I want to send my kids back to public school.?

First, hold off on the decision of whether or not to homeschool. That come come later. For now, step back and take a breather. Reassess your priorities.

It's too much to run a day care and homeschool your kids, while taking no time for yourself. No wonder you are burning out. You are taking care of everyone except yourself. One Saturday, tell your husband you're going out for the day. Get your nails done, go to the library and read, hang out with your girlfriends, it doesn't matter so much what you do, as long as it's not caring for anyone except yourself. Ask your husband to do specific things to help with the homeschooling. A lot of men don't know what our expectations are, and if we don't ask, they aren't sure what to do. It's a lot like that with housework too. Women complain that they don't do the housework, but complain when they do it wrong. You might want to ask him to do assignments with them, or something fun, every Saturday while you're out. Then in return, give him Sunday off.

If after a few months you still think homeschooling wasn't the right choice, maybe it wasn't. I wouldn't send your kids back to the same school, but look for another public school, charter, private and consider that. Maybe you'll decide homeschooling was the right choice with some changes. You know, with these things, we know what's best for ourselves and our kids, but not others. Not all schools are identical. Find the right one, if that's your choice, for your kids. Don't let others make this decision for you. Our daughter attended high school, and homeschooling parents were just as rude in their questions of why as the parents/relatives who questioned us about homeschooling in the first place. Everyone thinks their choice is the best for others. It's an unfortunate part of human nature I suppose.

Last, if you're spending a lot of time on this site, or others like it, limit it. It can be depressing. Everyone wants to tell you how perfect they and their kids are. If you don't breastfeed the longest, homeschool, feed your kids an all organic diet, prohibit all TV and media, somehow you are inferior. You aren't. Nobody is perfect. We all make different choices. Would it make you better to know that some of those "perfect" parents have the same issues as everyone else? Like their adult kids who have "failed to launch", kids who talk back, etc.. Look, I've never met a group of parents as perfect as people on YA would like others to believe they are. Ok., I'll admit it. My homeschooled son can be a smart *** at times. I'll even shout it from the roof: MY KIDS AREN'T PERFECT. They're doing a lot of good things, but they aren't perfect. Don't believe the "I'm so perfect" mask the Stepford wives of YA wear. It's hiding the fact that they're just other regular folks. Homeschooling families are hardly as perfect as we'd tell others. We're people. It's a way to deflect from the insecurity that we feel, rightly sometimes, as we are judged. Allow yourself to be imperfect and you'll be much happier.

Right now! - you have arrived at that most important point in homeschooling - the time when you realize it isn't what you thought it was going to be and all that 'stuff' you read has no relationship to your home and family. We call it 'burn out' and it happens to almost all new homeschoolers. It's important because now you know you are a real homeschooler and you are ready to make it work.

the solution isn't really too difficult. Take some time away from the day-to-day routine, completely re-evaluate what you are doing, work with the kids to re-structure your curriculum to fit your family better and RELAX. It's YOUR homeschooling. I'm sure your noticed there is a uniqueness to your family and how you homeschool. No matter what you do you are not going to fit it into a pre-conceived mold that you read about on some website or in some book. You might want to look more towards unschooling or 'relaxed homeschooling' and turning over more responsibility to the kids. You've got it - you've figured it out, you are a homeschooler. Yah!

As far as the day care and career changes goes, only you can decide how important your own kids are and prioritize. You didn't say how old the kids are, but school age doesn't last very long at all. Consider the investment in their future you are making.

unschooling info:

http://homeedmag.com/

http://www.parentatthehelm.com/

http://www.johnholtgws.com/

I did find some good advice here:

http://www.pbs.org/parents/education/homeschooling...

but I am not sure about the groups suggestion. Some of them are so demanding it's like you are back in school. But the rest is pretty solid suggestions. You know the Moore's wrote a whole book about Homeschool Burnout? Their advice has always been common sense.

But take some time, rework things and RELAX, your kids will learn in spite of your best efforts.

You definitely need to lighten your load.

Unless you live in a VERY draconian state, there's no law that says you HAVE to home-school Monday to Friday, between certain hours, without fail. Have you considered cutting down to a four-day home-schooling week? Maybe declare Wednesday to be Everybody's Day Off (but most especially Mom's!) and do no formal, academic studies on that day? On the other days, get your kids to help you with the laundry, grocery shopping, food preparation, etc, and call it Home Economics or Life Skills classes. Leave some of the less-urgent chores for your husband to do over the weekend - you're both working equally long hours, so why should he be exempt from housework but not you?

Also, please try not to fret about whether your children are "falling behind" or "keeping up" with other kids in regular schools - you no longer have to jump through the state education system's hoops. Set you own targets and celebrate your family's achievements as and when you get there.

As the other posters have said, homeschooling can be tough - especially in the early years - but there are better days ahead. As your children grow and become more independent in their learning, you'll gradually find yourself with more free, quality time. Use it to your own best advantage.

Best of luck with achieving a better balance!

What you are experiencing is likely normal burn out. It happens to all of us at some point (sometimes more than once). Take some time off and do fun things together as a family for a few days instead of school. Also, take a hard look at the curriculum you choose. Sometimes it's better to start over with something that fits their child's learning style better instead of struggling with how the parent thinks school should be. Have a family meeting to discuss your concerns with not only your husband, but the children as well. Together decide what would be best. They may have suggestions for how to make homeschooling work better for you. You may have too high expectations that don't fit reality of your situation.

I'm a homeschooled student who's been homeschooled by my mom since Pre-K. And I've seen my mom become stressed, burned out, and ready to ship us off to the nearest public school. And eventually, she did. And it totally sucked. And now I'm back home again and happier than ever. But trust me, it's not always picture perfect. But we've learned what works and what doesn't for our family.

When we started homeschool, it was very structured and very formal. Which just didn't work because our family is busy all of the time. So after a while, it became more relaxed and my mom let us be more independent in our studies. For example, since math was a really hard subject for us and mom hated teaching it, she ordered "teaching textbooks" which is a math program you do on the computer. The point is, find ways to make your life simpler and make your kids more independent!

You can do it!:) But sit down the family and tell them how you feel. Make a family plan that works for everyone!:) Good luck!

I feel for you. You are a great mom, but the time to say "Enough is enough" is now. As most parents realize, home-schooling is not all it's cracked up to be. If it were, public schools would never have been built in the first place.

Start by telling the whole family that the children are returning to school and it's not up for discussion. Also, everyone will start doing more chores around the house. Being a great mom doesn't mean doing it all, it means teaching your children to accept responsibility.

If the children want to be home-schooled in the future, make it perfectly clear that it will only happen if they can show they are mature enough to clean the house themselves and if your husband is willing to be in charge of teaching.

Have you considered going through an online academy? I know that Charity Christian Academy is still accepting new students. http://charitychristianacademy.org/