Household Management
If at any time good habits of organization are needed, it is so during a season of home education. In addition to the regular duties that consume a mother's day, the responsibility of seeing to a children's education must be fulfilled. It can be fun, with seamless transitions from one activity to another, life and education wonderfully and naturally intertwined. . . or, it can become burdensome and chaotic. I am just now at the threshold of understanding this concept. I believe that I am ever so slowly stepping through the doorway to a better lifestyle for our family.
For one's goals to be met each day, whether domestic or educational, the intestinal fortitude must be summoned to overcome bad habits and form new ones which allow those goals to be met. For me, it was getting up early. I absolutely, positively cannot remember a day in my entire life that I enjoyed getting up early. Oh, I can do it if I must, for say, an important appointment, but getting up early every single day just to carry out a "regular" day was, well, a stretch for me.
I stubbornly thought our first year of homeschooling that I could work around my sleeping habits. Education did happen, chores did get finished, albeit on a very wobbly schedule. However, there were other things that I wanted to get done. I wanted more projects and fun to be done with the kids, I wanted a home that was orderly and clean on a regular basis, and I wanted to have time for my interests and hobbies. It occured to me that some "workarounds" can occur, but that in the case of my sleeping habit, it was not going to work. Oh, how weak the flesh can be! I tried that entire first year in complete rebellion, trying to convince myself that I could have it all my way. It is ironic how we cling to habits that give fleeting bits of pleasure, but for the long haul can destroy us. I am reminded of "Every wise woman buildeth her house: but the foolish plucketh it down with her hands." ~~Proverbs 4:1. I was very unhappy, as morning after morning I would drag out of bed late knowing that there was already not enough time left in the day to do what should be done. It was a horrible way to start the day. I had identified my stumbling block, but I had not overcome it. This is something that I still struggle with every day. The difference is that I have been realistic- I know that my problem is oversleeping, and I realize that I am not a 6 a.m. person
Clutter in your life can choke you to death. I was always a packrat. I had an imaginary use for everything that passed through my home. I might need this someday, I thought. When you have stuff everywhere, and you have children home all day because they are home educated, it is a cocktail for disaster. Thankfully, my turning point came in 1998, before I started homeschooling. I believe I was being prepared for it. We live in Florida, and hurricane Floyd was making his way up the Eastern coast of Florida. We were told we had to evacuate. So, we packed up a few clothes, our pictures, and a few irreplaceble items I bought while we were living overseas. We started our trek out of the state to higher, safer ground. Interstate 95 was a parking lot--literally. We sat on the interstate crawling for 4 hours. We made it to Valdosta, Georgia late that evening (normally only a few hours drive). Every single hotel room was taken in Valdosta. Our evacuation consisted of a surreal caravan of cars atleast 5 miles long racing east to every hotel, motel or bed and breakfast from Valdosta to Bainbridge (north of Pensacola, FL). NO ONE had a room, not one. We were in a parking lot of a gas station filling up, and feeling very desperate. By this time it was 2 a.m. and my infant son, my 2 year old daughter, and my 4 year old son were screaming because they were so tired and uncomfortable after riding in our van for 15 hours. I tried calling every hotel chain. The answer was the same: the closest hotel is in Chatanooga, TN or Mississippi. Dejectedly, I hung up the phone and opened the back of the van to get something. I don't remember what it was. I had an epiphany after I opened the back of that van. There, in that van, was my husband, my precious children, pictures of them, and a few small things, and a thought popped into my head that was totally unrelated to what I was doing: "Everything, everything that matters to me is inside of this van." Now, of course I already knew that. Nothing matters more to me than my husband, my children and my memories of them (the pictures). I suppose the situation contributed to that moment, because I remember earlier worrying if our home would be okay, and the fact that at that moment we felt almost homeless; we couldn't find anywhere to sleep or to go. It was a horrible feeling. Nevertheless, the thought was very significant to my life. It compeletely changed my outlook on life. It completely changed how I operate my home. I remember when I came back from the evacuation and I threw out/gave away so many things. I realized that I was holding on to things that were not useful to me because they "might" be useful "someday."
First, Scheduling is very important. If you like things to be very rigid, then your schedule can be rigid. For those of us who lose it when the schedule gets out of wack, a rigid schedule can cause insanity. I use a schedule, but I do not have everything compartmentalized into 15 minute blocks. It just doesn't work for my personality. It could probably be more accurately called an outline, because really it is an outline of three specific periods in my day: Early Morning, Morning, School, After-School, After-Dinner.
I used a schedule system called Managers of Their Homes developed just for homeschoolers. It suggests a somewhat fixed schedule, and it is very well done. I have adapted some of the ideas so that I don't panic when something starts at 9:45 instead of 9:30 like the schedule has. The steps in the book are very valuable. They help you to balance how many hours are in your day with how many things you must get done, so that you are able to create a reasonable schedule. Each person in the family has a schedule all combined on a master schedule so that you can see at a glance what everyone is/should be doing. Even though I didn't do my schedule exactly like suggested in the book, Managers of Their Homes is a wonderful resource and has a very helpful set of message boards on their website.
Another thing that I have adapted for my own use are the charts from Do 2 Learn. These are intended for special needs children, but I think they are great for any kids learning a new routine. I made these for my children as prompts for their morning and evening routines. My children are young (ages 6, 4, and 2), and this is our first year of homeschooling, so I figured this would help them with the transition. The items on the charts will eventually become habit, but for the meantime, it keeps me from having to remind them of every single little thing they should do when they wake up. It encourages them to be independent and responsible for their own health and well-being. They actually love the charts! I am in the process of creating chore charts as well. Below is a copy of my childrens' Morning Routine Chart.
The chart is only here for reference. I ask that you do not copy/distribute it because I do not want to infringe on any copyrights of Do 2 Learn. Please go to their website to print out or save their images to make your own chart. If you need help making one like mine, I would be more than happy to help! Thanks!