Homeschooling parents face the same problem – how to juggle homeschooling, housework, cooking, parenting, some personal time, and being a good wife or husband?
In order to manage time, parents need to establish priorities, find creative ways to do the necessary things and put everything else on hold.
Here are some tips that can help homeschooling parents:
- Get real about time.
It’s time to be honest about time. After all, everyone gets the same 24 hours. You need to realize that your friends are not in some time warp. You can’t negotiate for extra minutes. Get real about time and manage your schedule in a realistic way.
- Give to get
You will get more time if you give up something else. A parent can have at least 12 or 16 hours to spend on any given day, doing the following tasks:
- Daily hygiene, dressing, self-care: 2 hours/day
- Making and eating meals: 2 hours/day
- Daily chores: 2 hours/day
- Kids’ hygiene, dressing, self-care: 2 hours/day
- Homeschooling: 2-4 hours/day
- Kids’ extracurricular activities
- Work: 9 hrs/day
Those listed above are just some things that take up your time. Some of them can overlap as some parents, especially moms can multitask. An example is doing laundry while listening to your daughter practice her speech, or while baking something in the oven.
If you give up some of these things, you can finish a book and have some quality time with them.
You can also assign your children a few of your chores to get extra hours during the week.
- Delegate some tasks
As mentioned earlier, assigning your kids some chores is a good way to get some free time. They are also part of the family and they have responsibilities. Chores such as cleaning and cooking should be group events.
Your 3-year-old kid is never too young to learn how to put away some blocks. Let them help older siblings sort their toys.
- Clean House
You should redefine “Clean” in terms of how clean your house is. Your house doesn’t have to be spotless all the time. Not having enough time to clean is ok, but try to wrap it up at least at the end of the day. Don’t clean too many times during the day as it will just leave you exhausted.
- Learn to let go
Simply “let go” when the situation fits. May it be a death of a close family member or a friend, or a rough year for you and your family, it’s fine for your kids to not finish all 36 weeks of homeschool curriculum. Let it go.
Learn what has long-term importance and what doesn’t. If you can’t follow your schedule due to some unforeseen circumstances, just let it go. If you’re tired and stressed, you probably cling to things that you should let go.
- Simple Meals and Deals
It’s ok not to cook sometimes and definitely better if you can score some great deals. Prepare simple meals but delicious and nutritious for your kids. It doesn’t have to be gourmet style every time, any simple meal will do.
Remember, one less hour in the kitchen is one more hour spent doing something you want to do.
- Make yourself a priority
The final secret is to make yourself a priority. If you’re not meeting your most basic needs, you can’t be effective in anything else.
For example, if you don’t have your breakfast or lunch, you won’t have the energy to do your work. While you make your weekly schedule, schedule some me-time to relax and rejuvenate.
Parents work hard every single day. Parenting takes a lot of work. You deserve the reward of more time to meet with family and friends who you love and do the things you enjoy. Remember that we all have exactly the amount we need. It’s up to us how we spend it to our advantage!