I originally posted this four years ago. I had 7 children under 16 and I thought I would drown soon. I still have a lot going on, but no longer feel burned out. (maybe worn out, but that is a different story. :-) I am re-posting in case it is helpful again.
About this time last year, I looked at my husband and told him I could not keep home educating. I just did not have it in me. Between our oldest son with multiple issues, all the kids, and my very busy little ones I could not go on. He thought I was joking. I convinced him that I meant it. I started looking at the Baptist school down the street, and I am not even Baptist. Something had to change.
I watched this
video by Susan Wise Bauer. She starts talking about burnout at about the 9:30 minute mark. It helped me to define my feelings, and realize I needed a plan to get through it to the other side. I like home educating, but I needed a break. These are some of the actions steps I took.
- For me I started by taking the whole summer off. I had never done that. We had schooled all year with breaks in-between. I had not taken a large chunk of time off. It helped tremendously.
- I realized I was not going to finish the whole curriculum, took a deep breath and cut my losses. I did finish math, but that was all. I dumped some things in my recycling bin and did not look back. (Well, until the papers blew out of the recycle bin in a storm and landed on the deck posts and stuck there. I did get over that.)
- I choose a complete curriculum with lesson plans for the next year, and just followed that. I would try to be more eclectic in the past and pull in all sorts of resources, but I did not have that in me. I just followed the plan.
- I was distressed with the state of my life and house and started doing a project a day. My friend Kerry and I would write each other daily and share our projects. It kept me going and as my house became neater my attitude changed. My kids helped me with the projects. We really had fun. I felt like I was getting my life back.
- I shared with some other friends how I felt, and I was shocked that they felt the same. One friend said she was so burned out she was crispy. I loved that. Just sharing with others made me feel better. It is so easy to think that everyone else is doing great and you are the only one.
- I enjoyed just playing with my kids. I played hours of badminton, sat in the back yard with them, took a few field trips, and just did not worry about school. I remembered what it was like to just be with them.
Next week. . . I will tell you what I did not do.
