I’m in the 7 month of the first year of my homeschooling journey and I have a confession to make. It’s hard as heck. It’s hard as heck for reasons you would never think.

Homeschooling is a job and even a career for some, but the hardest part is managing work/life balance—especially because homeschooling can so easily be intertwined as being work and other things life all at the same time.

Here’s the thing, I’m not just homeschooling, which generally should take about 4 hours of my day for a 2.5 year old—especially if you are using the average nursery school dynamic as your standard. I’m also managing a home, a small business startup and planning some exciting projects connected to this blog. So you would think that if I only homeschool for 4 hours a day, that should leave plenty of time to do other things.

Considering that my 2.5 year old should not be left to his own devices for more than hour, there’s a lot more activity happening with this little person for the duration of the day.

AND, if you are not familiar with my motto, then here it is: Homeschooling is a lifestyle. That means work and life essentially do get intertwined in the most overwhelming way if you allow it.

Somewhere down the line, I allowed it. I have been a bit frazzled minded these days trying to get a million and one things done at the same time and seemingly coming up short because one thing is not getting the focused time it deserves.

Now, usually, my day is set up in such a way, that this doesn’t happen, but let’s face it, life wouldn’t be interesting if the unexpected things didn’t happen to stir up your day. I think one of the things that has thrown me off is the fact that Aaron doesn’t nap consistently anymore. We are so in the “let me climb out of my crib, put everything I find in there so I don’t have to sleep in it and keep my energy to 10,000+ volts all day” stage.

Sometimes I think I’m superwoman and other times, I’m simply just saying: “there are not enough hours in the day OR Jesus, let heavy slumber fall upon this child.” PLEASE

When evening hits, my priorities change completely, but they are still not centered on the “time for myself.”

I have come to realize that as a homeschooler, I don’t have to do ALL the work to be officially that. In fact the beauty of homeschooling has been in the very premise that there is so much flexibility.

In the last post, I focused on one of the pros of homeschooling. Now focusing on one of the cons from my pros and cons list, overcoming the challenges in finding time for yourself, let’s talk about how we can work around this and keep our sanity.

As I find myself networking with brilliant mompreneurs, there has been this reoccurring theme: the effectiveness in building a team.

Honestly, when I heard this come up over and over again, I said to myself:

Well, looking back at that response, I think it’s sheer blubbery. Have you ever seen a successful leader without a team? I’m going to go out on a limb here and say you probably have not. The concept is not without void for moms who homeschool and do everything else under the sun.

Here is what you should focus on:

1. Carving out guaranteed time for yourself in the day that will not always require you to lose sleep (remember you need that energy for the next day). How much time will you require to feel effective, sane and accomplished? What parts of the day are you most alive, awake and creative? Forewarning, you will wish it could be more, but let’s take baby steps first. Once you figure that out,

2. Identify the things that could potentially steal your attention in this carved out time. Is it cleaning? Is it cooking? Is it teaching/playing with your toddler? Is it going to bed too late? Is it grocery shopping? Is planning? Is it rendering yourself available for every human being on the planet (I mean don’t get me wrong, thats quite admirable, but at some point, you have to say no). Call them out by name whatever they are, and say NO out loud to prepare your mind to stay focused in this carved out time.

3. Build your team. This is where you have to get a bit creative if your are trying to be cost-effective. Now that you have identified what could potentially take your special time away, you have to identify what is worth building your team around (financially and naturally) so that your carved out time remains yours and sacred.

It’s like I said before, being a homeschooler doesn’t mean I have to do ALL of the work to be exactly that.

Here are some great tactics for stress. It’s an inevitable thing sometimes as a homeschooler:

1. http://liaworldtraveler.com/2016/04/prioritizing-wellness-making-yourself-a-priority/

2. http://thefancifulmrs.com/2016/04/03/wedding-planning-stress/

3. http://www.jovanhannakristina.com/babies-insomnia-stress/

Happy Trails!