Homeschool works-for-me: house work/ projects

If you've been a home school mom for more than 12 minutes, you've come to realize that things are different for us as homemakers and keepers. I was given a nugget of wisdom early on in this journey of ours that the home that hosts little ones ( and bigger ones too) is NOT a perfectly crisp, tidy home. It's a well lived in home.

(Now if you are thinking about homeschooling, keep reading. This is a how to, not meant to scare you off)

This year I have puzzled over this thought; "How on earth am I ever going to spring clean?"

Well, I mulled it over and over, and at last I came to a fly lady inspired solution; 15 minutes at a time, my friend.

Okay, so not literally 15 minutes, but little bites. So I did this. I made a (mental) list of all the spring cleaning things and organizing projects I wanted to do. I know I would be overwhelmed if I left this in list form, so I took each task and assigned them to a week on my calendar. One week I worked on organizing and cleaning out the pantry. The next week I took on the task of checking out all my smoke alarms (and yes, it took me all week because I procrastinated) . Last week I scrubbed out and organized ALL of the cupboards in the kitchen (big sigh of relief here) and this week I'm going to attack my linen closet. The game for me...I don't look at the following weeks' task. This gives me something to work toward, call me strange but I look forward to the next task.

In the meantime I keep up my normal (fly lady) routine of hitting one normal cleaning thing a day. Mondays I vacuum the house, Tuesdays I do bathrooms, Wednesdays I mop....you get the idea. I also keep getting more help from the boys, this is really helping me out. I use them as often as I can and because they earn their allowance this way they're willing hands & hearts (most of the time.)

Oh, and I do not love Tuesdays.


When cleaning out an area, work as long as time (or family) permits and then return to the project when you're able. Get two paper bags, one for trash and one for give-away then don't hesitate to let go of things unless you love them or you use them. This is all Fly Lady inspired, I get no credit except that I've been able to let go of an enormous amount of stuff.

Don't forget to involve your kiddos if they're interested or if you can use the help. Sometimes this is nice to do alone. Your little ones need to learn what it takes to keep a home nice, their spouses will thank you one day.

ie: Joey cleaned out the car the other day. Afterward, we all climbed into the car, one of the boys had a granola bar. Joey said "Make sure you give the wrapper to mom. I just cleaned the car and I don't want to do it again!" Aha!

I figure my house will sparkle in exactly 15ish years when my youngest son moves out and I'm sure right now that's NOT a good thing. In the meantime I'm happy to do the work and organizing as I can.

For some notes on home school planning, check out this article at A High and Noble Calling