If Something’s Not Working…

I’m about to start my journey as an official homeschooling mom.

I’m nervous.

I’m excited.

And I’m a little overwhelmed. I have perfectionist tendencies and I’m always trying to find the perfect routine. But routines are supposed to bring order and peace not stress and anxiety. So if something’s not working…

Make a List

It’s not time to shame and blame yourself. It’s not time to try harder. It’s time to be objective about your time.

List all your basic duties and overestimate how long they take to give yourself grace. Lately I have been feeling like I’m falling behind on my duties so I decided to do this.

You’ll Be Shocked

Guess what? Even without including time for cleaning the house (not tidying , dishes, laundry I’m talking about scrubbing and vacuuming) it said I need 3.5 more hours in my day.

3.5 more hours. 3.5 MORE HOURS! THAT’S INSANE! But it also makes me feel better. I know that it makes sense why I feel stressed. Because i *actually* am doing a lot.

Here’s What You Gotta Do

So what to do? I need to base my daily schedule on the reality of the day. If things are missed that need to get done that week I will allot time on Saturday as my catch-up day. I used to have the whole weekend freed up because I got my work done in the week but my life is different now. I’m homeschooling and I have a new baby. Time to adjust.

It’s Not All Up To You

I heard recently something like “when did we start working for our kids instead of with them?” AMEN SISTER! Remember Little House on the Prairie? Mrs. Ingles didn’t run around doing everything while her kids relaxed. They worked with her according to their capability.

I will also delegate more things to my kids and consider a meal planning service or cleaning service as my budget allows. I also need to decide what truly needs to get done weekly and what can be done less frequently. I always miss cleaning my car and I feel bad about it. Well maybe it’s time to schedule a day once per month to do it. Same thing with meal planning , detail cleaning, decluttering etc.

Grace

I also plan on leaving ample wiggle room and white space to give myself grace. No more rigid schedules. I have kids. I need a routine. When this is done we will do this, then when that’s done, we will do this. We will, however, break for meals. Also, I will allow screen time as I see fit. If it’s before 3 pm I will make sure it’s educational and ask my kids questions about it. I will use it at a tool so I can get some focus time or as a reward.

Funny Thing is…

After one day of doing things differently I actually feel like I was MORE productive and far less anxious. I had mental space to delegate things for my kids to do and didn’t feel overwhelmed teaching them about it. I even took them to a park (not playground it’s still Covid-19 lockdown sadly) which I didn’t plan originally. I had time to do fun things like browse Thredup. I had some time to rest. I prepped dinner for the next night. I call that a win, my friends.