Critterfixer Posted September 2, 2011 Share Posted September 2, 2011 Long story short we must put our house on the market. I've done this before, but never when I was in the middle of teaching. The last time our house was on the market, the boys were still working on potty training. Sooo...How do I handle staging and cleaning AND keep up with school? I have second grade twins that require a lot of hands-on teaching. Currently I am managing to paint the exterior of the house and teach, but staggering the work and the teaching, but I dread the idea of trying to box up school every time we have to show the house.Anybody else dealt with this that can offer some advice? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JudoMom Posted September 2, 2011 Share Posted September 2, 2011 I kept everything in laundry baskets when we sold our house. This meant when it was time to leave for a showing, all I had to do was throw whatever we were working on in the baskets, throw the baskets in the van, and leave. We were able to get somethings done in the van this way. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ThatCyndiGirl Posted September 2, 2011 Share Posted September 2, 2011 We have our school books and supplies in clear plastic containers. Could you use something like that and pack it up when people are coming to see the house? I know you said that you don't want to do that, but it would be the easiest, it seems. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Critterfixer Posted September 2, 2011 Author Share Posted September 2, 2011 Putting the clear plastic containers in an unobtrusive place would be the problem. Currently we have most of our books and notebooks in our schoolroom, which is the kitchen. That's also where the whiteboard, maps and other things are--the whiteboard came down last week for touch-up painting and I'm already missing it. I don't have a van--just a four-door truck, and that is liable to be a bit cramped with the two boys, a box or two of cats and three rowdy dogs whenever we have to make a run for it during a showing. Of course, a solution will probably present itself if I stop stewing over it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chepyl Posted September 2, 2011 Share Posted September 2, 2011 I think that a couple of baskets or plastic boxes that can go to the car sound like the best idea. If the kids do all the same level and subjects, have a box for books and a box for manipulatives. If you are mid math lesson, put the books in a box, clear the table into the other box take it to the car. Throw some cookies in the oven first though :) take the cookies out and leave the house. Showing a house is never ideal, no matter your lifestyle. It is inconvenient. You just have to deal with what comes. When we were showing house I grew up in, I was in college. I came home and my stuff would be gone....all off to storage. Or I could not find a pot or pan. We lived with it. All of my belongings were in storage for two years while dh and I tried to sell a house out of state while living in a garage apartment. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
WishboneDawn Posted September 2, 2011 Share Posted September 2, 2011 I think I'd pack up everything I didn't absolutely need - posters, whiteboard, extra supplies, everything. I'd only keep out what we need in the run of a day like daily workbooks and such and if you find yourself looking at the paints or magnet set and thinking, "but I need those!" then trim them out of your schooling and just take it back to the very basics. The sooner you get the house looking good, the sooner you'll sell and the sooner you'll be able to get back to normal. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
West Coast Mom Posted September 2, 2011 Share Posted September 2, 2011 When our house was on the market a couple of years ago, I had a 1st grader, 3rd grader, and a newborn. Due to homeschooling and the newborn, we required a 24 hour notice and an appointment during the week. I required two hour notice on the weekends. This gave me plenty of time to get the house straight and get out before they arrived. I always had the house ready to show when we left during the week, just in case. I only had problems from one realtor who told me if I wanted to sell the house in this declining market than I had to be ready to let his clients see it in a moments notice. I fired back that if his clients really wanted to purchase my house, they could wait 24 hours to see it. He never gave me anymore lip. The house sold in 6 months -which was pretty good for that time. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mommee & Baba Posted September 2, 2011 Share Posted September 2, 2011 Our house has been on the market since July and we ran into the same issues. We packed up MOST of our things. What we didn't use much of or could be without for several months I packed away. I packed ALOT of our school books and such and it looked clean and tidy..SADLY as we approached certain subjects I had to DIG things out! Now our office is filling back up. So I am going to put an empty box in the room so I can close the box when someone comes to see the house. However we are living here...we can't just pretend we don't have busy lives. I was uptight at first. Now I am in reality. If someone doesn't see we are a FAMILY and we homeschool and need the items out..then we don't need to sell our home to them. I stopped stressing over it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Critterfixer Posted September 2, 2011 Author Share Posted September 2, 2011 The sooner you get the house looking good, the sooner you'll sell and the sooner you'll be able to get back to normal. That's what I'll keep telling myself. The market where I'm at is not very good, (stats-800+ homes on the market, and I believe 36 pending sales?) and this is a house with land, so it isn't exactly the usual market. I'm sort of on my own with the house as far as repairs and paint and such. The boys are in the same grade, but not exactly at the same level. However, I already use folders for the days work with them. I think I can set up something similar for myself-perhaps a light-weight notebook with the instruction materials and set them up for about a weeks worth at a time. Then I would probably be able to tolerate moving school to the garage. But I do need that white-board. I wonder if I can set it up on a stand that I can take down and move to the garage when I'm not using it. I teach a lot from that board. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KungFuPanda Posted September 2, 2011 Share Posted September 2, 2011 Your kids are young, but not babies. Could you scale down and school out of backpacks until you sell? If you start your day with your bags packed and only have out what you need at any given moment, it should be a fairly easy transition to the library or coffee shop. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mrs Mungo Posted September 2, 2011 Share Posted September 2, 2011 I kept everything in laundry baskets when we sold our house. This meant when it was time to leave for a showing, all I had to do was throw whatever we were working on in the baskets, throw the baskets in the van, and leave. We were able to get somethings done in the van this way. I took this advice when I sold our house and hubby was deployed. It worked quite well. I only showed the house twice and received 2 offers. :) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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