Being that it’s the beginning of a new school year, there will be several new homeschooling families joining the ranks. Congratulations! One sad fact that comes along with this is some of you will not be homeschooling next year, or even later this year. While the excuses will vary, the most common reason behind all of them will be burn-out. Many new homeschoolers will have never heard of burn-out, but even the most experienced homeschooler can go through it once in a while. What exactly is burn-out? The definition is fatigue, frustration, or apathy resulting from prolonged stress, overwork, or intense activity. Burn-out for homeschoolers can lead to any and all of the above and be caused by any and all of the above.
One thing that can cause burn-out with all homeschoolers is trying to do too much. Not only are there only so many hours in a day, but there are only so many hours in a day that your child/ren should be scheduled to work on school things if you are not unschooling. The amount of time depends on your child’s age and ability, and their interest level. If your child is only five years old, you shouldn’t expect them to work on any one subject/project for more than 10-15 minutes at a time. To combat burn-out caused by this, don’t over schedule your child.
Expectations are another thing that can cause burn-out. You’ve decided that your child should work on something for 20 minutes, and you expect them to finish that much. Well, at the end of those 20 minutes they have only accomplished this much, far less than what you expected. Relax. Your child has years to learn the things they need to learn. Another example is it’s the end of a “semester.” You expected to be a quarter of the way through the book already and you are only an eighth of the way through. It could even be the end of the year and you still have several chapters left. Remind yourself that one of the good things about homeschooling is that you get to go at your child’s pace. Remember back when you were in school, and even college. How many times did you actually finish the text book you were using? It really doesn’t happen often, and that’s okay.
When you find yourself frustrated, fatigued, or apathetic, stop and review. Take a break, which is another great thing about homeschooling. You can take a break when you need one. Look for the cause of your burn-out. Once you find the cause, come up with ideas to help relieve the burn-out and come up with a plan so you can avoid it in the future. Join a support group of some sort, whether it be a local support group, or one on the web. When you are starting to feel the effects of burn out, ask for suggestion from the group, or just vent if that’s what you need to do. Just don’t allow yourself to quit when something as simple as a week off would have taken care of it.
Are you feeling burn-out? Need to vent or looking for suggestions? That’s exactly what the comments section is for.
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