If you’ve had a break from homeschooling, getting back into it can be exciting. Or daunting.
And if you’re new, starting homeschooling can be daunting. Or exciting!
We don’t just launch into full-time, intensive homeschooling after a break. Instead, we ease into it into a sustainable way to avoid burnout and work refusal – and I detailed how we do it, and how you can do it, right here.
Quick tips to start homeschooling sustainably
Don’t expect to launch directly into full-time homeschooling. If you’re new to it, or if you’ve had a long break over Christmas, it’s too much to jump straight into. You’ll just become overwhelmed and burnout.
Instead, choose 1 – 3 structured activities to begin with, whether it’s a maths curriculum, or nature study, or writing, or science experiments, or a foreign language – anything goes.
Once you’ve mastered your 1 – 3 activities, and you’re doing them without feeling rushed or stressed, add another.
It’s a bit like juggling – you wouldn’t decide to learn to juggle with seven balls. You’d begin with one, and then add more when you mastered that stage. So do the same with your bookwork and activities, and make sure you’ve mastered each activity and can do them all comfortably before you consider adding another to the mix.
And by doing this you’ll do fewer things, but you’ll do them all well. Your child will be learning to mastery level, not just ticking off to-do items (and learning in a shallow, surface way) in order to keep up with an arbitrary schedule.
Want to learn more about how to create a homeschooling schedule that works for your family? Check out my guide and downloadable template here.
And if you’re curious about Zero to Homeschool, which is all about homeschooling sustainably, you can get all the details here.
Thanks for watching! Let me know in the comments if you’ve been too gung-ho in the past, and how you get back into a workable schedule after a long break.
Loved this. Thank you!!
Great to hear, thanks Angie!
Great advice Kelly. And a bit jealous of all your rain!
Thank you Kristy. And you probably know the way it goes – ‘where the creeks run dry or ten foot high and it’s either drought or plenty’. We were on flood watch the other day so I wish I could send some south!