Homeschooling and Housework

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That’s the topic for this week’s Blog Cruise.

Sometimes I feel like that title sums up my life. Sigh.

On other days I rejoice that homeschooling and housework are what sums up my life.

My attitude aside, those are 2 of my biggest roles. And I want to do them both well. It is my calling as a wife and mother to “be busy at home“. It is also my calling to “train up my children in the way they should go.” But is it really possible to do them both well?

It seems that many homeschoolers joke about how messy their house is or how behind they are on the laundry, using their time spend homeschooling as an excuse. And I admit that it is more difficult to keep house when a) you’re busy homeschooling your children and b) your house gets messier because your family is in it all the time. I will also concede that some people don’t mind things being messy and it is really a personal choice.

But for us, messiness is not an option.

1. My husband cannot stand a mess. To honor him, I must do my best to maintain the house. Sure, he can’t expect perfection, but the house does need to be straightened up, laundry done, and dinner cooked daily, barring any extenuating circumstances.

2. I can’t stand a mess either. So even if my husband were more laid back, I could not function. I spend far less time cleaning than I do searching for things that are lost when I don’t keep things clean and organized.

So, how do I keep up with everything?

The biggest key is to have a plan.

  • I have broken down the household chores, divided them through the week, and assigned them to different people. Here’s our current chart. (It needs updating!)

  • KPH is me, DWH, is 12 year old son, AKH is 11 year old daughter, WJH is 9 year old son, and EGH is 4 year old daughter.I also should mention that we have 3-1/2 bathrooms with notations of MBR for Master bath, K Bath for kids’ bath, H bath for Half-bath, and PR bath for Playroom bath (in the basement)

  • We have consistently done our chores after lunch so that it has become automatic.
  • We guard our time at home so that we are almost always home for lunch (and therefore chore time.)
  • We periodically declutter every room.

I don’t want to imply that I have got everything figured out.

Here are my current goals:

1. I need to devote more time to inspecting my kids work. Every day.

2. I need to establish a consistent afternoon house pick-up time.

3. I need to update the chore schedule and assign new chores to kids.

So how do you manage homeschool and housework?

 


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7 thoughts on “Homeschooling and Housework”

  1. I am the same way. I love my home that Matthew has provided and I love to see it neat and picked up. My third boy is almost 8 months old and between him, school, cooking, and laundry, I have NO TIME to make it sparkle. It is wearing on me. I have made up charts, cleaned on days Hubby is home, etc. I can’t seem to get it back together.

    Good post.

  2. We have a small house, and only four of us, so it is a bit easier for us to keep things clean. But hubby & I are the same way, so we work hard at it. I tend to let things get a bit disorganized when he’s at work, but I know I’ll have them put back together before he gets home. And the kids do a lot of the cleaning too. You list looks great. 🙂

    JoAnn

  3. Pingback: Blog Cruise – Homeschooling and Household Duties at TOS Homeschool Crew

  4. We have a chore list too. We do household chores first thing before/after breakfast (kids may work on their morning chores while I prepare breakfast). Our afternoon outside chores are typically done at 4 ish, if we are out and about for the afternoon, they get done when we get home. Having a time frame type schedule has been great and a lifesaver.

  5. I do a very similar system with rotating chores every week to keep from getting stale. I also do not do as much inspecting as I should and this comes to bite me in the rear at the end of the week when we switch chores and I’m left with a room that does not appear it was touched the week before.

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