Have you ever felt like this while homeschooling? The picture speaks for itself. The simple truth is we’ve all had bad days while homeschooling our children. There were days when I thought to myself, Lord I can’t homeschool anymore; I just can’t.
As a homeschool mom you are under a lot of pressure. You are trying to do your best to make sure you educate your children properly, and a lot of times with a plethora of criticisms from others. More specifically, you want to get this homeschooling thing right. Perhaps some of you homeschool moms expect too much from yourselves especially if you have a perfectionist tendency.
Ideally, it would be nice if you could put life on hold to homeschool your children. But reality is you need to constantly multi-task to keep up the pace. And believe me your children are not going to be obedient perfect students that willingly submit to your authority 100% of the time.
Like a lot of people you may be facing some serious issues in your own personal lives. There could be health issues, family issues, and financial issues just to name a few. Many of you hold part-time jobs, I certainly did for the majority of my homeschooling experience.
Other things to consider is that many of you homeschool moms have children with some serious issues. It could be a chronic illness, a learning disability, attention deficit disorder, PDD, or a physical handicap. Then there are behavior issues, such as strong wills, rebellion, and resistant learners. Or you may have a smaller child wanting to push your buttons all day long for amusement (my darling little son was good for that).
Let’s be honest homeschool moms are with their children 24/7, which leaves little personal time for yourself. Perhaps you may not have a support system, or may not have time for one. Then there is the problem of becoming too isolated (it is good to join a homeschool group if one is available in your area).
“And God is faithful, who will not allow you to be tempted beyond what you are able, but with the temptation provide the way of escape also, that you may be able to endure it” (1 Corinthians 10:13b). So what do you do when you are having a bad homeschool day? Escape.
1 Corinthians 10:13 says that God will not allow us to be tempted beyond what we are able, and provide a 
way of escape for us. Your first escape is to seek the Lord in prayer and scripture reading. But there are practical ways of escaping also. Here’s my suggestion, take a break. Put the books away and take the day off, and maybe the next day, or the rest of the week.
Leave the house and go outdoors to a park, a lake, or take a walk in the woods. If you live in an urban area put the baby in the stroller and go for a walk downtown, or go to the mall. Let your children play. You can play with them, or just give yourself time to chill out. If you need some time alone and have a relative near by, leave your children with that person periodically (if they are willing).
If you are having a series of bad days maybe you just need to reconnect with your children as mom again. Make time to have fun with them. Your relationships with your children are a priority and may be challenged at times when you take on the role as their teacher all day. Academics are important but not the most important thing in life.
So homeschool moms lighten up on yourself a little and take a break! The schedules can wait, the academics can wait, keeping up with the curriculum can wait. You want your children to learn to read, write, do math, and learn their other subjects; and they will. As each year passed while homeschooling my children, I learned how to relax and have more balance. With God’s help I always managed to finish the curriculum for the school year.
Nicely done