This post contains affiliate links. This means if you click on an affiliate link and purchase an item, I will receive a commission at no extra cost to you. All opinions remain my own.
“Survival mode” is the term I use when I’m overwhelmed by difficult life circumstances and I just can’t seem to get everything done.
We’ve all been there. Pregnancy, new babies, sleepless nights, busy toddlers, sickness, moving and a host of other stressors can push a homeschool mom into survival mode.
I’ve flowed in and out of survival mode throughout my homeschool journey.
I felt like the circus performer that spins plates. I was constantly going from plate to plate, trying to keep them all spinning so they wouldn’t fall to the ground and break.
We juggle a lot as homeschool moms. In addition to the work of homeschooling, there’s grocery shopping, laundry, cooking, cleaning, home maintenance, social and extracurricular activities, and caring for young children.
A Poll of Homeschool Moms
I recently polled 165 homeschool moms. I asked them to share what their biggest struggle was.
Here are the poll results:
- 45% Not being able to get everything done
- 27% Mental exhaustion
- 14% Physical exhaustion
- 9% Getting kids to cooperate
- 2% Worries about their child’s future
- 2% Getting kids enough socialization
- 1% Other
No big surprise there: almost half the moms polled said their biggest challenge was not being able to get everything done. And the second and third most common answers were exhaustion, probably from everything that needs to get done!
Sidenote: Only 2% of moms polled said their biggest struggle was getting their kids enough socialization. Instead of asking homeschool moms how they will get their kids enough socialization, people should be asking, “How will you ever get everything done?”
When there are any extra challenges added to the normal workload we carry as homeschool moms, that’s when we usually cross over into survival mode.
4 Tips to Get Through Survival Mode
If you’re going through a rough time right now, I have some advice that will help you. This is how I personally get through stressful seasons.
Here are my 4 tips to help you get through a survival-mode season:
1. Build Yourself Up
Make your self-talk sound like what you would say to encourage a friend, who was going through what you’re going through.
Pay attention to your thoughts. They will either plunge you into the depths of despair or bring you hope and encouragement.
When those negative thoughts come, and they will come if you’re struggling, push them aside. Replace them with something encouraging you would say to a friend that’s struggling.
Think thoughts like these:
- “It’s going to be okay.”
- “Things are going to get better.”
- “You can do it. Just do the next thing.”
- “This is not going to last forever.”
Go easy on yourself. Give yourself grace. It’s okay if you can’t get everything done.
Speak Scripture Over Yourself
“For the word of God is alive and active.” (Hebrews 4:12)
“The tongue has the power of life and death.” (Proverbs 18:21)
The scriptures are alive. We are speaking powerful words of life when we speak scriptures over ourselves.
Here’s how to do it. Find a scripture that has what you need. You may need physical strength, hope, joy or healing. You can use a topical Bible search like this one to find scriptures on the topic you need.
Then speak it over yourself. For example, if you need healing, use Isaiah 53:5, and say, “I thank you Lord that by your stripes I am healed.”
If you need strength, use Isaiah 40:29, and say, “Thank you Lord that you give strength to me when I am weary.”
Maybe you need your joy restored. Use Nehemiah 8:10, and speak over yourself, “The joy of the Lord is my strength.”
Go ahead and give it a try. What do you have to lose?
Related Reading:
Speak Life: 15 Biblical Declarations for Homeschoolers
Peace From Psalm 91: Corona Virus Protection
2. Get into God’s Presence
A moment in God’s presence can change your perspective.
When I get in God’s presence, I can go from feeling overwhelmed, to a place where I can view my difficulties from the proper perspective. It’s like going from the ground view to an eagle’s-eye view, where my problems seem smaller.
The best way to get into God’s presence is to worship. A good worship song can usher me into that place where I feel God’s presence. God’s presence brings peace and comfort.
It helps me to get the right perspective on my problems. Sometimes my emotions blow things out of proportion and spending time in God’s presence puts things back into proper perspective.
His presence will refresh you and give you the strength to carry on with the high calling of caring for your family and homeschooling your children.
When my children were small, I used to snatch moments alone by getting in the car and driving around the block when my husband would get home from work. I would put on worship songs and just rest in His presence.
3. Prioritize Only the Most Important Things
You may need to say, “No.”
If you’re in survival mode, you may need to say no to some things in order to preserve your sanity.
Saying no can be difficult, but necessary when you’re in survival mode. This is E. B. White’s famous letter declining an invitation “for secret reasons.”
E. B. White may not have felt the need to explain his refusal, but you may want to. Here’s a very helpful article if you need some help saying no: “How to Say No: A Guide to Saying No Politely.”
Adjust your homeschool schedule.
You may need to make some adjustments to your homeschool schedule while you’re in survival mode.
To prioritize the most important subjects during times of stress, I do what I call “soft school.” Soft school is when I cut back to only reading, writing, and math.
If I need to do a soft school schedule for an extended period, I will try to find educational videos for science and history to fill in the gaps.
Sometimes, you may need to take an entire day or week off school. This is a perk of homeschooling. You have the flexibility to take some time off when you need to.
If necessary, you can always make up those days later by homeschooling into part of the summer. Or consider implementing a year-round school schedule.
Later, I’ll talk about another type of homeschool schedule, called loop scheduling, that I have used in survival mode as well.
4. Pray for wisdom and creative ideas.
“When you have exhausted all possibilities, remember this: you haven’t.”
Thomas Edison
Sometimes a creative idea will bring some relief when you’re in survival mode.
I can’t count the times over the years that I’ve prayed for wisdom in parenting and homeschooling and God has given me a creative idea that has solved a problem I was having.
If any of you lacks wisdom, you should ask God, who gives generously to all without finding fault, and it will be given to you. (James 1:5)
Here’s an example of a creative idea that helped tremendously.
In a difficult homeschool season, my toddler, whom we nicknamed “Stuntman,” was constantly climbing things and falling off of things. I felt like I was just trying to keep him alive all day. It was hard to get anything done.
He could escape from a playpen, so that didn’t help. But I found a play yard fence that I thought would keep him safe when I needed to homeschool and do housework. Well, he couldn’t scale the wall but he figured out how to flip the whole thing on its side and escape.
I prayed for wisdom and God gave me an idea to bolt the whole thing to the wall so he couldn’t flip it. It worked! My stuntman was finally contained and I could get things done. We put him in there with toys and he was happy.
Here’s a creative homeschool scheduling idea.
God can give you creative ideas for any area of your homeschool life, including tweaks to the schedule.
There is no one-size-fits-all homeschool schedule. Sometimes you just need to try out different things to see what works best for you.
Maybe you don’t want to pare down your schedule to only reading, writing, and math. You really want to include everything, but just can’t seem to get it all done every day.
A creative idea that has helped me include more homeschool subjects in those difficult seasons is loop scheduling.
Loop scheduling is when you make a list of all the things you want to do in your homeschool. You go through the list in order, checking off each thing you accomplish that day. Then, the next day, you pick up where you left off the day before.
An example of a loop schedule may look like this:
- Reading/Phonics
- Writing
- Spelling
- Grammar
- Math
- History
- Science
- Art
- Music
- Poetry
- Read aloud
Once you’ve gone through the list, you repeat. You don’t have to cover everything, every day. You only cover what you can each day.
Or, if you want to cover the basics each day, you can loop the extra subjects. Simply, do math and language arts, then make a loop schedule for the rest.
Sometimes a very simple, creative idea can be the key to relieving the stress in your homeschool day.
Dear Mom in Survival Mode, you will get through this
Be encouraged: this trial you are facing is not going to last forever. Things will get back to normal soon. Hang in there!
In the meantime, remember these tips to help you get through it:
– Build yourself up by thinking encouraging thoughts and by speaking scripture over yourself.
– Get into God’s presence for peace and a better perspective.
– Say, “No,” when you need to and adjust your homeschool schedule temporarily, if necessary.
– Pray for wisdom and creative ideas.
I hope these 4 tips will help you get through your survival mode season. Keep going. Don’t quit. You can do this!
Any thoughts? What helps you get through difficult times? Comment below.
Pin it to share:
This is so helpful, thank you!
I”m so happy to hear that, Elizabeth!