By: Marissa Gorski
“Do not let the endless succession of small things crowd great ideals out of sight and out of mind.” Charlotte Mason
I probably don’t have all the answers when it comes to managing a home while also keeping on top of our home educating. I feel that it is a constant juggle, with some areas slipping in order to allow for productivity in another areas. Having a great week, getting out of the house, and seeing friends? I’ll hazard a guess that maybe that’s a week where meal time is simpler. Having a week where you’ve gotten tons of lessons done? That might be a week where you’ve had to opt out of some meet ups or socializing. House looking extra clean and organized? I likely end up feeling behind on lessons during those weeks. It’s all a juggle!
But though the journey of homemaking and home educating is a bit of a never ending dance, I do find a few things make our rhythms smoother when I’m intentional about them.
Here are some tips on managing the homeschool mom juggle.
MEAL PREP
For starters, I like to take advantage of one day a week (for me this is typically a Saturday) to meal prep or meal plan. Things like muffins and cookies and loaves can be made in big batches and freeze really well, which I find super helpful. Casseroles, soups, and stews can all cook at the same time and be stored in the fridge to use for easy dinners throughout the week. I love making quick snacks like homemade granola bars, and washing and cutting up all of our snacking fruits and veggies to make packing lunches and serving snacks super easy.
CLEANING ROUTINE
Having a cleaning routine can also help you feel like you’re on top of the basics. For example, every morning, without fail, I start one load of laundry. We are a family of five, and so for us, one load a day seems to be our average. Bedding is done weekly, on the weekends.
I know of some Mamas who find a cleaning schedule to be a great tool to utilize as well, though I don’t adhere to a strict one myself. Usually it’s bathrooms once a week, (our most commonly used powder room sometimes twice a week), bedding weekly, laundry daily, and then the usual kitchen clean up and main floor tidy happening daily.
There have been times where we’ve implemented a daily blessing hour with the aim of having my children help with the tidying of our main living spaces. Sometimes this has worked and sometimes it hasn’t. Things that can help if you try to implement something like this in your own home can be playing music and adding a little whimsy or silliness to your tidying time (I’ve been known to blow bubbles!). It’s usually beneficial to have this happen late afternoon, before the dinner time rush comes on. Of course, this won’t work for every season of life and is dependent on extra curriculars and other schedules for your family.
PREDICTABILITY
Children thrive on predictability and we show them respect when we offer them environments where they know what is expected of them and what they can expect from us in return. I also feel that there is so much value in having our children see what it takes to run a home. Ideally, they will help with these chores. Remember that even though they might not be cooperative when it comes to pitching in, when they see us modelling these skills, it can still leave a positive and lasting impact. I don’t always succeed at modelling joy when I’m cleaning up toys or really tricky messes that they’ve made but I also have always loved the idea of serving them with love; of them seeing my service to them, to my spouse, and to our home as a reflection of my love. I never want them to feel resentment in the ways my hands wash the dishes they’ve made or the way my arms carry their toys to their rooms at the end of a day. It has not always been my outlook, (and some days it definitely is not!) but when we re-frame our attitudes around housekeeping, it can really be a benefit to the whole family. A home made messy by children who live and learn here, one that is warm and safe, is a blessing!
I don’t know that there’s one single way to help manage all the jobs we feel called to do but I do hope that some of these ideas might inspire you to implement your own meal prep or cleaning rhythms in your own home.
A few books that may offer inspiration for your intentional homemaking:
The Life-giving Home by Sally and Sarah Clarkson
The Hidden Art of Homemaking by Edith Schaeffer
If you’d like to connect and continue this discussion online, feel free to follow me on Instagram @marissa.at.home where I often share bits and pieces of meal prepping and homemaking. And please share in the comments below some of the ways that make your homemaking and homeschooling days a little easier.
