Homeschoolers Guide to Building Good Housekeeping Habits

Kathryn struggles with meal planning, house cleaning, and having a chore system. She wants to be more organized. Where does she start?  

Today, Ginny and Mary Ellen address Kathryn’s issues and how their simple solutions for her can help you build good housekeeping habits.

Show Notes:

First, forgive yourself.  

You were not really trained for this job.

Today’s young moms were raised to:

• Get good grades
• Practice the piano
• Score a goal in soccer.

Don’t make the same mistake with your own children.

• Assign age-appropriate chores to each child.
• Teach them every aspect of running a house.
• Give them confidence in their abilities.

Hint: Share some of the workload with them. It’s a win-win-win!

The long journey begins with one step.

Moms with infants, if you don’t have a reliable bedtime or wake-up time, try this:

Try heading to bed at 10 with 30 minutes to:

• Wash up
• Say your prayers
• Hopefully, you’ll be asleep by 10:30.

Set an alarm for 6:30. If you have a coffee pot with a timer, set it for 6:45.  

This is key: get up, say your prayers, and pour your first cup before waking the kids at 7:00.

This may solve more problems than bedtime ever will.  If you start school at 9 am, you have two hours to get everyone fed, beds made, dishwasher unloaded, a load of wash started, and the kitchen cleaned up before school.

Set regular tidy times! Use the timer on your phone if necessary.

Take a full hour for lunch.  

• If you start at noon, set tidy-up for 12:45.
• Dishes done, move the laundry to the dryer.
• Clean up the toddlers’ toys, and then put them down for naps/quiet time.

Set 30 minutes after school for chores.  

• If kids finish their assigned jobs, they can be free earlier.
• Same with after dinner – another 30-minute tidy-up.
• Get the littles ready for bed.

Finally, run the dishwasher – even if it is not full.  Sweep, run the vacuum, take out trash.

Save the big jobs – a thorough clean-up for Saturday morning.  If the house is generally neat, it is a whole lot easier to mop and dust if everything is already put away.

Here’s a tip: Don’t have time to clean the bathroom? Keep Clorox wipes under the sink.  Wipe down the toilet and vanity, and stow the brushes in the drawers.  

Remember, in another age, kids were caring for gardens and farm animals at very young ages.

HOMESCHOOL ASSIGNMENT!  Among the best of American children’s literature are the "Little House” books by Laura Ingalls Wilder. You can meet Laura, the little girl who would grow up to write the Little House books, here. Our kids need to know what they are capable of.  Sacrificing for the family should not be limited to historical fiction.

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