Help from veteran homeschoolers or moms of many dc--how to keep house and HS

[Kidlit]

I'm specifically asking for help from these two groups because if anyone knows how to do it, veteran homeschoolers and/or moms of many MUST. Of course, anyone is welcome to chime in!:D

 

My dc are young--preschool age. Right now I'm just doing a lesson from OPGTTR and some Kumon workbook pages with them 2-3 times a week. Of course, in addition to this, we read together for approx. 1-1.5 hours a day when we're home all day. Between keeping up laundry and meals, I never manage to get around to actually cleaning my house. I've tried Fly Lady and the Motivated Moms chore charts. Maybe I'm just not disciplined enough, but I cannot manage to do it all.

 

How do you all do it? Do you save your housework until night, after everything else is done? It frightens me a little bit to think that next year we'll be starting K and I don't feel like I have a handle on it when what we're doing is really just extra stuff right now. How will I feel when we actually HAVE to do school?

 

Someone, please, reassure me that homeschooling and keeping a moderately clean house can be done!:tongue_smilie:

[abreakfromlife]

I've been struggling with this all year. I think maybe I'm starting to get a handle on how to do it, but the problem I'm facing now is being motivated enough to do it, and being disciplined enough to get things done :001_huh: Anyway, what I'm doing right now is heavy school 3 days a week, with very light cleaning, and lighter school 2 days a week and heavier cleaning on those days. But honestly, after spending so much time chasing my 3 youngest and keeping them out of trouble, I don't have much energy to focus on the house :glare:

 

So we do history/science and everything else the 3 days, and on the 2 light days, it's only grammar/writing/math/reading. For house stuff, I vacuum every day or so, do a load of laundry and run the dishwasher on the school heavy days. On the 2 house-heavy days, I'll have the kids do their rooms, clean the bathroom and kitchen, put away the laundry and give the kids a couple of chores like washing the glass door and washing the kitchen floor.

 

I use an index card system for chores, for what I need to do daily, weekly, monthly, and a lot of stuff I've just moved to a monthly/every other month type of thing, and then I'll do one monthly chore on the house days. Like dusting, cleaning out the fridge, washing the fingerprints off the trim, changing sheets, etc..........

 

I also try and do some organizing/baking on the weekends while dh is home, so I don't have to do as much of that during the week.

[Tenaj]

For one thing, you have two preschoolers now and that is tough! As they get older you will find that though school will take longer, they will be able to entertain themselves and each other for longer periods of time without your direct input and that will allow you to get those things that you can't get to now. Also, as they get older, you'll be able to assign them some of those household tasks and though it takes lots of time to train them, it is worth it for the end result.

 

Before I actually read your post (just the title) I was going to brag on motivated moms because that has been my lifesaver this year but you've already tried that. Maybe I can mention one little thing about MM though. I'm going to whisper this.. . . I don't always get everything on that list done on the day it's supposed to be done and sometimes I never get to it. I've been doing MM since January and still haven't straightened out the dresser tops in the master bedroom or dusted the master bedroom because there is so much I just haven't had the big chunk of time to clear it all out. But it's o.k. My kitchen, living room, school room and bathrooms are much cleaner than they have ever been and eventually I may get around to the rest of it.

 

One more suggestion and then I'll shut up . . . I've learned to accept that because I have children (many) in my house all day, everyday, and I'm responsible to school them, care for them, feed them and make sure they generally have clean clothes, my house is not going to look the same as it would if they were in school (or daycare) all day. I stuggled with this for a long time because my Mom's house is always so neat, a place for everything, always just so but I finally realized that it didn't look like that when I was at home and the reason it looks like that now is that there are only the two of them there.

 

 

I hope you get lots of good suggestions in this thread.

[mom4him]

Someone, please, reassure me that homeschooling and keeping a moderately clean house can be done!:tongue_smilie:

 

Moderately Clean? I think I do that. For me the key is to keep my two involved in helping with the cleaning. They are now 8 & 9 but they have been actively 'helping' since they were 2-3.

I have always had them be active in picking up after themselves as far as toys and clothes. As soon as they could handle it, I started them on taking their dishes to the sink at the end of a meal. When they were around 5ish I started them on helping unload the dishwasher and doing things like helping to make their beds. They are now responsible for unloading all of the dishwasher except a couple of things that are to high. Our newest is they are learning to do their own laundry.

We also do a 4 day week school and the 5th day is used for more serious cleaning. We do school pretty much year around with taking off days when we need to for appointments, holidays, canning, mom rehab, LOL.

One of the biggest things for me was to learn that enjoying my kids has priority over having a show house.

I am sure you will get lots of other suggestions.

[Kidlit]

One more suggestion and then I'll shut up . . . I've learned to accept that because I have children (many) in my house all day, everyday, and I'm responsible to school them, care for them, feed them and make sure they generally have clean clothes, my house is not going to look the same as it would if they were in school (or daycare) all day. I stuggled with this for a long time because my Mom's house is always so neat, a place for everything, always just so but I finally realized that it didn't look like that when I was at home and the reason it looks like that now is that there are only the two of them there.

 

I think this is a major part of my problem. I am a perfectionist, and while I've never been an immaculate housekeeper, in my mind I WANT my house to be perfect. I know I have to settle for much less, but that doesn't help the angst.

[Pink Fairy]

Honestly, my goal is to keep things picked up. For example, dishes are done after every meal. The bathrooms get a quick clean every morning. Keeping on top of things is the key to me not getting overwhelmed. I save deep cleaning for vacation times (like right now).

 

My dh is involved in keeping the house clean as well. He mops the floor and vacuums the living room, school room, and office every day before he leaves for work. :001_wub:

 

When the kids were younger, we had a housekeeper in every two weeks. If you have a house full of littles, this might be a good way to spend your money. I always asked myself if peace of mind and less stress was worth $140 month. :001_smile: I can't stand a messy, dirty house, so the answer was always YES!!!

[Kidlit]

Moderately Clean? I think I do that. For me the key is to keep my two involved in helping with the cleaning. They are now 8 & 9 but they have been actively 'helping' since they were 2-3.

I have always had them be active in picking up after themselves as far as toys and clothes. As soon as they could handle it, I started them on taking their dishes to the sink at the end of a meal. When they were around 5ish I started them on helping unload the dishwasher and doing things like helping to make their beds. They are now responsible for unloading all of the dishwasher except a couple of things that are to high. Our newest is they are learning to do their own laundry.

We also do a 4 day week school and the 5th day is used for more serious cleaning. We do school pretty much year around with taking off days when we need to for appointments, holidays, canning, mom rehab, LOL.

One of the biggest things for me was to learn that enjoying my kids has priority over having a show house.

I am sure you will get lots of other suggestions.

 

My girls already make up their own beds (often with my help, always imperfectly--but hey, that's okay!), unload the dishwasher (minus breakables and sharp utensils), take their own dishes to the sink/dishwasher, and help with toy pick up, etc. I know that as they get older, this will get even better, but I am trying to train them well while they're young.

 

It just seems so overwhelming sometimes!

[Kidlit]

Thanks for all the responses so far. I know that a key is staying on top of things (like one pp said), and right now we've been so busy that I haven't done that. I also need to do some MAJOR decluttering, and I think I would feel better about it all.

 

It just seems like I spend so much of my time on insignificant things that I'll never get to the significant things.

[KidsHappen]

You mean we are supposed to homeschool and do more housework than just cooking, dishes and laundry? :glare:

 

It does get easier as they get older so there is hope. My kids have finally reached a stage where they pick up after themselves, clean up after themselves in the kitchen, some even do their own laundry and I have a few developing chefs in the family. I pay for chores too and lower my standards on everything else. Dusting is a yearly chore around here. :tongue_smilie: Same with baseboards, window sills, door jams and such. I just tell myself there are seasons to everything and I am sure that I will have a clean house some day, but that day is not today.

[Kidlit]

Dusting is something like a quarterly activity around here. :tongue_smilie:

[PCA]

I have 4, ages 7 years and under.

 

I think the key is having a schedule and staying disciplined to keep to the schedule daily.

 

Also, establishing chores for the older children also helps. My 7 and 5 year olds sweep the floor after meals, put away their clothes/laundry, wipe down table, make bed, straighten up rooms ......

[PCA]

Also, wanted to add..... Get up early! Amazing what you can get done in the early hours!

[Zoo Keeper]

I've never liked the super-schedules for getting your house spotless and your children perfect. My life has way too many variables for those lovely little plans to work. How I try to keep sane is to just do one thing each day (besides the school, meals, diapers, baths...). One thing as in "today, I am going to dust the living room, even if have to do it one piece of funiture here and another there and it takes me all day to finally get it done". Other days my one thing is just to finally get all the junk off the counter between the kitchen and the dining room (this is the Bermuda Triangle in our house). The rest of house may look like a bomb went off, but at least that one thing can be my little oasis of order.

 

Hope you can find your oasis.

[Impish]

Ummm...Yeah. I'm so not going to be a help on this one. My place tends to be a fair disaster, of varying degrees, really. Martha Stewart would walk in, have a stroke, and die.

 

Which wouldn't be such a bad idea in my view, really.

 

ANYWAYS...I do what I can, with the one armed thing. Kids are enlisted to help out, and then dh is tapped with doing the rest. Its the only way I can keep the place from getting condemned :lol:

[SherryTX]

Ummm...Yeah. I'm so not going to be a help on this one. My place tends to be a fair disaster, of varying degrees, really. Martha Stewart would walk in, have a stroke, and die.

 

Wow - are you me? :tongue_smilie:

 

We have 5 kids - and it is tough - and my house usually is upside down. However, this is something that we have been working on for a while, before we ever started home schooling.

 

I cannot offer a lot of advice (I have been on FlyLady's site as well, so good tips), as I am not where I want to be yet. However, I will tell you that having a chore chart for the kids when they get older is a help. My kids are more apt to be cooperative when they already know what is expected of them.

 

When they are too little to help, that is tough. Try to schedule it as you do your school time.

[Loupelou]

One more suggestion and then I'll shut up . . . I've learned to accept that because I have children (many) in my house all day, everyday, and I'm responsible to school them, care for them, feed them and make sure they generally have clean clothes, my house is not going to look the same as it would if they were in school (or daycare) all day. I stuggled with this for a long time because my Mom's house is always so neat, a place for everything, always just so but I finally realized that it didn't look like that when I was at home and the reason it looks like that now is that there are only the two of them there.

 

 

I hope you get lots of good suggestions in this thread.

:iagree:

 

You live in your house 24/7!

 

While a great schedule with all of the family members pulling their weight do help, your house isn't going to look like your neighbor's house who sends her kids off to school everyday.

 

We've adopted a schedule of chores in the morning before school coupled with a spiff-up before dinner. Just do what works for you and don't forget that it gets better as they get older. Enjoy the relative freedom from a stricter schedule while they are still young.:)

[Nestof3]

I'm on my 10th year of homeschooling, but I only have three kids.

 

I have found a few things that help.

 

First of all, the house is always picked up, then the boys get ready for bed, I run the dishwasher and a load of laundry (usually the clothes worn that day), and vacuum/sweep. By the time I'm done, the boys are ready for bed, and I say good night and relax. Right before I go to bed, I unload the dishwasher and fold the clothes.

 

I squeeze in cleaning jobs in the middle of the day or night. Sometimes I'll clean the toilet and sink while I'm getting ready for bed. I wipe down the sink every night after I wash my face, and I wipe down the toilet seat area when I use the bathroom some time during the day. Or I'll clean the shower/bathtub while I am showering.

 

I will dust while my boys are working on their worksheet, while I am waiting for the dinner water to boil, or when I'm hold with some company. We school in the kitchen, so I clean the kitchen while they're doing any independent work.

 

The boys clean up after themselves, put their clothes away, do the litterbox, and do other things I ask them to do -- Windex the front and back doors, and other things.

[Julpost]

I try to work on a room or area for only 5 minutes at a time. I remind myself of this whenever I walk into a particularly disasterous space. Only 5 minutes...and usually I stay longer and get much more done. But it is amazing how much one can get done in that amount of time. This is a variation of Flylady's 15 minute rule. I started it during one of my pregnancies....15 minutes was out of the question but I could handle 5 minutes. Hope that's helpful. :)

[Kidlit]

Thank you, ladies, for all these wonderful replies and words of encouragement. I often say, "Excuse the mess, but we live here." I think that sums up my problem. :tongue_smilie:

 

I just need to get better at doing little things and not being overwhelmed by it all. Oh--and getting off the computer in a timely manner so that I can do little bits at a time.:tongue_smilie: