Homeschooling is fulfilling, rewarding, inspirational … and exhausting.  Sometimes you just need to give yourself permission to take a day off. If you can’t take a day – maybe you have littles who need you, or you work and homeschool, try to make life a little easier for a day or two.

Here are some tips and tricks I have used to give myself some breathing room when life gets to be too much. These won’t work for everyone of course, so take what works for you and leave the rest.

1. Cancel school. Just do it. And do it as often as you need. There are 365 days in the year and I only need to homeschool legally for 175 days where we live. That means I can cancel school 190 times each year!
2. Paper plates. We don’t have a dishwasher, and although we recycle ambitiously and try to be environmentally friendly, my sanity finally embraced paper plates back in 2018. In your home, this might look like assigning each family member one cup to use all day. Or wearing outfits two days in a row to cut down on laundry. Anything to cut down on your workload. Make sure your children are helping with the chores, too!
3. Plan outings for your benefit. We used to hike All The Time. Hiking is free, our budget was tight, and hiking got me out of our cramped rental. But most importantly, hiking brought me joy. My kids didn’t exactly love it, but the hikes were a break for me that helped me to reset. Do you like art? Visit an art museum or look at art for free in your local library. Is crafting your joie de vivre? Take the kids to a craft show or farmer’s market. Love science? Visit a science museum or go on a science field trip through a conservation or on your own. History? You guessed it! History museum or Museum in the Streets. Make sure to ask your local library about free passes to make these outings affordable.
4. Educational (or not!) TV. On rainy days and raw, blustery days, I want to cuddle on the couch with hot cocoa and watch movies. So, we do! Sometimes we watch educational shows and movies and sometimes we watch Mary Poppins. But we always have popcorn! Lol!
5. Take a nap. I fought naps for so many years, feeling like there was always more to do and napping was lazy. But being exhausted is not productive. Now, I have mastered the 20-min couch snooze. Of course my kids don’t require constant supervision. If you have babies and toddlers, that is a different story. I have also told my children that we would clean the house after my nap, which ensured a long, uninterrupted snooze for me. I laughed so hard when a video about this very thing was shared on social media, but I am proof that it does work.
6. Surprise the kids with a big activity, then relax and watch. I have done this with dominos, our Geotrax train set (which requires a lot of set-up that doesn’t require grownup assistance), my husband’s Star Wars toys, ALL of the stuffies gathered in the living room and letting the kids have free reign with the craft tubs – to name a few. The trick is to use what you have and make it fun. All these activities promote independent and creative play – and they usually last for many days!