Are you a homeschool mom who is feeling constantly overwhelmed? In this post I share the signs that you are doing more than you can handle and how this one simple activity can help you figure out if you really are doing too much as a homeschool mom.

If I asked you what your week entails, what would you say? Let me guess. Laundry. Dishes. Cleaning. Homeschool. Marriage. Spending time with Kids. Grocery shopping. Exercise. Budget. Work. Pay Bills. Schedule appointments. Spend time with friends. Need I go on? Because I could! And you could too. As a homeschool mom, you are juggling more things than seems humanly possible. And some days (if not most), you get to the end of the day wondering how you are going to do it all over again. And I get it.
Not too long ago I tried adding on working to my already jam packed schedule. It only took a couple of months for me to start asking myself if I was doing more than was physically possible. I felt like no matter how hard I worked or how badly I wanted to be intentional, I just couldn’t find the time to do everything I wanted to do. And I was burning out. Fast. Worse, I wasn’t taking care of myself and I was starting to feel it. It just seemed like there weren’t enough hours in the week to do everything I wanted to do. And you know what I found out? I was right.
If you feel that you are in the same boat, let’s pause and look at some signs that show that you are doing too much as a homeschool mom. If you can relate to many of these, then that may be a red flag that you need to sit down and evaluate your life before you experience burn out.
12 Signs You are Doing Too Much as a Homeschool Mom
- You find yourself yelling at your kids
- Anxiety and Panic Attacks
- Depression
- Not enjoying things you usually do
- You don’t have time for the things you consider most important in life
- The house is a constant disaster and you can’t seem to keep up
- You aren’t taking care of yourself
- Your kids’ behavior has gotten worse and they seem constantly in need of attention
- Not sleeping well
- Have a hard time relaxing
- You’re on edge and snap at people easily
- Constantly feeling overwhelmed and empty
Alright. So I don’t know about you but I had been able to check off many of those. The signs were there, but was I really doing more than was humanly possible? Or was I just having a hard season for other reasons?
Help from a Podcast
I love business podcasts and I was recently listening to one where the person was talking about how to have better time management. My ears perked up. He said that you should sit down and figure out how many hours you need to spend in each area of your life. You only have 168 hours in a week. So does what you are trying to do fit into 168 hours? And are you prioritizing what is most important in those hours?

So that’s what I did. And I found out that I had more than 168 hours on my list! That IS physically impossible. No wonder I felt overwhelmed and constantly behind in everything. So next I wrote down how many hours I wanted to spend in each area starting with the most important and then trimmed areas that weren’t as important. I figured out what areas I could get help with so they could still get done but without me actually being the one to do them.
The Simple Way to Figure Out if You’re Doing Too Much as a Homeschool Mom
- Write down ALL the areas of your life that take time each week in a row on the left side of a paper. Examples include: Sleep, Homeschool, Work, Eating, etc.
- Now include all the things you WANT to do in a week. This is on the same list, just put it below what you are already responsible for. This may include doing one on one time with each kid, date night with your spouse, reading aloud each day, exercising, etc.
- Next to each area, write down how many hours you need to do each thing every week. So does homeschool take 20 hours a week? Write that down. How much sleep do you need each night to thrive? Everyone is different. For me it is 9, but I added an extra hour every night so I had time to get ready for bed and wind down (i.e. read). So that’s 70 hours a week. How long does cooking take each day?
- Add up all the numbers. Now add all the numbers and see how many hours you have. If you’re like me, you’ll discover that you had over 168.

Moving Forward
Now that you know that you physically can’t fit everything into 168 hours, you need to prioritize what is the most important. I was actually relieved when I saw that I had over 168 hours worth of stuff because it validated why I felt like I couldn’t get everything done. I couldn’t! But now I needed to realistically write what I could get done in this season of life.
Go ahead and make a new list. You can refer to the old one for reference, but on this one you are going to start with the things that are most important to you. Sleep, Eating, Exercise, Time with my spouse, individual time with kids, Homeschool, Church, Social Life and Work were at the top of my list.
Next to each one, write how many hours that you want to spend on it. Tally up the numbers. If you are over 168, keep trimming it down until you get there. Is there anyway your spouse or a friend could help? Or do you have any room in your budget to hire something out? If not, some things that aren’t as important are just going to have to be let go. You only have 168 hours and you need to be prioritizing the most important things in life and making sure that you are taking care of yourself.
Once you are done with that, you should have a more simplified, less overwhelming and intentional weekly plan. Now just figure out when each thing gets done throughout the week and you should have a much more manageable life ahead of you!
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Other Homeschool Help
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I love finding another homeschool mom who says take away instead of add more!!
Yes! Being intentional with less is so freeing as a homeschool mom!
This is such a simple and practical tip for being more intentional with your time and tasks. Yet, I’m sure not many of us have actually sat down and applied these principles to our own schedules. Thanks for reminding us that being mindful of our time and where we concentrate it doesn’t need to be complicated.
I’m so glad this could help! And yes, taking the time to actually do this would cut down on a lot of stress from our schedules. I know I’m glad I did. And such a simple thing to do! Thanks for stopping by!
I love this! I always have really ambitious plans for myself, but I’ve been trying to prioritize more in line with my values. Thanks for sharing!
I am the exact same! And yes, this helps so much to help prioritize what is in line with your values. Glad this helps!