What’s inside: Homeschool burnout occurs when moms feel overwhelmed by the course load, or life circumstances, or special learning issues, or many other situations. Here is a look at nature study as a possible cure.
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DISCLAIMER and General Advice
If you are in serious burnout, you need to get help so that you can take care of your kids. There really are many reasons for burnout, but it comes down to this little formula:
- Needs are greater than capacity.
Let that sink in.
Are the needs demanded of you GREATER than you have capacity for?
If so, something has to change.
Either you decrease needs or increase capacity.
I didn’t like it when someone told me that was how I was operating, but they were right.
Take a good look at yourself and see if it fits. Do you have more on your plate that you can take care of?
Why can you get Homeschool Burnout?
- Moms try to do everything.
- Not only do we try to do too much, we try to do even more than that AND can feel like it’s not enough!
- Admittedly, that’s part of the definition of moms – that they can do everything and take care of everyone. Just make sure you take care of yourself too.
- Doing too much work at the table for young ages can overtax everyone.
- Remember short and varied lessons!
- Preschoolers should NOT have formal lessons. Ease up on them. If you have mixed ages, find ways to simplify lessons while keeping the preschoolers engaged without formal lessons.
- Sometimes the curriculum is a mismatch to your style.
- Is it too structured – meaning does it account for every minute of every day when you are more easy-going?
- Is it not structured enough – meaning you feel like you are never getting anywhere?
- Try to find a program that meets your teaching style and your kids’ learning styles.
- Are you consolidating subjects where possible?
- Maybe your whole family can all be on the same history topic with additional reading for the older grades.
- Do you use morning basket time to do family subjects together?
- Are you grouping subjects to do together wherever possible?
- Emotional exhaustion can cause burnout.
- Is every day a “bad day”?
- Are you feeling trapped?
- Is there crying involved?
- Make sure you have support systems in place.
- Are you taking care of yourself?
- This is the “put the oxygen mask on yourself first, then help the kids” advice
- Sometimes we moms give of ourselves until there is no reserve left.
- Keep your reserves filled by knowing what revitalizes you.
- Some moms need a night out with other moms to have some adult conversation. Try a book club.
- Some moms just need some time by themselves. See if you can trade time with another homeschool mom to look after all of your kids while one of you gets some quiet time. Don’t do errands – take a bath or read a book or whatever works.
- Are you over-scheduled?
- As the kids get older, their needs shift and you may find yourself driving all over town to orchestrate their activities.
- Sometimes you have to say no to some things.
- Take advantage once you have another responsible driver in your household (but know the laws for who can drive whom at what age!)
- Health or other major family situations can be pressing
- These areas can be serious or can include something as ordinary as a new baby arrival or a move.
- Sometimes you have to adjust your expectations.
- Ambleside Online has a “lite” year – it’s not uncommon for things to come up at least one year during your homeschooling.
Can Nature Study help?
Now that we’ve looked at some of the many reasons that can cause homeschool mom burnout, let’s look at a crazy idea that I came across while reading The Handbook of Nature Study by Anna Botsford Comstock.
Handbook of Nature Study
I’ve recommended this book before and I will continue to do so. It has enough Nature Study in it to provide a generous curriculum for all grades of schooling.
But sometimes, we forget what’s in the introduction because all of the other chapters beg you to start with them.
Nevertheless, let’s plunge on…
Quotes for the Teacher
There are four sections in the front matter that we will look at. They are not long sections, but they are chock-full of nuggets that apply to our topic today.
I will be selecting some quotes from each of these sections to give you a new look at what nature study can do for a mom who might be experiencing burnout.
- Nature Study as a Help to Health
- What Nature Study should do for the Teacher
- When & Why the Teacher should say “I Do Not Know!”
- Nature Study: The Elixir of Youth
Remember, this book was written in 1911! Some of these quotes will seem SO very modern!
Health Quotes
“This is an age of nerve tension, and the relaxation which comes from the comforting companionship found in woods and fields is, without doubt, the best remedy for this condition.”
Anna Botsford Comstock, The Handbook of Nature Study
Teaching Quotes
The author commented on public school teacher burnout (without calling it “burnout”! She called it “nerve exhaustion” or “nerve atrophy”.) It applies to mom burnout too because of “conscientious and ceaseless work” in which there is “no time” for nature study because every moment is full. Then weekends have to be used to “catch up” on all the things that must be done.
“Out in this, God’s beautiful world, there is everything waiting to heal lacerated nerves, to strengthen tired muscles, to please and content the soul that is torn to shreds with duty and care.”
“To the teacher who turns to nature’s healing, nature-study in the schoolroom is not a trouble; it is a sweet, fresh breath of air blown across the heat of radiators and the noisome odor of overcrowded small humanity.”
“She who opens her eyes and her heart nature-ward even once a week finds nature-study in the schoolroom a delight and an abiding joy.”
I like the one about “overcrowded small humanity”. I didn’t have a big family, but car trips in the minivan after a sports session with my guys definitely felt overcrowded with small humanity.
On Depth of Knowledge and “I Don’t Know”
Saying “I Don’t Know” is expected in nature study. We observe and learn, we read and gain knowledge. It is the wise teacher who acknowledges this. The science professor at a university knows that science is vast and continues to grow in the things we understand. Comstock puts forth the idea that the elementary teacher sometimes tries to appear as if she knows everything, but encourages the teacher to admit readily and easily when she doesn’t know. Then, go find out together.
“The chief charm of nature study would be taken away if it did not lead us through the border-land of knowledge into the realm of the undiscovered.”
The Elixir of Youth
Comstock basically equates growing old with a cessation of interest in learning something new.
“After all what is the chief sign of growing old? Is it not the feeling that we know all there is to be known?”
And then she asserts that nature study is so full of wonder that it keeps us young as we learn new things every day.
“It is rejuvenation for the teacher, thus growing old, to stand ignorant as a child in the presence of one of the simplest of nature’s miracles — the formation of a crystal, the evolution of the butterfly from the caterpillar, the exquisite adjustment of the silken lines in the spider’s orb web.”
Will Nature Study Help you, the teacher?
It might! Give it a try and let me know how it goes.
FAQ
There are many ways to help ease burnout, but first you have to take a look at yourself and see why you feel burned out. If you do, one unique way to be rejuvenated is to get spend time in nature.
Homeschooling can become stressful for many reasons. We feel that the fate of our children depends solely on us. Learn to delegate and see how you can build your support team. And get outside more!
