Cleaning House (or making it look like someone cleaned)
Something I was asked recently was how in the world do I get all the housework and shopping and other housewifely duties done while home educating the kids. How in the world, indeed! I had to think about it, and I gave a rather short answer that may or may not have been helpful. But for the rest of the day, I thought about it, and took note of the things I was doing during the day. How do I get it all done?
Well, I don't. In the literal sense, I don't do it all because I make the kids do a lot of house work, and truthfully, I just let the rest go. I used to be called Katie the Cleaning Lady after the character in the Pine Sol ads. I never used Pine Sol, but I used to wield a mighty cleaning rag and vacuum cleaner.
Not any more. Now, I'm on survival mode. I keep the kitchen fairly clean and organized, with the kids' help. Bathrooms get cleaned when someone gets grossed out (usually me), or if company is coming, and the sheets on the beds get washed fairly often (although I'd rather not say how often). Over Christmas and summer breaks, I try to organize and purge and clean out places that haven't seen the light of day for some time. Being organized is a huge help; it makes your house seem clean even when it's not. My house is not as clean or neat as I would like, but I have learned to live with it. It's somewhere in between being a pig sty and being clean enough to eat off the floors.
That being said, there some strategies a homeschooling mom can employ to keep her house clean enough for her taste and yet not drive people crazy with nit picking. Since my kids have always been home, it seems more natural to me that they help. But there are more and more families pulling their kids out of traditional school and bringing them home, and finding that some of the housework is going to have to be done by the kids.
When you have several kids, you tend to pile the work on the older ones, because the younger ones are always, well, younger. I have really tried to transfer household responsibilities to the younger kids as soon as they seem able. For instance, here is what the 5-year old does here: hauls in firewood, makes his bed, cleans up his toys, folds linens and his own clothes and puts them away, helps unload the items from the dishwasher he can put away without climbing on the counters, and clear the table after a meal. The 2-year old is learning how to put away the silverware and fold some of her clothes. She can put away some laundry and her toys. My 8-year old can put clothes into the dryer, fold them and put them away, make any bed in the house, unload the entire dishwasher, make a simple lunch, clean up any room in the house, scrub a bathroom sink and wipe off the toilet and vacuum the hardwood floors. The 10-year old can do all that and load and run the dishwasher and the clothes washer, vacuum carpet, clean up the kitchen and cook eggs and toast. Some kids can do more and some can do less; it's usually pretty easy to figure out what they are capable of, if you take the time. By the time my older kids were about 12, they could do most anything I could do, although maybe not as cheerfully.
But how does a mom teach all that on top of school, if she has just pulled her elementary or middle school children out of school? My advice (after having dad read this) would be to cut way back on the academics, paring it down to the reading and math, and spending time teaching them how to do housework. Housekeeping is a valuable life skill; it teaches kids to budget their time, and to get their work done before doing something fun. Hide money in a room and tell the kids they can keep what they find while they are dusting or tidying up. Plan a fun lunch or an outing when the house chores are done. This doesn't have to be done all the time; kids need to learn that work is its own reward, but lightening up once in a while doesn't hurt.
Some families assign work and keep a chart of who has what responsibilities. Kids can just look at the chart to see what they need to do instead of mom having to track down kids and try to dole out the chores fairly. I'm not much of a chart and schedule person. I do make a weekly dinner menu and assign dinner dishes for the week. For me, that's the most helpful because it's at the end of the day when I want to unwind and relax. But you may need more structure, so a chore chart may be a huge help for you. (There are books out there that offer much more detailed chore assignments and daily structure, but I found them to be overwhelming.) As for all the other chores, the kids have to keep their own rooms cleaned up, they take turns cleaning bathrooms and taking care of the laundry, and help me on days I want to clean the house. And no, I never clean the entire house in one day; I don't even try.
Someday, my house will be empty, and I will have loads of time to clean. But for now, I am trying to find the balance between a clean house and well-educated and loved children. And that's part of the homeschooling lifestyle: finding the balance in life right along with your kids, figuring it out as you go, learning together.
Well, I don't. In the literal sense, I don't do it all because I make the kids do a lot of house work, and truthfully, I just let the rest go. I used to be called Katie the Cleaning Lady after the character in the Pine Sol ads. I never used Pine Sol, but I used to wield a mighty cleaning rag and vacuum cleaner.
Not any more. Now, I'm on survival mode. I keep the kitchen fairly clean and organized, with the kids' help. Bathrooms get cleaned when someone gets grossed out (usually me), or if company is coming, and the sheets on the beds get washed fairly often (although I'd rather not say how often). Over Christmas and summer breaks, I try to organize and purge and clean out places that haven't seen the light of day for some time. Being organized is a huge help; it makes your house seem clean even when it's not. My house is not as clean or neat as I would like, but I have learned to live with it. It's somewhere in between being a pig sty and being clean enough to eat off the floors.
That being said, there some strategies a homeschooling mom can employ to keep her house clean enough for her taste and yet not drive people crazy with nit picking. Since my kids have always been home, it seems more natural to me that they help. But there are more and more families pulling their kids out of traditional school and bringing them home, and finding that some of the housework is going to have to be done by the kids.
When you have several kids, you tend to pile the work on the older ones, because the younger ones are always, well, younger. I have really tried to transfer household responsibilities to the younger kids as soon as they seem able. For instance, here is what the 5-year old does here: hauls in firewood, makes his bed, cleans up his toys, folds linens and his own clothes and puts them away, helps unload the items from the dishwasher he can put away without climbing on the counters, and clear the table after a meal. The 2-year old is learning how to put away the silverware and fold some of her clothes. She can put away some laundry and her toys. My 8-year old can put clothes into the dryer, fold them and put them away, make any bed in the house, unload the entire dishwasher, make a simple lunch, clean up any room in the house, scrub a bathroom sink and wipe off the toilet and vacuum the hardwood floors. The 10-year old can do all that and load and run the dishwasher and the clothes washer, vacuum carpet, clean up the kitchen and cook eggs and toast. Some kids can do more and some can do less; it's usually pretty easy to figure out what they are capable of, if you take the time. By the time my older kids were about 12, they could do most anything I could do, although maybe not as cheerfully.
But how does a mom teach all that on top of school, if she has just pulled her elementary or middle school children out of school? My advice (after having dad read this) would be to cut way back on the academics, paring it down to the reading and math, and spending time teaching them how to do housework. Housekeeping is a valuable life skill; it teaches kids to budget their time, and to get their work done before doing something fun. Hide money in a room and tell the kids they can keep what they find while they are dusting or tidying up. Plan a fun lunch or an outing when the house chores are done. This doesn't have to be done all the time; kids need to learn that work is its own reward, but lightening up once in a while doesn't hurt.
Some families assign work and keep a chart of who has what responsibilities. Kids can just look at the chart to see what they need to do instead of mom having to track down kids and try to dole out the chores fairly. I'm not much of a chart and schedule person. I do make a weekly dinner menu and assign dinner dishes for the week. For me, that's the most helpful because it's at the end of the day when I want to unwind and relax. But you may need more structure, so a chore chart may be a huge help for you. (There are books out there that offer much more detailed chore assignments and daily structure, but I found them to be overwhelming.) As for all the other chores, the kids have to keep their own rooms cleaned up, they take turns cleaning bathrooms and taking care of the laundry, and help me on days I want to clean the house. And no, I never clean the entire house in one day; I don't even try.
Someday, my house will be empty, and I will have loads of time to clean. But for now, I am trying to find the balance between a clean house and well-educated and loved children. And that's part of the homeschooling lifestyle: finding the balance in life right along with your kids, figuring it out as you go, learning together.
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