The Homeschooling Handbook_ From Preschool to High School - Mary Griffith [92]
Family skepticism or hostility can be much more difficult to deal with. All too often, grandparents will bring up the topic with the kids every time they see them, trying to prove to them that there’s something wrong with homeschooling and that they would be better off in school. Even if your kids are perfectly happy homeschooling and not the least interested in attending school, this can put quite a strain on relationships, and you may have to tell your relatives to bring their concerns directly to you and leave the kids out of it.
Sometimes, skeptics will have a hard time explaining what they dislike about homeschooling. They may look at your kids and see that they are personable and friendly, competent learners, able to handle most situations they find themselves in, but they still feel they are missing something by not being in conventional schools. It may help to quit worrying about what such skeptics think about homeschooling and treat it not as your problem but as theirs. Much as we all enjoy talking about how much we like homeschooling and how well we think it works, we will never be able to persuade some people to our views. When that’s the case, there’s not much reason to keep trying. You may find that once you cut back on the evangelizing, your relatives will cut back on the criticism as well. And as your children grow older, the novelty of the idea wears off as the success of homeschooling becomes obvious.
Burnout
You wake up in the morning knowing that you’ve got to get that history chapter covered this week, your daughter only wants to sleep until noon, your son wants to watch Nickelodeon all day, your husband can’t figure out why the laundry from last week isn’t folded up yet, you haven’t even started writing the article for the local support group newsletter that you promised by tomorrow, and you begin to agree with your daughter that sleeping in until noon has a lot to recommend it.
This is burnout.
I am getting very close to burnout now. It has more to do with the little kids, though. Five, three, and two are just too much on many days. In another year our life will be entirely different. Although I hate to wish time away, I will be glad to get out from under all the spills, nursing, and such.
—Lisa, Alabama
I do burn out at times, usually when I’ve forgotten how to say no and have overcommitted myself again. When this happens, I start looking at everything I am involved in, and all that is not essential to my or my family’s well-being gets axed.
The only time I suffered from genuine “homeschool burnout” was when I tried to use a formal school-type curriculum. No one had warned me that the curriculum, being designed for classroom use, was full of completely unnecessary busy work. Now I warn people to toss out half of what’s in the book.—Tammy, Texas
We burn out regularly—once a month or so. I back off school for a bit and wait for it to pass. I also check my eating and sleeping habits and see if there could be a physical cause or other strains on our family. I tossed out Saxon [math] because of burnout—one of the best decisions I ever made.—Peggy, Oklahoma
We’re lucky that we have a diverse life. Wally and I have hobbies we enjoy, and we love being parents. I think if I had to “teach” each day, I would burn out quickly. Living life? I’ve never had a burnout problem doing that.—Pam, California
I experienced burnout working on the support group. A few years ago I felt like I was the only one keeping it going. The burnout was mainly a result of trying to do too much by myself. I tried to recruit help by listing all the things to be done, begging for help, and so on. I took it all personally that no one would help me. I had all sorts of ideas about all the activities a “good” support group should offer. But finally it dawned on me that if people don’t want it enough to do it, then maybe it doesn’t get done. I gave up the newsletter and put my energy