How To Homeschool Your Child When You Are Depressed

Homeschooling by itself is tough and hard work goes into it. Now imagine being depressed, having a set of twins that are 2 years old, working fulltime, and homeschooling your 8 years old. 

Tense right?

What Depression Can Look Like

Now imagine homeschooling being depressed?

no energy or desire to do anything but to saty in bed but you can’t.

Its like having having 200 lbs of weight of my shoulders no time to breath, no one to talk to, no one to help.

Homeschooling with depression

What is depression?

depression is a very common mood disorder that afects the way you feel, act, think and your common daily activities such as eating, sleeping and working.

Depression affects everyone differently so the best way to find out if you are depressed is talking to your doctor. Since the symptoms of depressions must be on for two weeks in order for a person to be diagnosed.

Check out how to deal with Anxiety While Homeschooling

How I felt while homeschooling my kiddos…

As I write this blog post I’m in tears because there is just no way out.

Meanwhile, I have to smile for my kids. I have to play, I have to go to work and smile again when I just really want to cry.

You see at some in our lives we all get depressed and sad. The problem is when it becomes a state of mind and it just does not go away.

Depression is not something we talk about in ur culture. I’m spanish and its just not something that people think exist.

But after mu twins were born have experience first hand depression and anxiety. I have change into a person that i cannot recognized anymore.

I used to be happy all the time, bubbly personality and straight to the point, honest. Then I became the “I just DON’T CARE PERSON”.

The my husband and I decided to homeschool our daughter which had been a dream of ours for many years and it had finally came true. We have only been homeschooling for one year.

Have priorities and boundaries

Since everything in my house changes so quickly I have to make sure I have my priorities straight.

“only the stuff that needs to get done will be done”

“If someone else can do it, let them do it”

I believe this has been the hardest part for me since I like to do it all. I made a list of shores for everyone in the house and on specific days that they must be completed.

Dont get me wrong things dont always go as planned but for the most part we make it work.

Keep your Friends Close

I am the kid of person that will bottle everyting in and not talk at all. Thats is not good for me dealing with depression taught me that I need to talk to my friends you know the people that lisnten and dont judge you, the ones that really love you.

You need the help of your love ones to go through this since this is not a ride to the park.

Speak up and be honest

I am a blessed mom! my 8 year old is very undersntanding I started to taking to her I explained to her what depression was and how I was feeling. and the days I was having really bad days that child took care of me like if she was my mom.

My Sasa would seat next to me and read me a book. She would make us lunch. A sandwich with salami and cheese. This girl is gold!

Find Zero efforts educational activities

This is when we look for board games, puzzles, and documentaries. HAving activities where you dont have to actively teach are great because it gives you a break and your child can go on.

Homeschooling with Depression is Possible, we just need a little extra help.

Accept help when you need it!

accepting help it’s not an easy thing for many of us. Espcecially when you are so independent and think you can manage everything.

Well I am here to tell you today that

It’s okay to ask and receive help!

Many people don’t think depression is a sickness but it’s the same thing as having diabetes. You are not okay and need help.

Asking for help in my opinion makes you a responsible mother. Because you have an understanding that you are not well and are seeking for help.

While homeschooling your kids you can ask your husband to teach a certain lesson or one of your homeschooling friends to teach or to take your child explore about plants if that is something you are teaching at the moment.

The point here is to acknowledge that you need help.

Take advantage of your good days

As with any disease you will have good days where you can do a lot more than others. Take advantage of those days to the extreme.

Do as much as you can to try to make up for activities you have not been able to do with the kids because you were not feeling up to it.

This is the time when you go out and explore, go on field trips, do a cooking lesson. Doing something that will pick up your spirit even more.

For me that is baking. I have a passion for baking. and I see that my daughter enjoys that as well as the twins. So, on the days i felt the energy to do something we would bake banana nut muffins or banana bread.

and they really enjoy that. Not to mention this is consider a earning opportunity because one of things I love about homeschooling is that flexibility to teach any how. I would ask my daughter:

How are bananas grown?

How doe the weather affect them? does it need to be hot or cold?

why is sugar in exccess bad for your body?

as you can see these are open ended questions that makes this activity educational.

It’s okay to be vulnerable and cry for help

My weakness. I don’t like to be vulnerable. But i have learned that by making myself look strong I can’t help me!

You nee to speak up about how you feel and try to find ways to cope or to push the feeling away. Find the way to understand the reason you are feeling like that.

And we are talking about depression son I understand you don’t even know why you are feeling the way you are.

But by sharing you feel with your love ones you are being vulnerable and letting them know you are going through something difficult at the moment. My main problem was that I was keeping everything to myself and not sharing the way I felt.

And to be honest I am still battling with sharing how I feel. But thi is a day to day battle.

Be patient

Being patient is not easy but here you have to try. You need to understand that your sanity and well being is more important than anything else.

Take the time to get well, so you can continue to teach your kiddos. I understand homeschooling when depressed is not an easy task but sometimes we go through this rough patch.

Ask for Help

Talk to your doctor or friends someone that will help you some how. Depression is treatable and you dont have to feel shame or hide from the world.

I would love to hear from you, let me know how you have to manage homeschooling with depression?

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