A Word About Homeschooling and Housework

One of the major roadblocks for families wanting to homeschool is "What about housework?" It was a major concern for me, too. While in the research faze of homeschooling, I think I read about every book out there on homeschooling. Each one seemed to give the impression that housework would suffer. It seemed that homeschooling and keeping a clean home just didn't mix. Alas.

This was discouraging to me because I'm a person who needs to have a clean house to be happy. That doesn't necessarily mean that my house is clean all the time. But when it isn't, I feel irritable, short on patience, and inadequate. I know that many people out there feel the same way, and so, a few tips on keeping house while homeschooling.

First, establish a system in which the children are helping out! I cannot overstate this. Children need to work. They need to feel that they are contributing to the family and the home. They need to be trained in basic cleaning skills so that when they grow up, marry and start their own families, they will not be a burden on their spouse and children. I've struggled for years to find a way of getting kids to help that made sense. Until recently, that "system" was just asking and nagging them into it. We tried a couple of chart systems with limited success. I finally found a plan that works for us. It's called Accountable Kids. It's based on the law of the harvest; "you reap what you sow". If they don't complete their chores, they don't recieve basic privileges like playing with friends. It puts the responsibility on them, not the parent. So far, it works for us. Find one that works for you. Make a list of every chore that your kids need to do every day. Get them doing these chores for about a week. Then add weekly chores that are bigger for which they can be paid. Consistency is key here. When kids are doing chores on a daily basis, it's like magic! I can't even tell you how wonderful it is to have the dishes done, the beds made, and bedrooms remaining clean with no labor on my part. When kids are putting away all the toys and paraphernalia that they've dragged out every day, it's astonishing to see how much easier it is to do the more thorough cleaning like mopping, etc.

Second, but equally important; get yourself on a system! For the last five years or so, I've been doing all my laundry on one day. That's about eight loads washed, dried, folded and put away in one day. I tried keeping up with this system while homeschooling and you know what happened? We wound up with mountain of laundry as high as myself and no time to do it. What went wrong? Well, with homeschooling, everty day was pegged for school and basic picking up type cleaning and the day off (Saturday) was supposed to be for deep cleaning and laundry. But instead, it turned out to be the only day that I have to run errands (alone) and it is also the day that two of my kids play soccer. Obviously, laundry was not getting done. Finally my husband took the kids all day one Saturday and I conquered the mountain. The week after that I changed the system to doing one or two loads of laundry a day. Problem solved. Lesson to be learned: If something is not getting done, there is a problem with the system. Rework the way you are doing things until you find a way that works for you. I can email or post my housework schedule for anyone who is seeking help.

Good luck on your homeschooling adventure. Remember that the home still needs to be run. Find a schedule and routine that helps you get things done, and don't overwork yourself. Forgive yourself of shortcomings as you would others. It may not be fun to scrub toilets and iron shirts, but there is satisfaction to be had in knowing that the home is a nice place to be, a refuge from the outside influences and stresses of the world. Until later,

Kristy

Curriculum Overhaul!

Okay first, I know it's been a long time since I last wrote. This is why. There began to be a lot of eye rolling from Keller each day while we homeschooled. It seemed that every correction I tried to make was met with a tantrum or a huge sigh. When it was time to move on to a different subject I got more rolled eyes and sighing. After a couple of days of this I started thinking to myself "This is not what I set out to do. I didn't start this so that my kids would come to hate learning! Something is wrong." So I put myself on a mission to make homeschooling fun!
We had been doing Saxon math. I'm sure that Saxon is a great math program for many homeschoolers. It just seemed to be too slow and boring for Keller. As a matter of fact, my four year old daughter Ella was doing the assignments right along with him with no problem. I had to erase everything that I'd heard about Saxon and start fresh. I decided to try Singapore Math. The price was reasonable and so I figured that if it didn't work not too much money would be lost (unlike with Saxon). This simple change worked like a charm for math.
Next, I needed to mend our writing program. I had been writing a scripture verse on our whiteboard and having him copy it. This was taking twenty minutes and a lot of cajoling to get him to finish it. Once again I researched different ways to teach basic writing skills. I heard about getting kids into journaling. I told Kell that we would be making a journal that someday his children and grandchildren would read, and they would be able to read about his life someday. He said "Can we start RIGHT NOW!" Case closed.
Reading had become a major chore as well. I was having him work on the Phonics Pathways book every day for about 20 minutes. The solution was so obvious I'm almost embarrassed to write it. All I had to do was find a book on his level that he wanted to read. This turned out to be the Frog and Toad books. He's flying through them and his reading is amazing. When we were working on straight phonics I was amazed at the seemingly very simple words he was tripping over. I think he was just bored and wanted a story! It took me way too long to figure that one out.
Right about the time I debugged these subjects, I finally implemented the long awaited history and science lessons. These are a huge hit and the kids look forward to these subjects every day! About a week ago Keller said to me, "I like doing this better than going to school. At school we only got to do a few seconds of math." Hooray! He's enjoying it and loving learning. That was the goal. It is so fun to hear my kids talk about the things that we've been learning together. I'm so glad I'm able to hear their insights and connections they make from the things we've studied. We are blessed and so happy to be homeschooling! Until later,
Kristy