Having a bad day homeschooling, here are some tips to help.

Homeschooling on the hard days

Have you had a hard day of homeschooling yet? Chances are that you have. How do I know…because I am having one right now. Yep, it’s one of those doom and gloom days. The good thing is we don’t have them very often. Usually there is something that proceeds them. A late bedtime the night before, recent time hanging around with certain friends, too much sugar, avoidance in learning a new/difficult subject, growing pains, and the list goes on and on and on…

So, what do you do?

The thought of pulling my hair out and running away, screaming like a mad woman was appealing.

But not very helpful.

Here are some of tricks I use to get thru the hard days.

Figure out what the triggers are beforehand. If you don’t know, or are having trouble figuring them out, write down in a notebook what is going on in you and your childs’ life the day before and the day of. This will allow you to find a pattern, then when you see ‘whatever’ it is happening you can stop it before it starts, or at the very least prepare yourself.

You can also use their triggers as an opportunity to teach them. One of my daughters’ triggers is hunger – especially when she is growing. Ugh, it reminds me of the Betty White Snickers commercial. It’s not pretty. So, what I do is when I notice her starting to get grumpy, I offer her a snack – crackers, glass of milk, carrot sticks, anything to keep the hungry monster away. But I also put it in her hands, making her responsible. Sometimes I miss stuff, it happens. By having her identify when she feels hunger coming on it teaches her to be proactive about it.

Pray. I mean it. When in the middle of a ‘it’ I pray for our tempers to be controlled, for patience thru the rest of the day and for the day to get better. By giving it to God always makes the day get better instantly.

Talk to your kids about it. If they are having the bad day, try to find out why. Finding out why and trying to help will show them that they aren’t alone. If you are having the bad day (hey, it happens!) let them know, maybe even offer them an incentive. Maybe a little extra play time or a favorite dessert after dinner will help everything get done without the drama.

Put yourself in timeout. Not your kid(s) – you! Go to the bathroom, bedroom, outside, anywhere alone-just 5 minutes tops, and breathe deeply. Concentrate on your breathing and with every exhale send your troubles with your breath and relax. Even after a minute you will feel better. Make a plan and get back to it.

Move on. Sometimes moving to the next subjects helps. Especially if it is something they like.

Change gears altogether. Completely drop what you are doing and be done with ‘schooling’ for the day. Sometimes you just have a bad school day, and nothing is going to make better. But don’t be done with your child for the day. We have only had this happen once, but one thing I noticed was that my daughter thought I didn’t want her around – BIG parenting fail. I felt terrible, I didn’t mean to make her feel that way I was just so overwhelmed that it happened. So now, when this happens (my plan for the future) we do something fun, go for a walk, paint pictures, play games, just go outside and play.

What do you do to help with hard days?

–Dawn