I am a homeschool mother of 6. I don't have everything figured out, but I can help you with the experience I do have.Please join me as Christian mothers who seek answers through prayer in study in raising our children in a Godly way.
This week has been such a crazy week. Monday we had our monthly 4H meeting at night. Tuesday we had a social worker visit for our foster babies. Wednesday we have our homeschool co-op and our youth church activities. Friday I will be going to hang out with friends and church ladies for the whole weekend, so school has to be done early. Figuring out how to get school in with all this going on and not have an emotional collapse is so difficult. Sometimes our stress cup just spills over.
Tuesday I was on the verge of completely losing my cool. My husband was home, and I said I’m going to go in our room before I yell at anyone else. Can you please just get the kids to bed. It had been an especially hard day with two of my kids. They had extra long math tests that they were really dragging their feet with. To make matters more difficult, I started school with my 1st grader. I kind of rotate who I start school with. If I didn’t get all my 1st graders homework done the day before, I will start with her. If I need to help my 7th grader with math problems he got wrong, I’ll start with him. I also sometimes just start with certain kids because that’s who I want to start with. I’m just grateful for my husband and that he is patient with me losing my mind and agreeing when I just need to get away from everyone right away.
You might ask what are some things I do to help calm down when I’m really upset while homeschooling. One of the biggest things has been to take a walk. Lately, this isn’t the much needed break I’m looking for. I’ve been walking with my teenage son. I enjoy walking with him, and we both talk about our issues. Sometimes though, it’s just more time of being a parent. Nonetheless, walks are super helpful to calm my mind down and get a change of scenery.
Another thing that has really helped me to calm down on tough homeschool days is taking big breaths. Sometimes if you take a deep breath, hold it for a couple seconds, and then let it out then it will help calm your mind and feelings. That helps me keep from yelling. It also helps my body to get out of fight or flight mode when my kids are throwing tantrums.
Sometimes when attitudes and anger gets too high, I just have to separate myself from everything like tonight. I either go on a walk, go out to the barn to vent to my husband, or go to my room to calm down. I have also set my timer and laid down for 10 minutes or so when I’ve gotten upset.
Other things that work really well for me with managing homeschool stress is writing in a journal or on my blog. Taking a shower can help calm nerves to especially as you concentrate on how the water feels on your skin. You can think about how it’s hot or cool. You can listen to the splashing. All those things slow your body down. Prayer is a very essential thing that can be effective sometimes for helping you calm down. Our Heavenly Father really cares about our relationships with others. He can help us remember to keep our cool and to be kind. A big part of homeschooling for many families is our relationships with our children. Our Heavenly Father definitely cares about those relationships being positive and loving.
The biggest idea with any of these techniques is allowing your mind and your body to get out of fight or flight mode and realize nothing is a threat to your survival.
That takes a little bit of time, and is probably not going to get any better with kids nagging and wining at you. Now I’m not saying that every time your kids upset you that you should go sleep for a long time and take the whole day off. I am saying, however, that when it gets really bad pushing through the stress is not going to be very effective. It often ends in tears and frustration. Below is a list of ideas to help calm you down when you’re upset.
