Tips For Homeschooling:
An Emergency Magic Basket To Help With Burnout When You Feel Overwhelmed

Are you feeling overwhelmed with homeschool burnout and hit a dip? We know that feeling too well! 2,000 families from my Courageous Homeschooling Facebook support group come together to put together a virtual magic basket of tips for homeschooling you can turn to whenever you need help.

Thank you so much to Eva for suggesting this idea and to the members of my Courageous Homeschooling Facebook support group who have contributed such brilliant tips.

Tips For Homeschooling

1. Lavender

"I always have a pot of dried lavender to hand. I find it helps my daughter concentrate to smell it and me to stay calm. It's also really calming running it through your fingers."

~ Eva

2. Mindfulness

Please note that the product links on this page are affiliate links so if you buy I receive a small commission at no extra cost to you.

"We have these Mindful cards. It is a pack of cards with little reminders on them (anything from 'You are loved' to: 'It is Okay to make mistakes. That is how we learn' and loads more.) The pack comes with a little stand so you can put one on the breakfast table ready to start the day.

I put one on a whiteboard with a magnet and then either put more personalised messages around it or little doodles that the card reminded me of. Sometimes, I'll have the kids draw a picture or write something that the card made them think of or how it made them feel, or if they need it, I'll refer them back to it throughout the day.

There is one that we have decided to use as a family at least weekly. 'At the end of the day, think of three things you are grateful for.' It is a nice thing to do as we are sitting around the dinner table or playing a board game after dinner in the evening."

~ Jodi

3. Travel Mugs

"Travel mugs. I have a travel mug for my tea or coffee and the kids both have one too. The best ones I have found are the ones with metal inside and the plastic lids you can put a straw through. My reasons:

1. If they get knocked over they don't spill as fast as normal cups
2. We all know how busy we get through the day and know we have all lost dozens of great drinks because we forgot about them or got too busy, the travel mug will keep your drink warm for a good couple of hours also if you like cold drinks some cups keep them cold longer too double usage and not having loads of other cups cluttering up your cupboards
3. You can hide wine (or drink of choice) in them and no one will know LOL"

~ Sheryl

4. Craft Materials

"A laminator would go in my magic basket of tips for homeschooling along with the best craft materials you can afford. I think it's a mistake to give children rather useless crayons and coloring pencils and paints and then be surprised when what they produce is rather disappointing.

So I would stock my magic basket with a treasure trove of wooden eggs to paint, exciting multi-colored sheets with animal patterns, Hama beads, marbling inks, blotting paper for chromatography, the best felt tips, great big enormous sheets of cardstock and anything else that appeals to the creative spirit." ~ Sonya

"This is great. You could also include the natural, free or kitchen cupboard things such as leaves, flowers, pine cones, used egg shells, pasta shapes, make your own play doh etc." ~ Kelly

"Paints, markers, stickers, glues, glitter, chalk and so much more artsy crafty things and loads of paper to do crafty things on." ~ Bianka

Tips For Starting Homeschooling

If you want more tips on how to start homeschooling, do have a look at this page.

You'll find we've all been there, we know exactly what you mean - but actually it's all going to work out just fine.

5. Dance

"When you are on the brink of losing your mind - crank on YOUR favorite tunes and have a dance party - the kids might look at you funny at first but soon they'll join you and you will ALL dance your stress AWAY...

That was how I began to stop yelling and just be - DANCE PARTY.....

It was all fun and games till now as teenagers (I began this when they were little) they groan when the music starts to roar...."GOOD LORD MOTHER....NOooooooo" but by the end there are giggles and we are all less stressed because I dance like nobody is looking."

~ Allie

6. Lego

Please note that the product links on this page are affiliate links so if you buy I receive a small commission at no extra cost to you.

"Lego, always have Lego to keep the kids entertained and give you a break!" ~Teena

8. Books

Bianka has lots of tips for homeschooling. She starts with the obvious one - books - and you can find ideas for Kindergarten reading here.

Her other ideas to fill our magic basket are:

• Jigsaw puzzles: a definite must, great stress reliever and relaxer.
• Snacks in buckets loads, growing learning kids learn best when they have something to nibble on.
  
• Post it paper for those little notes when they want to remember something and they can be stuck anywhere and everywhere.
• Playdough and slime great to exercise little fingers when they get tired from learning to write.
• Finally, you can never have too many scissors, as they are always missing when there are some cutting out work to do.

9. Ballons And Bubbles

"More tips for homeschooling....a couple of blown up balloons to thwack around the room to get rid of excess energy and provide a brain break!" ~ Eva

"Bubbles is a good one for calming down after busy activities." ~ Teena

10. A Journal

"I love choosing a new journal to record what we've been up to. You'll soon see it's a lot more than you think, even on the days you don't feel like you've achieved much; you'll be surprised that you have!

Also; my other tip for homeschooling is to master acceptance that not all days go to plan. Tomorrow is a brand new day, as they say."

~ Samie xx

Please note that the product links on this page are affiliate links so if you buy I receive a small commission at no extra cost to you.

11. Friday Relax

"My tips for homeschooling would be to have a wind-down Friday!

I changed our 5 day school week into a 4 day school week a few years ago. It allows you all to catch up on things that maybe didn't get done during the week, without taking away from the weekend.

And it takes some of the pressure off for everyone."

~ Simone

Finally, you can get lots more tips for homeschooling in our Courageous Homeschooling Handbooks.

Full of encouragement, help and reassurance, these books will guide you through the ups and downs of homeschooling and give you essential tips for homeschooling you wish you'd known sooner!

---

---