This is it, the last day of the Real Life Homeschool blog hop week. I hope you have had a chance to read the different blogs posts on the topic, and gleaned some insights into some real life homeschools.
Today let me tell you about how real life homeschooling works out for us when it comes to keeping the house clean and in order.
I just have 4 words: It does not always.
We live in an apartment and space is limited. School is done on the floor, on the sofa, on the bed, at the dinning table, and at the computer desk. What this does is that there is school work all over the house. At the end of the day I try to have both boys pick up everything and put it where it belongs, but it does not always happen. On a typical day, if you pop in my house in the middle of the day, the dinner table is a mess, the living room is a mess and the bedrooms are always a mess.
I have a few mottos I try to apply to help me keep the house in some decent order and cleanliness:
Motto #1: "everything must have a spot where it belongs." In a small place it is hard to live by that rule, but it is needed, otherwise you get overrun with paper, toys, books, you name it. So at our house, we have a few designated areas for books, for pens and pencils, for legos, for bags etc....
Motto # 2: "if you don't need it, or have not used it recently, toss it". I came to adopt this recently, after reading about de-cluttering and wanting to make space for stuff I want to have a spot for. This one is hard for me because I always think I will have a need for something, but the key to living by that motto is to be ruthless. I mean it ruthless! Some of these things will come back around again before you actually need it next.
Motto #3: Delegate and enroll help. When the boys were younger I used to have them help around the house. Unfortunately I did not enforce it and was left to doing everything in the house. After realizing I was giving them bad habits and not teaching them responsibility and ownership of what they enjoy in the house, I decided to go back and assign them chores that they have to complete to help the house stay clean. Some, they get to earn money for as well. Their tasks are:
Doing dishes twice a week each
Taking the garbage out
Cleaning the bathtub and bathroom sink
Setting and clearing the table
Putting away dishes
Taking out the recycling.
When it comes to meals, I do cook twice a day. Lunch is usually leftover, or bread, or cereals, or some sort of store-bought pizza or chicken nugget. I cook breakfast and dinner. My hubby is a big breakfast kind of guy, so I try to cook a good breakfast.
Dinner gets ready anytime between 4:30 and 6:00. I always seek to look for recipes that are quick, one hour or less, check my pinterest boards for ideas. I love my crockpot for those days when we are out of the house all day. I love it for other days too, but I am not organised enough to plan ahead and get it going early enough to have it for dinner.
Because I tend to do my blogging in the evening, or play family games, I am often up late at night sweeping, mopping, or doing dishes. Even my baking often happens at night too.
My youngest has decreed Friday night as cookie night, so he has been baking cookies on Friday nights for the past few weeks.
So there you have a little idea of how I keep home as a homeschooler.
In this series:
Monday: Homeschooling my 4th Grader
Tuesday: Homeschooling my 6th Grader
Thursday: What Really Happens
Here are some more blogs for you to check out:
A Net In Time
Counting Pinecones
Some Call It Natural
Kingdom Academy Homeschool
Debbie's Homeschool Corner
Life at Rossmont
A Stable Beginning
Happy Little Homemaker
Joyful Hearts and Faces
Day by Day in Our World
Mama's Coffee Shop
Delightful Learning
Double O Farms
Tales of a Homeschool Family
Home Sweet Life
A Rup Life
Today let me tell you about how real life homeschooling works out for us when it comes to keeping the house clean and in order.
I just have 4 words: It does not always.
We live in an apartment and space is limited. School is done on the floor, on the sofa, on the bed, at the dinning table, and at the computer desk. What this does is that there is school work all over the house. At the end of the day I try to have both boys pick up everything and put it where it belongs, but it does not always happen. On a typical day, if you pop in my house in the middle of the day, the dinner table is a mess, the living room is a mess and the bedrooms are always a mess.
I have a few mottos I try to apply to help me keep the house in some decent order and cleanliness:
Motto #1: "everything must have a spot where it belongs." In a small place it is hard to live by that rule, but it is needed, otherwise you get overrun with paper, toys, books, you name it. So at our house, we have a few designated areas for books, for pens and pencils, for legos, for bags etc....
Motto # 2: "if you don't need it, or have not used it recently, toss it". I came to adopt this recently, after reading about de-cluttering and wanting to make space for stuff I want to have a spot for. This one is hard for me because I always think I will have a need for something, but the key to living by that motto is to be ruthless. I mean it ruthless! Some of these things will come back around again before you actually need it next.
Motto #3: Delegate and enroll help. When the boys were younger I used to have them help around the house. Unfortunately I did not enforce it and was left to doing everything in the house. After realizing I was giving them bad habits and not teaching them responsibility and ownership of what they enjoy in the house, I decided to go back and assign them chores that they have to complete to help the house stay clean. Some, they get to earn money for as well. Their tasks are:
Doing dishes twice a week each
Taking the garbage out
Cleaning the bathtub and bathroom sink
Setting and clearing the table
Putting away dishes
Taking out the recycling.
When it comes to meals, I do cook twice a day. Lunch is usually leftover, or bread, or cereals, or some sort of store-bought pizza or chicken nugget. I cook breakfast and dinner. My hubby is a big breakfast kind of guy, so I try to cook a good breakfast.
Dinner gets ready anytime between 4:30 and 6:00. I always seek to look for recipes that are quick, one hour or less, check my pinterest boards for ideas. I love my crockpot for those days when we are out of the house all day. I love it for other days too, but I am not organised enough to plan ahead and get it going early enough to have it for dinner.
Because I tend to do my blogging in the evening, or play family games, I am often up late at night sweeping, mopping, or doing dishes. Even my baking often happens at night too.
My youngest has decreed Friday night as cookie night, so he has been baking cookies on Friday nights for the past few weeks.
So there you have a little idea of how I keep home as a homeschooler.
In this series:
Monday: Homeschooling my 4th Grader
Tuesday: Homeschooling my 6th Grader
Thursday: What Really Happens
Here are some more blogs for you to check out:
A Net In Time
Counting Pinecones
Some Call It Natural
Kingdom Academy Homeschool
Debbie's Homeschool Corner
Life at Rossmont
A Stable Beginning
Happy Little Homemaker
Joyful Hearts and Faces
Day by Day in Our World
Mama's Coffee Shop
Delightful Learning
Double O Farms
Tales of a Homeschool Family
Home Sweet Life
A Rup Life
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