Top 10 Tips To Become A Consistent Homeschooling Mom

As a homeschooling mom, one of the most important things, and one of the largest hurdles to overcome, is consistency! I know this, because it has been my struggle as well. But over time, I’ve figured out ways to become a consistent homeschooling mom….even when I don’t feel like doing anything.

Here, I have put together a list of the top 10 tips to help you become a consistent homeschooling mom! Most of these tips are actually just good habits you can start working on right away. There’s nothing fancy or complicated about what I am sharing with you, so don’t feel overwhelmed. I wish I had been given this list when I was first starting out on our homeschool journey! I know it will help you get on your way to becoming a consistent homeschooling mom.

1. Get Enough Sleep

Getting enough sleep is so incredibly important when it comes to being a consistent homeschooling mom! I’d say, it’s the most important habit. If you’re overtired every day and dragging yourself out of bed or around the house, you won’t have the energy or motivation required to be consistent. 

If getting more sleep IS something within your control, make sure this is a priority. Create an evening routine that promotes sleep, and stick to it. Put down your cell phone, and go to bed on time! (I say this because I’ve been sucked in more than once at night by the funny meme scrolling, and then regretted it the next morning!)

If you have really little kids or babies in the house, and there’s a legitimate reason for your lack of sleep – that’s a different situation. And I get it, I’ve been there! We will address that in a minute when we talk about respecting your “season of life”. 

2. Organization

Don’t worry, I’m not referring to a pinterest worthy pantry, or a perfectly curated shoe closet! I’m talking about being organized in your mind and with your daily routines.

Often times, one of the reasons there is a consistency issue is because you aren’t sure what to do each day in your homeschool. Maybe you planned something for Monday, but then Tuesday comes, you don’t have a plan, so things just sort of start to slip. This is where the importance of a daily routine comes into play, (not strict schedules). 

Having a routine that becomes part of your everyday takes the constant planning OUT and helps you feel more organized day to day.  Some people like to write everything down on a chart so that each family member can clearly see it. Others don’t find that works for them and it’s simply a matter of executing certain tasks at certain times, each and every day until it becomes a habit. 

However you need to do it, organizing your time in a way that prioritizes your homeschool day will make such a huge difference for you in the consistency department. 

3. Breaks

Free time, quiet time, coffee time – whatever you want to call them – you NEED breaks! 

For me, one thing that really helps me to be consistent on days where I don’t want to do anything, is knowing that we always have a mid morning break. That is often my time to have another coffee, and just recharge a bit. You are not an energizer bunny and you cannot keep going and going without burning out. 

Please, take breaks!

4. Nourishment

In order to become a consistent homeschooling mom, you need to feel well. You need energy, mental clarity, and peace within your spirit that what you’re doing with your children is good.

Achieving those things will look different for everybody based on their own specific needs. So be honest with yourself about what you need in order to be nourished in all of those areas. Then, make a commitment to yourself that you will do your best. None of us are perfect, and as moms, putting our needs first is often a hard thing to do. But if you aren’t well, you can’t show up for your kids. So, make nourishing your whole self a priority. 

5. Support

Because bad days are inevitable, being consistent can be really challenging sometimes. You need people around you to support you, so that you can know you aren’t alone on those tough days. 

I hope you have people in your life that you can lean on – a spouse, sibling, parent, or friend. But if you don’t, I encourage you to seek out some positive online support. Perhaps a homeschool facebook group, or even using the internet to connect with local homeschooling mom’s around you. It’s hard to stay consistent when you feel alone, and I know for a fact that there are many homeschool moms just like you, ready and willing to lift you up when you need it.

Find your support system, and use it. 

6. Daily Routine

I touched on this when I talked about organization, but let’s really dive into this! Creating a daily routine truly does set your homeschool day up for success. It takes all the guesswork out of things, and gives you as the mom a feeling of confidence because you know exactly what to do each day. 

I’m not referring to lesson plans or anything like that, I’m talking about regular daily events that encourage a good homeschool routine, as well as a consistent mom. I’ll give you an example of our routine, specifically our morning routine:

• I wake up early (before the kids) to enjoy my coffee in the peace and quiet. 
• Kids wake up at 7:00.
• Chore time – take care of animals, empty dishwasher, wipe down kitchen table (where we do our homeschool), and counters.
• I get cleaned up and ready for the day, kids get dressed and have a bit of playtime.
• Around 8:30 we meet in the kitchen for breakfast/Bible time and this is what sets our day off and rolling. Because we need to eat, I’ve made breakfast part of our homeschool routine by incorporating it with our Bible time. I find that once we’re all together, it makes it so much easier to stick to our homeschool goals for the day. 
• Take a mid morning break.
• Finish all school work around lunch time, and the rest of the day is open for whatever you need or want to do.

Now make it your own!

Now, that’s OUR routine. Yours may look very different – that’s okay! Just start making a routine that suits your family so that you, and your kids, always know what the next thing will be in your day. 

Aside from getting enough sleep, this is the best way to become a consistent homeschooling mom. I know this from experience! If you need a little help formulating a morning routine that will actually WORK for you, I wrote an article all about how to do just that. You can check it out here.

7. Set Realistic Homeschool Goals

A trap that many of us busy homeschool moms can fall into is thinking we can do it all! So, we over plan our days and very quickly realize that we aren’t happy, our kids aren’t happy, and then we feel like a complete failure. This is the quickest way to kill consistency! Read more about this and other common traps you can fall into, here. 

A great place to start with this is by spending less time on the extra things, and focusing solely on the basic things – Language Arts and Math. This is especially true if your children are still young. You really don’t have to do all the messy science experiments, and attend all the field trips. It’s totally acceptable to say NO to those things! 

Sometimes, those might be fun. But if all those extra things are putting pressure or stress on you, then just let them go. You, as the mom, are the ringleader and main influencer of your homeschool. If you are stressed and overwhelmed, that will spill over onto your children and you’ll be much quicker to throw in the towel. 

Consider the age of your children, your lifestyle, budget, interests, and current capacities – and then be very honest with yourself about what you consistently take on. Do those things, and leave the rest. This will remove a whole lot of stress, and turn you into a more consistent and confident homeschool mom.

8. Respect Your Season Of Life

When looking at creating a homeschooling routine and becoming a consistent homeschooling mom, you really need to take into account the season of life you’re in.

If you are completely out of the baby stage and all of your kids are relatively independent, your days will be DRASTICALLY different than a mom who has lots of little ones running around. If you are that mom who has babies and toddlers in the house, then your day will look completely different than the mom with older kids. 

Respect your season of life by not demanding more of yourself OR your children than is possible during that season. When you are trying to become a consistent homeschooling mom, you must first take into account the needs of your current situation, and put those first. Don’t try to replicate the routine of a mother with older children, if you still have children who are dependent on you for everything. It won’t work, you’ll feel discouraged, and the consistency will drop off. 

Meet yourself where YOU are! Be consistent in the areas relevant to you right now. Don’t worry about how you will stay consistent in the next season of life, that will come. Focus on today, establish some simple habits and good routines that work for you NOW. The best thing you can do for yourself and your children, is to respect the season you’re in and not try to execute ideas that won’t work for you – yet. 

9. Be Careful With Social Media

Social media really is a double edged sword. In some ways, it can be encouraging and inspiring, helping you to formulate ideas and keep you motivated. Other times, its an absolute energy sucker, motivation killer, and waste of time! 

If consistency as a homeschooling mom is something you struggle with, I encourage you to be very mindful of what/how much social media you consume. As well as WHEN you consume it. 

It really is very important to start your day with consistency, to ensure you will be able to continue it throughout the day. Therefore, getting stuck in “the scroll” as they say, especially first thing, is often detrimental to a consistency mindset. I know from experience, that getting sucked into things on social media is easier than you think! You intend to look at one thing, and before you know it, 20 minutes has passed, you feel lazy, and you’re behind schedule when your day hasn’t even started yet. 

Even when you’re looking at positive things on social media, it can take up far more of your time than you intend. So be careful WHEN you allow yourself to indulge because it will have an effect on your day. If this is an area you struggle with, perhaps keeping your phone in a separate room until after your homeschool time is done would help. Or, set certain times in your day (such as while your kids are having their lunch), for you to check on things and enjoy a video or two. 

I’m certainly not saying you have to ditch it all together, rather, just be careful, mindful, and honest with yourself about how social media affects you. And then, act accordingly. 

10. Be Aware of your Own Attitude

Lastly, let’s talk about our own attitudes as homeschooling moms….yes….I’m going there! 

It’s so easy to blame the destruction of our plans on the attitudes of our children. I’ve done this, so I know. But if I’m really honest with myself, MOST of the time when things go haywire, I have a part to play in it as well. If I’m moody, or feeling overwhelmed, that absolutely affects the feeling and direction of our day. And also, when I don’t have a good attitude about things, how can I expect my children to have a good attitude? 

Sometimes, this requires us giving ourselves some tough love, putting on our big girl panties, and just doing the things that need to be done – regardless of how we’re “feeling” in the moment. 

Other times, this can mean being really transparent with your children and letting them know that you’re having an off day, but you still want it to be a good day. Then, you can show your kids that it’s ok to not always feel 100%, but it’s how we handle it that matters. That’s a lesson you won’t find anywhere in your math curriculum, but it’s extremely valuable!

You’ve Got This

Being a consistent homeschooling mom doesn’t mean we’re robots and never struggle with motivation or inspiration. It simply means that we do our best to structure our days in a way that supports consistency, health, and the well being of our entire family. 

Take small steps towards these tips I’ve mentioned, and spend some time talking to your spouse and kids (if they’re old enough), about some of these things as well. They love you and are going to want to support you however they can. 

Also, remember that God loves you and He wants to be your source of strength. Ask Him to help you! He is a God who always honours His promises, and will be there to give you exactly what you need, exactly when you need it. All you have to do, is ask. 

Blessings!

~Maryann