Homeschooling When Life Gets Crazy
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In only 3 short days we are moving across the country, from Washington to North Carolina. To say that life has been crazy the last few weeks is an understatement! There has been so much to plan, donating furniture that isn’t making the move, packing everything else, and getting our house ready to sell. Oh yeah. And teaching. Homeschooling when life gets crazy is challenging, but can be done. After all, educating my kids is pretty much my most important ‘job’.
Homeschooling When Life Gets Crazy
Here is how we made it through the last few weeks.
Just do the next thing
Even though I usually plan everything, I stopped lesson planning the last few weeks. Instead, I decided to just do the next thing. Read the next chapter. Teach the next lesson. Watch the next video.
At first this felt wrong. My type A self wanted a plan to follow. It actually worked pretty well though. We still got quite a bit of work done. I was able to use the time I usually spent planning on moving tasks.
Drop the fluff
You can not do everything all of the time. Something has to give. It is okay to take a break from the non-essentials. Each week we dropped another subject. First to go were our co-op classes. Hannah and Ben enjoyed their classes, but cutting these electives from our schedule gave me a few extra hours to tackle my growing to-do list. Next, we paused our science course. We happened to be at a good stopping point, so we put our NOEO physics lessons on hold until after our move. Last to be dropped was Story of the World. We continued with math and language arts as long as possible.
Give unschooling a try
There is lots to be learned, even when parents aren’t orchestrating every lesson. Kids are curious creatures. They are always observing and learning.
I’m pretty sure that my kids are now experts at all things moving related. They are learning economics (selling and buying a house), botany (planting flowers for curb appeal), and geography (mapping our driving route and looking for potential field trips).
Give yourself grace
It isn’t easy to homeschool when life is crazy, but thankfully it is usually temporary. Give yourself grace to do what you can, and let go of what you can’t. You can always pick up the school books again when life settles down. I saw a quote on Facebook that really resonated with me – ‘I am only one person’. Don’t expect yourself to accomplish the work of 4 people. Be realistic about what you can actually get done.
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