Mom-It Monday: Time Management Tips for Homeschool Moms Who Juggle It All

Introduction

Hello and welcome back NEO Homeschoolers! It's time for another week of Mom-It Monday, and this week, I want to talk time management. Do you ever feel like your to-do list is longer than your day or patience? If so, you're not alone. Homeschool moms juggle a lot during the week. From lesson planning and teaching our kiddos to laundry, dishes, and other household chores, being a homeschool mama can feel overwhelming at times. My hope is that these time-tested strategies can help all of us homeschool mamas, myself included, to feel a little less overwhelmed by our mile-long to-do lists.

Time Management Tips

1. Start with rhythms, not rigid schedules. Children thrive on consistency, not clock-watching, so for the coming school year, let's focus on developing rhythms that work for and with our families' energy levels throughout the day. For example, if your kids have more energy in the morning, you might reserve the AM for academics and let the kids explore the outdoors and be creative in the afternoons. Then, evenings could be reserved for family time and quieter activities.
2. Use time-blocks, not to-do lists. Let's get back to those mile-long to-do lists. Perhaps, instead of making endless to-do lists, we can try blocking off chunks of time for various tasks. For example, you might block off 8-10 AM for lessons, 10-11 AM for chores, and 11-noon for quiet reading. Doing this will help reduce fatigue and help us, as a mamas who wear so many hats, feel more grounded throughout the day.
3. Delegate like a boss. As mamas, we tend to take on the role of household manager naturally. We remember when each family member has their annual well-check, keep track of sports schedules, and maintain a running grocery list of all those randomly emptied containers we find around our kitchens. The job of household manager is an exhausting one, but we don't have to do it all by ourselves. Kids of a wide age range are very capable of helping out and taking responsibility for some of the tasks we carry around mentally. For example, a 2 or 3 year old is capable of helping pick up toys in the playroom or putting away clean dishes with an older sibling. Meanwhile, a 5-8 year old can definitely help put away groceries, take out the trash, and clean up dog poop in the backyard. These are just examples, but you get the idea... Assign your kiddos age-appropriate chores to help reduce your mental load.
4. Prep the night before. If you're anything like me, you struggle hard with this one because by the end of the day, you are mentally done. Doing things like laying out books, materials, and breakfast dishes the night before can make a big difference in the morning though. The few times I've followed through on prepping for the morning the night before, I am always grateful in the AM. My problem is sticking with it, lol.
5. Build in margins and moments of rest. This is a challenging one in today's go-go-go society, but the truth is, we don't have to fill every hour of every day to be productive. It's okay to take some down time. In fact, it's healthy, and can help creativity to bloom – for both parents and kids. So, plan some white space during your day. Whether you use it for read-aloud time, drinking a cup of tea or coffee, or to just sit and do nothing, you and your kiddos will benefit from the down time.

Conclusion

Being a mama is a BIG job, and one in which we wear a lot of different hats, sometimes all at the same time. The good news is that being a mama, especially a homeschool mama, is a marathon, not a sprint, so it's okay to not always get it right and to have days when you literally accomplish next to nothing. Being productive all the time is not the goal. Spending quality time with our kids? That's the goal, and by stewarding our time with grace and flexibility, we can create an environment within our homes that is conducive to learning and quality time while also being peaceful instead of filled with pressure.

Thanks for reading! New here? Consider clicking that subscribe button so you can receive all my newest posts in your inbox on the day they go up. Long-time reader? Thanks for your continued support! It's because of readers like you that I get to continue to grow this community. For now though, that's it from me. I'm off to play repetitive toddler games with Maureen... See y'all Wednesday!! 😃