As a teacher, I always knew the job would come with its fair share of challenges. What I didn’t expect, though, was just how much admin work would dominate my time. Lesson planning, reports, emails to parents—it seemed endless. And over time, that workload started to weigh me down.
What once brought me so much joy—connecting with my learners and creating engaging learning experiences—started to feel like a race I could never win. I was working late into the evenings, spending weekends catching up, and even when I wasn’t working, my mind was still running through all the things I hadn’t finished. I was physically present at home, but my mind was always somewhere else.
Eventually, the burnout set in. My brain was constantly on overdrive, and I started feeling disconnected from the things I once loved. It felt like I was just going through the motions. To be honest, I was so happy to leave to have my first baby—I really didn’t think I could last much longer.
During our time homeschooling last year, things took on a whole new level of complexity. I was no stranger to planning, but managing my own children’s education while juggling everything else felt like an entirely different challenge. The pressure to create individualised plans for each child while gathering enough evidence for the Home Education Unit, without imposing too much of my agenda, was overwhelming.
It wasn’t until I discovered ChatGPT that things began to shift. What started as an experiment turned into a lifesaver.
THE EARLY DAYS OF BURNOUT
When I first started teaching, I had all the passion and enthusiasm in the world. I wanted to connect with my learners, to bring out their creativity and curiosity. But what I hadn’t anticipated was the sheer amount of admin work that came with the job.
We all know the joy of being in our learning spaces with our students, but there’s also the reality of staying late after school, buried under plans, prepping, assessments, and parent communications. It feels like the work never ends. For me, those long hours began to take their toll.
I’ll never forget one Sunday afternoon. I was still at school, trying to catch up, and my husband showed up with hot chips from the BP across the road. He was worried because it was getting dark, and I was the only one left in the building. I was exhausted, overwhelmed, and even though I was working, I didn’t feel like I was getting anywhere.
I’d come home physically drained, but my mind was still ticking over with everything I hadn’t managed to finish. It wasn’t sustainable, and I knew something had to change—but back then, I didn’t know what.
HOMESCHOOLING: A NEW KIND OF OVERWHELM
Fast forward to last year, when we decided to homeschool. I love my kids, and having the opportunity to be so involved in their learning was amazing. But if I’m being honest, getting started and trying to find our groove was also incredibly overwhelming.
I found myself overwhelmed by creating three separate Home Education plans—one for each child—while trying to create personalised learning experiences that put them at the centre. My goal was to make their education interest-based, giving them the freedom to explore the things they were truly curious about. But balancing that with the need to gather enough evidence for the Home Education Unit felt like walking a tightrope.
I didn’t want to push too much of my own agenda on their learning, but I still had to meet the requirements and show proof of their progress. The pressure was real.
I remember sitting down to write the first plan, one I had been putting off because of the sheer size of the example. That’s when I turned to ChatGPT. I cut and pasted our dot-point goals into ChatGPT, gave it the example, and it was able to start me off by putting our goals into the correct structure the HEU wanted. From there, it was just editing and revising to make sure we had it exactly how we wanted it. After that, it was a rinse-and-repeat process for my other children.
THE CHATGPT TRANSFORMATION
At first, ChatGPT was just an experiment. I’d heard people talking about how it could help with admin work in other professions, and I thought, “Why not give it a go?” I wasn’t sure how much it would help, but I was willing to try anything that might ease the load.
The next time I used it, I was trying to draft an email that I’d been putting off for ages. My brain was so fried that I couldn’t even form a sentence. I typed a riff (now I just speak it) into ChatGPT, and it generated a fully-written draft for me. I made a few tweaks, hit send, and it was done in minutes.
Suddenly, what used to take me hours was taking minutes. I couldn’t believe how much lighter I felt. The mental load started to lift, and for the first time in ages, I had space—space to be present with my family, to rest, and to feel like myself again.
And it wasn’t just the admin tasks like emails and reports. ChatGPT helped me brainstorm lesson ideas when I felt creatively drained. It gave me fresh differentiation strategies when I didn’t know where to start. And for homeschooling, it was a godsend. It helped me find resources and ideas as my children came up with new interests and showed me exactly what to look out for to generate evidence, come up with ways to extend projects, and even draft reports for the Home Education Unit.
With ChatGPT, I could focus on the things that mattered most—being present with my kids, both in their learning and at home—without feeling like I was constantly falling behind.
EDUASSIST: A TOOL BORN FROM NECESSITY
After seeing how much ChatGPT was helping me, I started thinking about how I could make it even more useful for educators. While ChatGPT was a fantastic tool for me because I’d learnt how to talk to ChatGPT and worked out what information it needed to give me on-point answers, I realised it could be even more powerful for teachers and homeschooling parents. I wanted to share this information.
That’s when I decided to create EduAssist.
EduAssist is a free tool I built to train ChatGPT on everything it needs to know to support educators with their admin work. Whether it’s lesson planning, writing reports, drafting emails, brainstorming differentiation ideas, or anything else—EduAssist helps ChatGPT give you the right answers, saving you hours of time and a lot of mental energy.
HOW EDUASSIST WORKS
EduAssist is super simple to use. Here’s how it works:
- Click on the EduAssist link, and it will open up in ChatGPT.
- Answer a few questions about your teaching style, curriculum, planning, and reporting needs.
- EduAssist generates a summary based on your responses.
- Copy the summary and paste it into the start of every new ChatGPT conversation, and just like that, ChatGPT knows exactly how to support you.
No more tweaking or re-explaining your goals, curriculum, learners, and teaching style. It’s like having a personal assistant who just gets it. And the best part? I’ve made EduAssist completely free for all educators.
WHY EDUASSIST (AND CHATGPT) CAN WORK FOR YOU
If you’re feeling burnt out, overwhelmed, or like there are never enough hours in the day to get through everything, EduAssist can help. It’s designed to lighten your admin load so you can focus on what really matters: connecting with your learners, your family, and you!
EduAssist helped me find balance again, and I genuinely believe it can do the same for you.
Ready to Try EduAssist?
It’s been a complete game-changer for me, and I know it can do the same for you.