Homeschool burnout is real and affects both children and parents.  I describe it as a funk or a runt. No matter how hard you try to avoid it, it will happen at some point in your homeschool journey.  Here are 10 tips to help you or your children overcome homeschool burnout.

Homeschool burnout is mental and physical exhaustion from homeschooling.  Parents and children both can become this way.  Homeschool burnout normally happens in the middle of the school year or towards the end of the homeschooling year.  Here are 10 tips to help you overcome homeschool burnout or how to stop homeschool burnout:

1. Go Outside
2. Do a Read Aloud
3. Take a Field Trip
4. Bake Something
5. Do a 4 Day School Week with a Fun Friday
6. Do Arts and Crafts
7. Take a Break
8. Watch a Documentary or Educational Videos
9. Let the Kids Plan Their Day
10. Do Gameschooling

I have been homeschooling since 2012 and not a year goes by that we do not experience Homeschool Burnout sometime during the year.  Sometimes it is me or one of the children and when someone is mentally and physically exhausted, we are not productive. So when one or all of us experience homeschool burnout, I go to these tips and they help us get out of our funk.  I hope these tips help or give you some inspiration to find what works for your family’s homeschool burnout.

Go Outside

Going outside getting some sun, exercise, and observing nature are some great ways to get over homeschool burnout.  While you are outside, have the children do the following:

1. Draw a picture of what they see
2. Go for nature walks
3. Find different types of leaves
4. Find different colors in nature
5. Have them write in a nature journal
6. See who can do the most jumping jacks
7. Play hide and seek
8. Draw with sidewalk chalk
9. Have the children make a picnic lunch and eat it under a tree
10. See who can find the most sticks

There are so many fun activities to do outside. I hope this list helps get you and the children outside and moving.  Being outside on a sunny day always lifts my spirits and helps to shake off the mental and physical exhaustion. 

Do a Read Aloud

Doing a read aloud can help with homeschool burnout.  Find a funny book or a family favorite book.  Just as long as it is not your current read aloud. Here are some ways to make it fun or some ideas to change up read aloud time:

1. All curl up on the couch
2. Put pillows and blankets on the floor
3. Build a fort
4. Let the older kids do the reading
5. Let the kids act out the read aloud

I hope these 5 ideas help you change up your read aloud time and help get you and the children out of their funk.

Take a Field Trip

Taking field trips is my favorite part of homeschooling!  It is always fun to get out of the house and do things with other homeschooling families.  We have done field trips with our homeschool group or just a couple of our homeschool families.  Field trips do not have to cost an arm and a leg.  Here is a list of some fun field tips ideas:

1. Virtual Field Trips
2. Museums – They sometime offer discounts to homeschoolers during weekday school hours, so check with your local museums to ask about homeschool field trip rates
3. Public Library
4. Post Office
5. Police Station
6. Fire Department
7. City Hall
8. Zoo
9. Nature Parks
10. Aquariums
11. Government Buildings
12. Historic Places
13. Military Landmarks
14. Cooking Classes
15. Art and Craft Stores

We once took a fun field trip to Krispy Kreme to see how donuts are made, and of course we had to try some. Field trips do not always have to be boring. But I have learned the more hands on the kids can be the more they learn and enjoy the field trips.

Bake Something

Baking or making something is always fun when you get the entire family involved. Furthermore, this is also another way to incorporate some fractions, teach the kids to follow step by step directions, and work together to accomplish a task. Without a doubt this will leaver your kitchen a mess, so now take the time to teach them a life skill, how to properly clean the kitchen. 🙂

Do a 4 Day School Week with a Fun Friday

We do a 4 day school week and that helps us so much! We are able to have flexible homeschool schedules because of this. If I need to take off a day, I can. If I need to take off for a field trip, I can. If I need to move what days we homeschool, I can. Once I figured out how to be flexible when it come to homeschooling it was the best thing for me and the kids. Changing things up has always helped me with homeschool burnout.

Do Arts and Crafts

I am not a crafty mom so this one has been hard for me, but there are so many moms out there that are. I have found that having children draw, color, paint, or use Play Dough can make any learning more fun. Changing homeschooling lessons just a little can make them more fun and hands on learning is the best for everyone.

Take a Break

Taking a break from homeschooling is sometimes the best option to cure homeschool burnout. Whether it is one day or an entire week, take the time you or the kids need to get out of this mental or physical exhaustion. Some families will homeschool for 6 weeks, take a week off, and that is another way to take a break and to fight homeschool burnout.

Watch a Documentary, Educational Videos or Educational Movie

It is always fun to have a movie day! This is the perfect time to make a fort, cover the floor with blankets and pillows, pop some popcorn, and spend the day learning something together. The library, YouTube, Netflix, Amazon Prime, and Purflix are just a few of the many resources out there for documentaries, educational videos, and educational movies.

Let the Kids Plan Their Day

We all find it easier to learn things that we are interested in. So letting your kids plan their day is another great way to fight homeschool burnout. This does not have to be anything hard or complicated. For example, if your child is interested in cooking or baking, let them plan a menu for the day, buy the needed supplies and you supervise as he or she does the cooking for the day. Another example, if your child is interested in how a video game got started, let him or her research and learn as much as they can about the game. This is the kids’ day. Let them enjoy it and learn something new.

Do Gameschooling

Gameschooling is becoming more and more popular. Companies are creating more games, board games, and video games that children can learn from. If you are not sure what gameschooling is and what subjects can be taught, please checkout the below post.

Gameschooling, The Fun and Easy Way to Homeschool

In summary, homeschool mom burnout is going to happen sometime during the year. However if you are prepared for it, it will be much easier to overcome homeschool burnout. I hope these tips/ideas help you as much as they have helped me over the years.