#1 Reason You Need to Take a Break (as a homeschool mom)

Several of you have reached out concerned that something might be wrong. Thank you for thinking of me and my family. 🙂

And yes … things were a little dicey for a bit.

So I took my own advice. And I took a break.

In this week’s video, I’m going to talk about what happened AND I’m going to share why you might need to take a break too!

Transcript

Hello, ToriAnn Perkey here and from my homeschool to your homeschool, I want to talk about the number one reason why YOU need to take a break.

Mama, homeschool Mama, you are doing a lot. I know because I'm doing a lot. And every homeschool mom I talk to is doing a lot. And you are not able to do everything 100% all of the time.

Let's think about everything that a homeschool mom is doing. A homeschool mom is managing a home, which includes -- I'm gonna make a list, but it will not include everything -- it includes meal prep and planning, which includes going to the grocery store and purchasing the groceries. It includes laundry. It includes cleaning up the house. (Hopefully a little bit, but maybe not nearly as much as you would like.) It includes driving kids two lessons. It includes character training. And so there's the housekeeping piece.

Then there's the “momming.” So there's the character training and the disciplining and the teaching values and the snuggling and the nurturing and the listening. And on top of that -- on top of that -- you are also planning and teaching and and coordinating field trips. And many of you are also helping run classes or involved in co ops or planning field trips that involve other people or park days. Oh you are doing a lot.

And on top of all of that, you're trying to maintain relationships with other key people in your life, whether it's a husband or other family members. You're trying to do that and you're trying to -- most likely you're trying to serve in other capacities, whether it's in the community or church. The list goes on and on and on, and at times you probably feel like I have felt where the weight of everything you're being asked to do is sitting so squarely on your shoulders that you think it's going to crush you.

Yeah, I've been there. I have I've had times where I feel like I have so much that I am responsible for that I don't know how I can humanly possibly drag myself out of bed to do one more thing. So if you're feeling the same way, or you sense that that's coming, it's really important to take a break. And not just even a little break, but possibly a big break.

One of the favorite things I do, of all the things that I do, is actually sharing and teaching in these videos. One of my very favorite things. But several months ago I was involved in a fairly serious car accident, and I hit my head and I had a concussion. And while I didn't want to believe it at the time, my brain just wasn't functioning as well.

On top of that, we had several other things happen in our homeschool, including all of my kids shifting all of the activities they wanted to do all of the same time. And I was taking on some additional work at our co op in which I had more responsibility, and there were other things going on in my family life and my extended family.

The weight was just a lot, and everything was so much, and I took my own advice -- I made this in a previous video. I took my own advice and I said, “What can I say no to?  What can I take off my plate -- even temporarily -- so that I can breathe?”

And the number one thing that I felt I needed to step back from was making these videos. And part of my heart just broke because I love making these videos. I love sharing. I love teaching. But I also knew that there was a lot of time involved in making these and that as I looked at the priorities and I looked at what I could cut out, this was one of the things.

And so I did take a break, and I didn't know if I would ever come back. I didn't know what it was going to look like. But life has a funny way of sort of sorting things out, and now I get to make them again. I get to make these videos, and I get to share, and I'm so excited.

And there's been other things that were on that priority list that now have fallen off the wayside. Because when you're homeschooling, just like when you're living life, your priorities are always kind of morphing and and changing and switching, and it's really important to consistently and consciously and intentionally be looking at that list of your priorities and saying, “What can I say No to? What can I let go of? What can I lower my expectations on over here so that I can excel where it really matters? Or what can I do to my mindset so that I can allow myself to lower the bar, maybe across the board right now because my life has shifted in a way that I have to do that?”

That is how you successfully manage your homeschool. And sometimes we take a break from homeschooling. Sometimes we take a break from doing other things. Sometimes we take a break from the things that we love the most. And it doesn't mean that we're never coming back to them. It just means that sometimes we need to take a break.

So not that you need this for me, but if you need to hear that someone will give you permission to step back, to re-prioritize and possibly take a break and say no to some things, then I am giving you permission to do that. I promise you -- you as a mom, as a homeschool mom and all the other things you're doing, you will figure out a way to breathe again. The wait will begin to lift, and you will be in a position to come back and revisit the things that matter the most to you and wish you the best.

I'm ToriAnn Perkey, and I make these videos every week so that you can be a successful and confident homeschool mom.

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