Why I Take Homeschooling Days Off {And Why You Should Too}

Why I Take Homeschooling Days Off

Let’s face it mama, homeschooling is no joke. It is a hard job to take on the sole responsibility of educating your children. Big. Heavy. Sometimes overwhelming even. So that is why I take homeschooling days off, and truthfully why you should too. There is positively no harm in admitting that homeschooling is a big undertaking. No one is going to laugh and point their finger at you, at least they shouldn’t! You just send them my way if they do, I’ll give them a good talking’ to.

Moving on . . .

Here is the low down on why I take days off from homeschooling. I love my kids. That is the number one reason I take days off. Because when homeschool is hard and there are tears involved, I am not usually in the most loving mood. Therefore I need to step back, breathe, and remember why I homeschool in the first place. Because I love my kids. Sometimes, we simply need a break. All of us need a break. Now seriously, look back to the very beginning of your homeschool career (oh yes ma’am, this is totally a career!!) and dig deep and remember the why of your decision. It was the best decision for you and your kids, right? Maybe even God led. Exactly. This is why we need to step back and remember the why. Let us take a day or a few days off to collect ourselves before we dive back into the the routine.

Another reason that I take days off is the fact that we just need to create some memories y’all! This time with these babies, okay, not literal babies at this point, but our babies need us, not textbooks or computers. Take the time to play some board games. If you have never noticed board games are actually incredibly important to teaching life skills. Don’t laugh, I’m serious! Here are just a few reasons why you should whip out some board games:

• sportsmanship skills
• team player skills
• real life math skills
• critical thinking skills
• planning skills
• budgeting skills
• strategy skills

And those are just the top skills I can think of for a few favorites that we own.

Are you still not convinced?

Fine, here is another reason that I take days off from homeschooling my people. My husband travels for his job and his schedule changes every. single. month. For real. Weekends just don’t happen at my house like they do for some people. In fact, vacations don’t either. So we have to get days off with daddy whenever we can. This has created us to be more flexible or bendy. Which in turn, has us running errands, playing hooky, or vacationing when other people are working or getting school done.

Some of these days off are planned, some are spur of the moment. Does it always work out well? Absolutely not. But we make it work because again, the memories created are far more important than one day of school work, which can be made up another day. These people need us mama, no one use but us. God didn’t mess up, He gave us these precious children to care for, nurture, and raise up. There is no harm in taking time to enjoy our gifts. No Harm At All. I believe God might actually smile down on us for taking some time to grow our family bond, considering He values family as He does.

Lastly, I take days off from homeschooling because on occasion, my mama brain just needs a break. Sometimes I just need to sit down with a good book and a good cup of coffee and relax. I let the kids be kids, they can play all day. I might choose to catch up on some laundry or some other household chore that needs my attention. Or I might even venture out of the house without my children for a rendezvous with my hairdresser. No one and I mean no one should be the reason for undo stress in your homeschool life.

A day off now and again, well for heavenly days, that is the biggest joy of homeschooling in my book. God sees how much we accomplish (or don’t accomplish) and as far as I’m concerned, His judgement is the only one I need to be worried about. This homeschool thing is more than just books, tests, writing, and math. It is so much more mama! Make the time to really enjoy the homeschool life. If you have to plan your days off, go ahead and plan it! Just don’t tell the kids you are planning it, they will never leave you alone begging to know the specifics of this so called day off. Just let it “surprise” you and them.

Embrace your homeschool mama life! These babies will be flying the nest much sooner than we could ever even believe. So make the most of the days we are being given. Take a homeschool day off, it will all equal out in the wash anyway.

In His Grace,

Callie