5 Back To Homeschool Self-Care Tips For Busy Moms
The back to homeschool season has arrived! You are undoubtedly busy gathering homeschool supplies, planning the year, and organizing everything.
Do you know what is missing from that list? Self-care.
A back to homeschool self-care routine is the best way to help you prepare before the new homeschool year begins.
What Is Self-care?
I was recently at a meeting where the speaker informed the audience that self-care was selfish and self-indulging.
This is wrong.
Everyday Health defines self-care as “taking care of yourself so that you can be healthy, you can be well, you can do your job, you can help and care for others, and you can do all the things you need to and want to accomplish in a day.”
Read that again. Self-care is taking care of yourself to do what you need and want to do.
Why Do We Need Self-Care During Back To Homeschool Season?
Heading back to homeschool can bring up a lot of emotions. You might be excited to dig into a new homeschool curriculum, join the kids on new learning adventures and get back to a homeschool routine!
You might also feel anxiety, stress, and overwhelmed because you are adding something else to your busy schedule, second-guessing your choices, and if this is your first year of homeschooling, wondering if you are doing the right thing.
Yes, getting ready for back to homeschool can be an emotional roller coaster!
Use these back to homeschool self-care tips to help you prepare for a new homeschool year.
5 Simple Back To Homeschool Self-Care Tips
Change in our routines can be challenging. Here are a few back to homeschool self-care tips that are simple and easy to implement.
Create A Calm Morning Routine
Waking up to an alarm and rushing around trying to get yourself and the kids ready to face the day is not the best way to start your day.
Instead, try to wake up a few minutes before the kids wake up. Spend a few minutes with your cup of coffee and ease into the day.
My morning routine includes:
- A few minutes of reading.
- Playing a fun game on my tablet.
- Checking my planner to remind me of my daily priorities.
I also double-check the dinner plan and defrost what’s needed.
These few quiet moments have become one of the best ways to start my day.
Use Tools To Manage Stress or Anxiety
As a working mom, you know changes in your day-to-day life can be stressful. My back to homeschool self-care tips include tools to help you manage that stress.
To prepare for going back to homeschool, I find doing what I can ahead of time helps reduce stress, such as organizing my pantry, buying homeschool supplies, and making a meal plan.
A few tools I use when my anxiety spikes are:
- Take a short walk and breath deeply
- Journal out my feelings
- Practice progressive muscle relaxation
- Use fidget tools when you can’t get up and move
Create White Space
Do you find yourself rushing from task to task? Work to homeschool, laundry, cooking, and back to work?
Rushing from task to task without a break is exhausting. When you start back to homeschool, you are adding another task, and it is vital for your mental health that you create space between tasks.
Try to block off 5-10 minutes between each task that allows you to transition from one job to the next. This process is called Task Transitions, “a mental and physical shift from one task to another.”
Use those few minutes to mentally let go of the task you were working on, move around to stretch your body, and mentally prepare for the next task.
These much-needed task transitions can only happen if you create white space in your planner.
Be Present With Your Kids
Our next back to homeschool self-care tip will help reduce that feeling of being pulled in a million directions at once.
One thing I’ve noticed since I started working at home and running my own business is the pressure to be available all the time. I feel like I need to answer every single email, DM, and Voxer message immediately.
In order to combat that, I’ve started setting work hours and non-working hours.
During non-working hours, I focus on homeschooling my kids during our homeschool time block. I put my phone in another room or put it on do not disturb. I sit with my kids, read to them, and color with them. I focus on being present.
When it comes to working and homeschooling, it is all about juggling. Blocking off a few hours of my day to homeschooling and being present with my kids allows me to give my 100% to them at that time.
No more push and pull. Way less guilt because “mom is always working.”
Setting these boundaries plus using a timer has really helped me focus on my work and connect with my children.
Plan Connections and Fun
As an introvert, this might sound odd but planning for connections and fun is an important back to homeschool self-care tip for working moms.
Socialization is key to self-care. We know it is essential for our homeschooled kids, but we, as working moms, need friends too!
When we head into the new homeschool year, life get’s busy, and it is easier to neglect those social connections we need.
But connections are important to your well-being. The best way to cultivate and maintain close relationships is to put time and energy into building your relationships with others.
To make that happen, you need to plan for it! Take the time to plan to grab a cup of coffee with a friend in person or virtually, play a game with your kids some evening, or indulge in at a home movie date!
Write it in your planner, so you don’t forget.
Remember, self-care is anything that recharges you. Having a support system of friends and community in place is part of self-care.
You can find the support you need online such as through Facebook Groups and forums. Or in your community. You may need to search a little harder but keep looking.
I have two online communities, specifically for working moms who homeschool.
Back To Homeschool Self-Care Tips For Busy Moms
Life is busy for a working homeschool mom, so you need a back to homeschool self-care plan.
Everyone has different needs when it comes to self-care. What recharges one person may exhaust another. You need to create a customized self-care plan that fits your needs right now.
Use the 5 self-care tips as a starting point, and be sure to download this self-care ideas checklist to help you get started!
As you head into a new homeschool year, busy gathering homeschool supplies, getting ready for the year, and organizing everything, make sure to include self-care!
Check out the Self-Care Made Simple Kit to help you create a back to homeschool self-care routine.
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Hi, I’m Jen. I help working moms juggle their career and homeschool their kids by providing support, systems and tools. You are warmly invited to Join the Online Community Here!
