It’s OK to Take a Break!

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As homeschooling moms, we often feel guilty for taking breaks from school. We feel like we have too much to do to justify taking time off! The truth is, though, that we need to take breaks now and then!

This past January was the mid-point of my family’s school year. We had gotten into a good school routine and had figured out what worked well for our schedule, we knew what subjects needed more attention and which ones we’d be able to move through more quickly, and we’d just had a break over the Christmas holidays.

Even though we had recently returned from our Christmas holiday, I knew my children and I were not ready to return to our regular school schedule at the beginning of the year. Yes, we’d had a vacation, but the holiday season had been very busy for us, some unplanned events had taken place, we’d had company for longer than we expected, and the days had rushed by faster than we could enjoy them all! In other words, we’d just had a “vacation,” but we still needed a break!

The important thing to remember, though, is that we don’t have to wait for certain times of the year to take a much-needed break! You may need a break after (or during) an illness. You may need some time off after dealing with a stressful event in your life. You might need a break after a particularly busy season of life–even if it was a good season! For my family, we’d just had Christmas vacation, but then we needed to follow it up with a break from school and time to rest and relax before getting back into a regular school routine.

We just needed a break, so we took one; another one.

Instead of getting dressed to tackle each day, we wore our pajamas and lounged in comfort.

Instead of reading two chapters or a certain number of pages a day, we shared through read-alouds–giving each child an opportunity to read as many pages as he or she wanted to read.

Instead of practicing from their music books, my children found music online to some of their favorite songs and learned how to play some new tunes just for fun.

Instead of cooking three meals a day, I made snack plates, and we ate from them when we were hungry.

Instead of running errands around town, I shuffled our schedule giving us no reason to have to leave the house.

Instead of turning off the television after watching way too much, we left it on and continued our binge-watching of some of our favorite movies and series all day and into the night.

Instead of following our everyday routine, we took each day one at a time and enjoyed them as a family just hanging out together.

Once we were finished with taking a break, everything fell into place. We were ready to resume our regular everyday schedule doing everything else, including school.

Do you take breaks from school now and then? At what times of the year do you take a break? Or do you take breaks whenever you need them instead of planning them ahead of time? We’d love to hear what works for you!