working on character training, and then start on academics. God will bless your day when you give Him the first part of it and follow His priorities.
Some days, you may just need to focus on character and skip the academics. When you address the heart issues and character problems first, you will then begin to accomplish much more with academics.
One of the secrets to stress-free homeschooling is that relationships should always trump academics. Don’t let academic struggles hurt the relationship between you and your child!
When a child is struggling with a subject, try not to get all worked up about it. Eventually, they will get it. In the meantime, you need to encourage and love the child. Don’t let frustration creep in, because your child will sense that and it will hurt the relationship.
By the time your kids are in 2nd or 3rd grade, they should gradually learn to do some of their work on their own. You shouldn’t have to spoon-feed them at that age. Gradually increase the amount of work they do independently over time. It teaches them to be responsible for their work while relieving some stress for you!
Initially, this will take some time and work on your part as you train them in character, initiative, and responsibility, but it is well worth the effort.
In our zeal to make sure our kids don’t miss out on anything and have lots of opportunities, we can get TOO busy with activities.
Remember, you can’t do it all, so choose wisely. Prayerfully choose one or two outside activities that you feel are best for your family, and don’t get caught up in the whirlwind of constant activities. Kids need time just to play and explore, and also need to learn to appreciate being home with their family.
This is something that I didn’t always do. I tended to schedule things on a tight time frame, and then if one of the kids needed extra help or even just wanted to talk for a minute, I would be short and impatient with them because there was “no time” for that.
I had to learn to slow down and allow extra time for everything. Remember that kids usually aren’t in a hurry like us, and just tend to live in the moment rather than rushing around. We don’t want to pass our stress on to them by always hurrying them.
Things usually take longer than you expect, and there are always interruptions. Allowing that extra time for the unexpected reduces the stress of having to always hurry to stay on schedule. If you don’t leave any margin, you WILL feel stressed and take it out on the kids in the form of impatience.
When you are fatigued and haven’t been getting the rest you need, things always seem worse than they are. Things that once seemed possible suddenly seem overwhelming.
Homeschooling requires a lot of time and energy, so it’s vital that as moms we get the rest we need. If this means only doing the basics on some days so you can take a nap, that’s okay. It’s better to be rested and calm as you teach, rather than fatigued and stressed. You will enjoy your homeschool more, and so will your kids.
Ask yourself: What’s really causing the stress? It might be sibling arguments, unrealistic expectations, or disorganization. Once you identify the problem, you can take steps to solve it.
It can be tempting to keep a loose schedule of tasks for your daily homeschool routine. But the more you can plan ahead, the more prepared you’ll be for unexpected interruptions that arise.
When you know what you need to accomplish to stay on track with your goals, if your day gets cut short for any reason, you’ll know exactly where you left off and what you need to make up for the next day. Having these things planned will alleviate a lot of stress by eliminating the scramble that comes when things get off track.
Unexpected events don’t have to ruin your day—they can reshape it. If your child is thriving in a subject, linger there. If the plan changes, see it as part of God’s timing, not a failure. Just as mentioned above, things don’t always go as expected. And when plans change, or a child takes longer in one area than you hope, it can throw off how you imagined the day going. Don’t fall into the trap of thinking that if things change, they are ruined. They are simply different!
Resist the tendency to get stressed when plans change. Learning to adapt, pivot, and embrace the unexpected will help keep your homeschool stress-free!
It can be easy to focus on what is going wrong in your homeschool, but it is much more rewarding to focus on the positive. When you celebrate milestones and reward your children when they excel at something, you are creating an environment in your homeschool that is built on positive reinforcement.
A key to keeping stress out of your homeschool is focusing on the positive and not giving too much energy to the negative.
Homeschooling doesn’t have to be stressful. By keeping God first, guarding relationships, and leaving room for rest and flexibility, you can truly experience these secrets to stress-free homeschooling in your own home.
Recap: A Quick-Glance Summary of the 11 Secrets to Stress-Free Homeschooling
Keep daily time in God’s Word
Focus on your top priorities first
Value relationships over academics
Train children toward independence
Limit outside commitments
Build margins into your schedule
Protect your rest
Identify and resolve stress triggers
Plan your homeschool with flexibility
Adapt when things change
Use positive reinforcement regularly
