Home Management… I have a love – hate relationship with those two words. On one hand, I love calendars and charts and organization. When my home looks and feels peaceful, I look and feel peaceful. On the other hand, sometimes getting to that peaceful place can be a hard road.
Anyone else agree?
Take for example- many moms do their housework during the day when their children are at school. Not a judgement, just a fact. For homeschoolers, that “down” time is not quiet, it is full of lessons and tests and experiments and art and…well, you get the point. My time is not my own during the day.
It takes work to get it all done. A little planning and some ingenuity keeps our life semi-organized. So how does a homeschooling mom succeed on the Home Management front?
Wake up first! If I can get just a few things done before the kids wake up I feel like I am one step ahead. This was especially true when I had littles in the house. If I could get quiet time in before little feet hit the floor, I felt like the day was a success.
Assign chores! You cannot do it all! There, I said it. Our rule is chores first and then breakfast. No, they are not my personal slaves, but yes, they are a part of this team. And teams work together to get things done. Like laundry and dishes!
Meal plan! Even working moms will tell you that dinner is the hardest meal. After a long day, whether in your home or outside of it, when you are ready to start dinner is not the time to pull out a pound of frozen beef and decide what to do with it. I also cook and freeze breakfast foods on the weekends for the kids to pull out of the freezer to reheat on school days. There is no need to be elaborate but you must be deliberate!
Love your crockpot! There is nothing easier than popping meat into a crockpot and pushing start in the morning. Not only will your house smell good but when it is time to eat you will have very little dinner prep left.
Keep a family calendar! And more importantly, hang it where everyone can see it. We tend to color code activities and appointments, but you do not have to be that crazy. Just put all the activities in one place so there are no last minute surprises. When everyone knows the plan for the day, life tends to go more smoothly.
Minimalize activities! Yes, your child can do three sports and have two lessons, but do they really need to? Unfortunately the more kids you have and the more activities they are in the crazier your life will be. Just do the math. By limiting our children’s activities we hope to teach them that our family is priority over anything else. It is that good, better, best principle- concentrate on the best.
Simplify Life! One thing I learned through our 34 Weeks of Cleaning series was that more things in our lives and homes not only cluttered the living space but cluttered our heads. When my house is a mess, I feel out of control. When mom feels out of control, the kids usually follow next. It is a crazy cycle that can just run out of control. The less clutter we have surrounding us, the fewer un-needed activities we participate in, and the more we focus on our family and those we love, the better our house runs and the happier we are.
Home Management may seem like a monumental task to many, but it is a task you can conquer…or at least tame! By taking control of your home, you can have more control of your life. And your kids will be blessed!
