The balancing act of home and homeschool can be a difficult one but you can do it! Keep in mind these tips of keeping it simple, getting help, having boundaries, giving yourself grace and remembering your whys.

When you choose to homeschool you find yourself now in two modes – parent and homeschooling parent. Each of them overlap but also have their individual sides. Or is that just me? There is the part of you that needs to step up at times as the teacher/school person who might be a little different to everyday, normal you. It can feel a little like a trapeze act when you’re balancing on a thin wire and hoping, just hoping, that you are not going to fall.

How do you know when to be Mom Mom and know to be Teacher Mom? Honestly, this is something that I still struggle with. It can be hard to snap out of one mode and enter into another, especially when you were teaching. So how can we balance homeschool life and home life? Is it possible to do this? Or is it just a pipe dream? 

So what are some things that we can do to balance, homeschool life and home life? 

HOW TO BALANCE

Keep it Simple (lower your expectations)

I have had it said to me several times that “You can have a clean house, or you can homeschool. Not both.” This is actually very helpful to me. I think it’s helpful to everybody. We need to keep it simple. We cannot just keep pushing ourselves to have everything perfect. So, we have to lower our expectations so that we have this balance.

Honestly, I’m not sure that my house keeping was any better than before we started homeschooling, but then we’ve always had a lot of crafts, a lot of games and a lot of activities going on. We still have all of that now. Craft messes are constant, daily. Dare I say nightmare? No, they are not a nightmare, but they are something that happens and I have learned that you don’t clean it up until the end of the day because otherwise you’re going to clean it up several times as they keep cycling from one activity to another. 

I have to keep my expectations simple. I have to just decide that we will clean up before dinner or before bed. We cannot just keep doing it throughout the day as it takes away from everybody’s peace and it creates an environment that’s just not fun to be in. I know that this might not be everybody’s cup of tea. Some people love to have several times of cleaning throughout the day. But not me. We keep it simple and we do it once a day. I also pick whatever bit of housework I am going to do each day – laundry, vacuuming, bathrooms. I can’t do it all every day. Keep it simple. 

Get the help you need

There’s no shame in getting help around the house or with your homeschooling. And guess what? Your kids can help! 

Do you need a helper to come in a couple of hours a day while you get things done? Do you need someone to come and do housework for you twice a month? It all depends on your needs and is also your finances. I get that but we don’t have to do it alone and if we are struggling with a balancing act then we get the help that we need.

Get your children involved in doing different things, whether it is unstecking the dishwasher or putting away laundry or even learning how to use the washing machine. The older they get, the more they can do. And you can make this part of your homeschooling day. It is not all on you as the homeschooling parent and the parent to be doing everything every day everyone. 

Have boundaries

One important thing to do as you work on this balancing act of home life and homeschooling is to have boundaries. Having boundaries are important in all aspects of our lives. But as we homeschool and as we deal with home life, there seems to be a never ending list of things to do or expectations upon you. Learn to say maybe. Learn to say yes – when it works for you and it suits you. And learn to say no when you’re feeling overwhelmed or feel that it is just going to distract or take away from what you were trying to achieve at home. 

Maybe your boundary is to say no to anything that is asked of you on extra in the mornings. Maybe your boundary is to say no to additional things on Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday. Whatever your boundary looks like you haven’t working for you. Yes, do what works for you!

And don’t feel any sort of shame for saying no when you can’t do something. Shame is only going to increase any imbalance that you might have in homeschooling and home life.

Give yourself grace

It is so important to give yourself grace. Life has so many things coming our way that here in our modern age, even with all of our technology we still have so much to do and it can feel like it is just wearing us down. Give yourself grace. It is okay to say we are not doing any school work today and we’re going to ignore the housework and we are going to sit here and watch movies and snuggle and just enjoy some rest time. It is also okay to be using paper plates for a season if the thought of having to wash up more dishes just feels overwhelming. And in that grace we are okay.

I know I used to feel terrible when I would get a migraine and I am in bed for the day and my girls in a way offending for themselves. Just watching TV and eating snacks all day. This shame that I had up on myself that I was failing them for. Certainly not helping me to be getting better from the migraine. As for my girls, they thought it was a wonderful day and they love the TV, they love the snacks and, even though they knew that they had to maybe do double later to try and catch up on a few things, they were totally okay.

It is so easy for mom guilt to take over and up turn our lives. We look at these perfect people that have a clean houses and the well-dressed children, the balanced meals, and school work being done in such beautiful ways. But I bet they are not perfect. They just showing us a glimpse of the good days. And we don’t need to take that on. Give yourself grace.

Remember your whys

I think it is vitally important to know your whys for homeschooling. In fact, I think it’s the first thing you need to work out when you start your homeschooling journey. When you know your whys, you have something that you can fall back on and feel good about and remind yourself on those rough days when the balancing act just feels a little too hard.

When the balancing act between homeschooling life and home life just feels a little too hard. Come back to your wise, remember why you started this, remember the impetus and the drive that you have for all things for your children. Come back to, and remember your whys. 

The balancing act can be tricky at times. That’s ok. Nothing is perfect. Remember that you are not alone in this. Every homeschooling family has to go through this balancing act of home life and homeschool life. I am sure that the good days far outweigh the bad for everyone, and that is what we hold on to.

Check out this post on habits of highly successful homeschoolers.

Want to learn how to homeschool? Check out this course that will help set you up for success.