I see this title and I have to chuckle. There isn’t a room in my own house that is tidy or neat right now! Let’s face it – it can be quite a challenge to keep a tidy home while homeschooling live children. First, “they” are always there using the home and giving it that “lived in feeling” which doesn’t contribute well to the “tidy home” we were trying to maintain. Secondly, we don’t have the time we could have if our kids were in school, because most of us are teaching our children to be sure that they get their learning done each day. Thirdly, we homeschoolers are using our homes for storage for school books, projects, and various learning materials.
So, how can a family keep their home organized and tidy while homeschooling then? It can be done.
Take some time to organize your home in the first place so that everything has a home. There are wonderful shelves that make organizing super easy and pretty all at the same time, but plastic bins can also make just as nice (although less decorative) organizing options. An extra dresser could become a “locker” of sorts with one drawer per child for their books and materials. An empty book case will look smart with a few square baskets of supplies for schooling set evenly on the shelves. There are many inexpensive options we can come up with when we use our creativity and look around either in our own homes, at yard sales, or even thrift stores.
Once we have a place for our school supplies and books, make sure that your kitchen has a place for all your needs (which may mean you need to get rid of those items that aren’t being used to make room for those you do use). Be sure that the bedrooms have places for toys and other items so when you send your child to their room to clean up there are proper locations for the toys to actually go into. Having a place for everything breeds tidiness.
Remember that both your example and discipline for your children will be essential in keeping a tidy home. It takes work effort, and lots of concentration, but making sure that you put items away as you go, including that basket of laundry you just took from the dryer, will be key to the clean home. Make sure that you and your children are getting up early enough to not only get ready for the day, but to clean up your breakfast dishes, make your beds, and tidy up after yourselves in the bathroom. If you will do a load of laundry at a time as time permits and fold it immediately upon drying you won’t end up with an entire living room or bedroom of various unfolded laundry.
If you don’t employ your children in the effort, however, you will be left feeling pulled in so many different directions that you will have to break at some point or be that super human mom everyone else wishes they were. You aren’t the maid or servant for your family and you do them a disservice if you don’t teach them to all pitch in and do what should be done in a timely manner.
As you assign your children projects consider the space and time the projects will consume. If a project will take over the dining room table for the next two weeks, think about whether you have that kind of time to lose that space. You may require that your child do this assignment when there is better weather and the garage could better house such a long term project.
I’d also like to suggest that you don’t have to keep every single bit of school materials. A portfolio could be a beautiful scrapbook (flat and fits on the coffee table as quite a conversation piece or in a box set aside in the attic for your student’s graduation supplies). Take pictures of large projects, or copies of some pretty special work to illustrate your child’s accomplishments. Photos take up much less space than the actual thing and your child will not only have this as proof of their accomplishments, but they will have a memory of their school work for years to come in a safe easy to store location.
In the end, the tidy home will promote a more welcoming environment and peaceful place for school work. You will see the “interruption” of completing tasks, putting items back straight away, keeping up with the chores between subjects, and teaching will all fit in better than letting it all go and focusing only on the schooling. When the books get put away for the day and the children have finished their studies, everyone will have more energy for the aspects of family life – the family games, outings, and errands.
Lisa Blauvelt (with her family and three dogs, two cats, a horse, pony, donkey, two red eared turtles, a fluctuating number of tadpoles and baby fish, and various other creatures collected by her adventurous boys) puts her education degrees to work at her home in the Deep South. There she teaches not only her own children, but others who come to her home to learn. Her decade long experience in teaching children to read will soon be published as a 476 page guide for parents.