How do you avoid Burn out?

[happycc]

We are all so so busy....

We prepare, read, study, research, plan, design, tweak and implement curriculum in various levels and subjects to various amounts of children.

On top of that we have our daily needs-food, shower, bathroom, husband needs, entertainment needs, medical needs, friends needs, church needs, club needs, work needs, our parents needs, our siblings needs, our extended family needs, our mental health needs

Plus of course the house-cleaning, laundry, dishes, organizing, vehicle needs, bills, electronic equipment needs, shopping needs

Holidays, birthdays, anniversaries

 

It is NOT a matter of how do we do it all...because we all basically do it.

But it is a matter of how do you avoid Burn out?

 

What energizes you or invigorates you?

 

For me I need chocolate.

 

Also do you burn out more using a normal school schedule or going year round?

Edited November 27, 2011 by happycc

[8filltheheart]

We school approx 6 weeks on followed by 1 week off 35 weeks/yr w/ about 11 wks off in the summer. I need the weeks off for catching up w/life, re-charging my batteries, and creating our next set of lesson plans.

 

I must have daily exercise. I walk 3 miles every day w/my 15 yos. He pushes the toddler and we do his daily school discussions while we walk.

 

I have really been fatigued toward school the last couple of yrs......I'm not quite sure burn-out is the correct term. This is our 18th yr, I am in my mid-40s w/a just turned 23 mog, and we have an adult Aspie who is incredibly difficult to live with. I'm tired and school was staring at me like an albatross. I totally changed how we had been approaching school and switched to unit studies covering topics I haven't taught any of my older kids. It has really been my mental life-saver. I have enjoyed learning new things w/the kids and we have had a good time. So.....shaking things up a bit helps.

[Mommyfaithe]

Hi 8.... As usually, we agree...lol. I have been homeschooling going on 17 years...and like anything else...the excitement wanes. For me, 3 of my older kids moved out, dh began a business which is a behemoth, And my parents and his mom have aged, became sick nd died over the past few years.

 

The thing about homeschooling, is life happens anyway. We can't slow it down...and as we bring kids through high school, We are both stretched to the limit, and rewarded for those early years.

 

Anyway, I didn't avoid burnout.....I hit it full face on....kersplattt.

 

I think I am finally coming out of it...at least I can smile more, and I don't cry every day. I do things differently too.....we are using <gasp>. Workbooks and a graded reading program. What can I say? It works for us right now. We love to read in the evenings and I am using Sonlight...preplanned program for all of our history and read alouds.

 

I am slowly coming back from burnout. Exercise every day is essential. Good diet and taking care of me has to be a priority if I am going to continue to heal and homeschool.

 

I am so thankful to be home with my little guys. I am even thankful for my hormonal teen:D. These little boys give me a reason to wake up and keep working hard. My teens keep me amused....and have moved from middle kids to oldest kids. Their relationships are different.....it's life....things change....we change.

 

I am not sure how to avoid burnout.....but, I am here to say you can get past it....

 

Faithe

[regentrude]

What energizes you or invigorates you?

 

Weekends. We spend one day outdoors hiking if weather permits.

I also go for a long walk each evening with DH.

And, even though it seems counterintuitive: I get energy for home from going to work ;-)

 

Also do you burn out more using a normal school schedule or going year round?

I would not want to go year round. We do no seat work over the summer, just a lot of reading, listening to TC lectures, museums, this kind of stuff. And we travel. This is great for recharging.

 

And of course I only have two kids to homeschool, so it's not as exhausting as with larger families.

[HandmaidenofChrist]

Hi 8fillthe heart,

I have been homeschooling since 1992 and hit a wall this past year with caring for elderly parents and having some other pressing extended family needs.

 

I decided to do a unit study, too, and have been using KONOS Obedience unit with my 10yo son, the only one who is still at home. He is enjoying it and so am I. I am also actively looking for things to do with him that will spice things up. We are studying fractions while cooking in the kitchen and both of us are thoroughly enjoying eating our lesson together. ; )

 

I also find it necessary to schedule some time just for me, whether it means taking the dog on a hike, going out to a local cardmaking night every once in awhile, or getting together with a friend. Our homeschool group takes hikes on Wednesday afternoons, weather permitting, and I'm really making an effort to go.

 

The other thing that is crucial to me, is making sure I am studying the Word every day. I find my attitude goes into the toilet if I am not allowing God to tend to the inner fires within my heart, giving everything on my plate over to His perfect leading and guidance. I personally, find, I cannot continue this journey with His guidance and strength. :001_smile:

[HandmaidenofChrist]

Meant to say I cannot do this WITHOUT God's help. Don't know how to edit my posts here yet and my flying fingers took off on me again.

:auto:

[momsuz123]

I am new to hsing this year, and made the mistake to try and do everything right away. I learned that I could, but then I wasn't a really happy mom. I stopped doing some of our curriculum, or at least slowed down some of it. I have to say, that my kids have accomplished far more already versus being in ps. That is what I remind myself, everyday. My kids are happier, I am now happier. We are closer as a family. This is what I remind myself also. I am also reminding myself that the 3 r's are the most important. History and science can wait a little, if needed. Hang in there, I hope things get better soon for you!

[Annabel Lee]

This is only my 7th year hsing, if you count 1 year of preschool in the mix, too. I didn't start well and it's felt like an uphill battle that only went downhill from the start. I feel like I've been in a long, slow, drawn-out burnout most of the time. Many times, I've called local private schools and mulled over their sites. Sometimes all it takes is realizing that I'm not OK with any of the other options available to my family right now and that I HAVE to keep going. Sometimes the frantic desperation, the looking for a way out is halted in its tracks by the realization that there isn't one. It's not that I don't want to homeschool; just not the way I'd been doing it, and not with running on empty & being perpetually overwhelmed.

 

I think more recently this year I hit a real, true burnout. The crying everyday, overwhelmed with all other aspects of life as well, ready to run away kind. I remembered what joy & fun I used to have with the kids homeschooling them when they were little. I had to analyze why it's turned into such a dreadful beast now. There's no reason we can't and shouldn't have some of that same type of joy these days like we used to. It takes complete engagement on my part, not disengagement. The kids pick up on my enthusiasm (or lack of); my mood sets the tone.

 

First, I had to realized I'd turned this thing, homeschooling, into an unrealistic, perfectionist booger. My *way* of doing it was sucking all the joy out, was causing us to forever fall more & more behind with no hope in sight. Sounds fun, huh? :P Yeah, so I had to accept that no matter what the "best way" is, I had to find a DOABLE way, and not feel guilty or make secret plans in the back of my head to "make up for it" over the summer, etc. We're not talking educational neglect here. I was seriously, seriously tied to my ideals (still am, but I apply them differently).

 

Second, I had to inject some enjoyment back into our lives. I try to make sure the kids are seeing friends often enough, getting to run & play enough (a challenge when it's -40* F outside and the cold inversion makes it smoggier than Beijing), and I just made a list of field trips & outings that I'd like to do with them. I've got one son who reeeeeaaaallllyyy wants to go to school "to have more friends". Last year he expressed that he is lonely. It became firm in my mind this year that if I'm going to tell them "no, sorry, we can't get together with So-and-so, or go do XYZ activity because we have school", then we darn well better be doing school in that time and getting it done. If I'm going to carve out time & call it "school time"; if I was going to keep them home and forgo outside fun for them during those hours, then I needed to make sure it was being used faithfully & consistently. During my long season of "blahs" (aka clinical depression) I just had zero "oomph", no motivation, no desire to do it. It was like pulling teeth (mine, that is) to get up and do school, which as described above, had become miserable anyhow.

 

Third, and this has just finally sunk in this month, I need to take care of myself. Common knowledge to most, but for me, I had to be backed into a corner to accept it. I've looked at all of the "outs" (getting out of hsing, that is) and decided I don't want them. So, if I'm going to keep doing this, I need more energy. I need some "oomph". I need friends, I need exercise, I need better nutrition to ward off "the blahs". I need to connect better with my husband. I need to laugh, and I want my whole family to laugh & sing together, to experience joy together. I see hope now.

 

I don't know if what I've been through was a burnout or a slump or what... but it wasn't fun. To answer your questions, OP: "What energizes you or invigorates you?" I guess making sure there is some enjoyment in life for me, too. I'm not even talking about "me time" with spa days & such, I'm talking about having something in life that brings me some enjoyment. The thought of taking up skiing again, even digging out my old stamps & card-making stuff... That and learning to take care of myself physically.

 

"For me I need chocolate." Yep, me too. The darker the better.

 

"Also do you burn out more using a normal school schedule or going year round?" I tried a year-round schedule on purpose one year and I'm never doing that again. My kids live for the summer. We've always had to do school over the summer because we fell very behind over the years. My goal is to just do a regular school year, maybe not so strict as a perfect 36 wks., but a large chunk of the summer to just explore and learn about nature and have fun outdoors. I think I would burn out on a true year-round schedule.

[FairProspects]

I am only 3 years in, so I don't even know if I have earned the right to speak to this yet, but my answer is breaks. I read about people who school 6 days a week, year round, and we could never do that without me losing it. We school 4 days a week, off for at least a month in the summer, and have a pretty active social life with ps friends and family outside of school.

 

I often have to stop and do or think about something besides school such as hobbies or friends. I know Jessie Wise has a chapter about putting off hobbies until the kids are grown, but that would be a recipe for burnout to me. I need to have my outlets.

[SebastianCat]

I do a LOT of prep work over the summer, including tearing out workbook pages and arranging them by week in a big Sonlight binder with the 36-week tabs, so I have less to do during the school year. Each week my school prep is to pull the seatwork papers out of that binder, write a date assignment at the top, and drop them into hanging folders by day on my kids' desks.

 

I have realized that our year has distinct seasons, and to make the most of each season. We finish our school year mid-May, and do no seat work from mid-May until the first week in July. In July, we start math, then a few weeks later, we start English, to slowly ramp up to a full-load schedule the first week of August.

 

August & September, and January & February, are great months for us to do hands-on projects and science experiments. But October-November and April-May are crazy with "extra" stuff - church choir programs, homeschool group service projects & parties, etc. So I've realized that it's OK to back off on some of our schoolwork during the crazy seasons of the year, and I try to do more during the more calm seasons.

[Another Lynn]

We are all so so busy....

We prepare, read, study, research, plan, design, tweak and implement curriculum in various levels and subjects to various amounts of children.

On top of that we have our daily needs-food, shower, bathroom, husband needs, entertainment needs, medical needs, friends needs, church needs, club needs, work needs, our parents needs, our siblings needs, our extended family needs, our mental health needs

Plus of course the house-cleaning, laundry, dishes, organizing, vehicle needs, bills, electronic equipment needs, shopping needs

Holidays, birthdays, anniversaries

 

It is NOT a matter of how do we do it all...because we all basically do it.

But it is a matter of how do you avoid Burn out?

 

What energizes you or invigorates you?

 

For me I need chocolate.

 

Also do you burn out more using a normal school schedule or going year round?

 

I don't have any answers to your questions, but just wanted to say that to begin with I don't consider that long list to be my responsibility. I suppose it is irresponsible of me (pun intended), but I ignore as many of those as I can get away with. :D Our co-op is trying to have a cookie swap in the "Mom's lounge" in a couple weeks. HA! I rarely bake cookies for my own family, why in the world would I want to be responsible for making 6 dozen cookies to swap with other moms/families just to bring home "strange" cookies my kids won't like? That's definitely not going on my to-do list.

 

I know you don't want a discussion about how we do these things, but I think aiming for low-maintenance choices is important (at least to me). And "Just say NO" is an ad-campaign I fully embrace! :lol:

[Alison in KY]

I've done a hodgepodge of things to avoid burn out. We schooled very lightly in the earlier years. Now that I'm beefing it up and the kids are able to argue more with each other it's definitely tougher. I've done some 5 weeks on and 1 week off, but not consistently. If I just feel tired and cranky we will usually take the day off. I start school usually in July to give me some wiggle room. I also usually want to quit in May...so sometimes I don't actually finish my school year until July.

 

One thing I have learned I enjoy is ordering curriculum in the fall and again around Jan. or Feb. It gives me something to look forward to, even if it's just some new readers.

 

I have a general idea of what I want to get done in a day, but if I hit a slump, then having the kids work on some independent work for a few days is a big break. I'll also sometimes use internet school and dvd's.

 

I get energized by church and hanging out every so often with some of my homeschool mom friends. If I get in a real slump I'll pray and ask friends to pray for me also.

 

Hope this helps someone.

 

Alison

[Caribbean Queen]

...I think aiming for low-maintenance choices is important (at least to me). And "Just say NO" is an ad-campaign I fully embrace! :lol:

 

:iagree:

 

I don't fill my plate and then try not to buckle under the weight. I don't want to find creative ways to refresh myself. I want to avoid having the life sucked out of me in the first place.

 

I avoid burn out by not doing too much, and not doing things that are draining. I say no to many wholesome, positive things because I already have the right amount on my plate.