Motivation 101: A Guide For Homeschool Moms

It’s a mystery as to what makes homeschool moms tick to keep up with housework and raise little dragons, all the while working from home, cooking, cleaning and also preparing kids’ curriculums and lesson plans. It’s a lot to take in and naturally, one may feel tired, exhausted and worn out.

So what drives people, in this case, homeschool moms, to strive toward their goals? What makes them drag themselves out of bed early in the morning and then finish cleaning up before hitting the hay? The answer is simple. These moms take care of themselves first before everything else. Think back to when you were in school: do you remember your lessons because of textbooks or because of the teacher who made it simpler for you to understand? It’s because of those teachers that you had a favorite class to look forward to everyday! Below are some ideas on how you and your children can stay motivated on a homeschool day:

Make or Join Homeschool Groups

You can make a group with your friends or join existing groups in your neighborhood, who also chose to homeschool their children. This way you can each take turns on preparing lesson plans for the week and sharing them with the others. It’ll give you some extra time to take care of other things or you can use the time to relax.

Download Printables

These printables for busy moms can range from worksheets to daily planners, checklists and calendars. This is a fun and neat way to keep your space decluttered and your thoughts organized. It is also a quick way to make lesson time fun for the little ones and keep them busy while you run errands and finish incomplete chores.

Be Creative

Studies have shown that visual aids used for learning helps improve children’s memory power as they are naturally visual learners. So plan your lessons in such a way that they feel inspired to learn. For instance, you can use PlayDoughs to make various shapes, numbers or alphabets or make them watch video presentations to teach them manners and hygiene. For older children, you can create science experiments together.

A lot of lessons can be taught outdoors too, for instance, when you take them out shopping, you can make the experience educational and fun by teaching them about recycled products and the importance of recycling. Everything you do or say becomes a teaching lesson for your child. So when they see your creativity, they’ll want to join in. Let them explore their interests as long as it is educational and includes using cognitive and motor skills.

Take Breaks

Once in a while, you can take them out for a field trip to a zoo, museum or any historical places to get them intrigued. An outdoor learning trip may just be what you and your kids need to refresh your minds. Also studies show that taking short physical or purposeful breaks increases the ability to concentrate, improve productivity, and also has a positive impact on behavior (which tips the scale to your advantage).

Use Positive Reinforcements

Most parents use the power of “blackmailing” to make their child finish their assignments. Do these sound familiar to you:

• “Finish your assignment or no playdates for you.”
• “No gadgets for you until you finish your essay.”
• “You cannot watch television until you’ve finished your worksheet.”

These are called negative punishments or threats used to make children complete their assignments. Though they’ll probably hand you over a completed assignment quickly, they would do the work ever so reluctantly that may demotivate them to focus on their studies in the long run.

When you are homeschooling your children, try to use positive incentive rewards to motivate them the right way. Their motivation will be reciprocated to you making this a win-win situation for all.

Involve Your Kids More

Homeschooling can be daunting, but it is even more challenging when it comes to educating multiple children. There is no janitor to clean up the mess or a chef to cook for you and your family or someone who can do laundry for you. So why not involve your kids to do the little things? You can make them do chores as part of the homeschool routine.

When preparing a timetable or a study planner for your children, you can include a chore for them to do in between. For younger children, it can be picking up toys, dusting, clearing the table, or folding their clothes. For older ones, chores can range from washing dishes, doing laundry, keeping the room clean and so on. Teaching them to do the chores early on gives them a sense of responsibility. So be rest assured, that you’re actually homeschooling them a life skill: cleaning up after themselves; while also enjoying some of that extra time. A great motivation booster, don’t you think?

Take a Little “Me Time” Everyday

Homeschooling multiple children can take a toll on you and it can quickly become exhausting and discouraging. It may even lead to a point where you’d just give up trying. As much as the children need breaks every now and then to focus better on their studies, homeschool moms need a little more to stay on track.

You can hire help who would come and clean the mess in your house once every two weeks or you can ask a friend or family to help you deep clean. You can also hire a babysitter to take care of the kids for a few hours while you enjoy some time at the spa, go shopping alone or have a date night with your spouse. You’ll soon feel the difference when you realize the increase in your productivity and an improved mental and physical health.

Be A Role Model

Children like to copy what they see, in this case, you, their father, grandparents or any other relatives. Positive attitude yields positive behavior. So let them see how you take care of yourselves, how responsible you are, and when it comes to solving problems, they’d know you’ll always have the answer. When you see them putting on their best behavior, praise them a lot. This gives a boost to their confidence and instills in them good manners, patience and moral values. The people children idolize greatly influences the kind of people they’ll be in the future.

Get More Sleep

After a long homeschool day, and a hectic bedtime routine, the late-night hours of using social media, watching a movie, or reading a book is the release you look forward to. However, this leads you to click the snooze button, waking up late, cursing the late-night activities, promising to go to bed early and then the cycle continues.

If you want to be a better homeschool mom, getting plenty of sleep is your answer. Dealing with children’s tantrums require an insane amount of patience and problem-solving skills. Without much sleep, you’ll feel disconnected and may also take out your frustration on your children. Therefore, when you decide to go to bed early, make it a point to strictly do so and wake up early feeling fully refreshed.

In a Nutshell

Homeschooling children can be a challenging task for moms but very rewarding as well. But sometimes, it can be difficult to keep up with them and also do chores simultaneously. Therefore, it is always better to be prepared beforehand.

The best way to motivate yourself is to get organized. Make planners, schedules and declutter the area where you’ll teach your kids. For exhausted days, you can download and print worksheets from online and make them finish it while you take care of other things. Taking a break from time to time always helps you and your kids to focus and improve mental and physical health. Gift yourself more sleep to avoid being frustrated the whole day. This way you get to wake up before your children and enjoy that coffee break you desired before beginning your homeschool day.