Fill in the blank with applicable item. 

Typical response is usually something along the lines of, 'No, I cannot keep track of your things for you.  That is something you need to do."

Now, would a 'good mom' always have an answer to this question?  Probably not, or our children would never learn to be responsible for their own things.   But, do we somethimes feel as though we should be able to answer this question?  That is another issue.

My own lack of being able to find things is a frustration in and of iteself.  Now, add many little voices asking me where their things are.......and I can get a little stressed.

I think we once did a character study on 'self-government'.   No, actually, I think it was part of a history guide.  Hmmm.  Maybe we all need a refresher or a similar study on responsibility.

Any good ideas on this?

O.k., ladies.  I normally cringe at the sound of another home cleaning challenge.  Probably because I have enthusiastically joined these in the past, only to fail and get discouraged.  But, this one is different.

 

Do take a look at the Clean Heart, Clean Home challenge that Amy has designed on DandelionSeeds.  She has a 77-page PDForganizer that guides everyone through the process.  It goes much deeper than just cleaning our homes, she really has us digging deep into our hearts as a primary focus.  But, it looks like a LOT of external cleaning on the house gets done, too!

 

It's obvious she has put a lot of heart into doing this.  I think it is a wonderful blessing that she has made this available.  I encourage you to at least take a look. 

 

I'm going to join in.  I figure if I keep doing things the exact same way as I am doing them now, I will end up with the exact same result.  It's worth trying something that may stretch me a little.

I was just browsing blogs on a Saturday afternoon, and came across a wonderful blog with detailed inspiration for decluttering the kitchen.  She includes pictures of her own efforts.  If you are interested, look at Mrs Catherine's blog at www.homeschoolblogger.com/MrsCatherine .  (Can anyone tell me how to have a title of a blogsite that brings up a link when you click on it?)

 

She also had previous posts on decluttering the laundry room.  Whew!  She tackles the tough ones, doesn't she?  It's a beautiful site, and motivated me to keep going with my decluttering efforts

The kids have gotten out of the habit of keeping their rooms clean.  (O.k, let's be honest.  I have, too)    For a while, I was using Flylady's Weekly Home Blessing idea.  I had split it into two separate days - one for upstairs and one for downstairs.  On the given day for upstairs - Monday - the hallway and bedrooms would be vacuumed.  The kids had to have everything off of their floor when it was time for me to sweep, or they would do the sweeping themselves.  When we did this consistently, it became easier for them to maintain their rooms.

 

I haven't been doing that in quite a while - since before I went through morning sickness this past winter.  And, shock of shocks, rooms are a disaster again.

 

This week, the goal is to take 10 minutes each day for everyone to work on their bedrooms.  (The 10-minute Tidy)We all gather in the hallway, put our hands together, and cheer "Let's Do It! - Extreme Home Makeover Style.  Then everyone (myself included) stands outside their bedroom door and I set the timer for 10 minutes.  And away we go.  I am doing the same as the kids - working in my own room for that time - I needed it, too.

 

Yesterday went very well.  My 4 year-old dd got somewhat overwhelmed.  I told her to pick one thing up and find a home for it.  Then pick one more thing up, etc.  When the timer goes off, she can stop.  Hopefully, that will help her get the hang of this, too.  One thing at a time doesn't seem so overwhelming.

 

Does it relate to homeschooling?  Absolutely!  They need to learn regular habits of keeping things orderly.  I am hoping that by doing it a little at a time, they will see that it's not as hard as it seems if we just keep up with it.

 

As for myself, I was amazed at the improvement in our own bedroom with just those 10 minutes.  And, a tidier environment means less stress for everyone.

It's a small start, but it can make a big difference.

 

We're off to do 10!  How about you?

There appeared to be some blips in the formatting when I first posted my last entry.  Sorry about that.  I think I got it straightened out.  In any event, the last post was on the Household Routine Sheet I use to keep on track with all of those regular household chores we all have to keep up with.  Hope it sparks some ideas for someone else!

Long time, no blog!  This week I am getting back to using my Household Routine Sheet.  It is a spreadsheet form on which I listed what I would like to accomplish in the morning, evening, afternoon each day, and also tasks that I would like to do on a weekly basis.  There is a column for each day of the week so that I can check things off as I do them.  This way, I can see what I am getting done  -  and what I am not getting done!  This worked very well when I used it before, but I had gotten away from it.  Now, I think it is time to use it again, and get some regular routines back in place.

 

I used spreadsheet software to do this.  I tried to copy and paste the sheet into my blog so that others might use some of the ideas.  But, I didn't have success in getting it to show up correctly.  Any computer gurus out there could give me tips on this.  I have it saved as a PDF, but I can't get it to display correctly here.

 

What I will do is type of my categories so that you can see what I have put on the list.  Mind you, it is something that can be tweaked often as needed.  I have tweaked it before. 

 

Also, it might work well to start with a much shorter list initially.  Then, as you build those few routines in on a consistent basis, go ahead and add a few more.  I am still not doing all of these things on my list.  But, seeing the tasks regularly serves as a reminder for me to try to get them done. 

 

Here were my category listings:

 

Morning

Make the bed

Shower, dressed to the shoes

Swish and swipe the master bathroom

Put away pajamas

Carry down and start a load of laundry

Empty and fill dishwasher

Sit down with control journal and to-do list

Do individual school work with the kids

 

Afternoon:

Clean up kitchen from lunch

Do group school work with the kids

Reboot laundry, fold and put away dry laundry

Spend 15 minutes decluttering in current zone

Kelly's mission or other special cleaning

Start dinner

Fill the sink with soapy water and clean as I go

Clean kitchen from supper

 

Before Bed Routine

Quick tidy up of family room and kitchen

Shiny sink and table

Think about tomorrow - what's for supper?  need to thaw anything?

Check for appointments - get things ready

Make a list of 4-5 must-do's for tomorrow

Swish and swipe the kids' bathroom

Brush and floss

Deal with clothes as I take them off

Go to bed at a reasonable hour

 

Weekly Tasks:

Plan Meals

Grocery Shopping

Upstairs Home Blessing

    Tidy

    Sweep

    Bathrooms

Downstairs Home Blessing

    Tidy

    Sweep

    Bathrooms

Clean out refrigerator

 

 

 

I thought I would elaborate a bit on how I arranged the books we use for school.  Previously, all of the books were in the family room.  We have built-in bookcases on either side of the fireplace with cabinets on the bottom.   I kept the daily workboks and things down below in the cabinets.  Then, living history books were up on the shelves, along with other types of read-alouds for the kids. 

In December, I decided to take all of the kids' books off of the family room bookcases and do something different with them.  It  just took me a little while to figure out what exactly I DID want to do with them! 

Once we got the bookcase for the front room, I put in that all of the books we pull out frequently.  I wanted them all in one place, and in the room where the kids did the most of their 'sitting down' work.  I had gotten frustrated with having to search in too many different locations to find what we needed each day.

All of the living history books, nature readers, biographies, etc. that had been up on high shelves in the family room out of reach are now easily obtained in my two oldest dds' room.  I had kept them up on higher shelves so that they would 'stay nice'.  But, there is not much point in having such wonderful books if the kids can't explore them on their own.  So I put all of those in the two 3-shelf bookcases that are in the oldest girls' room.   Since then, I've discovered my oldest dd9 sitting amidst a small stack of these, grinning from ear to ear as she discovers something 'new'. 

So that's what we've done for the time being.  I'm sure it will all be changed again somewhere down the line.  But, for now, this is working pretty well.

Thank you for sharing your ideas on this.  A curtain or screen might work - but might be difficult in view of how the room is laid out.  I'm going to keep thinking on this one and let the juices flow!  I might write down what we need from the room, and then be open to seeing different pieces that might accomplish our goals.  In short, I'll keep you posted!

Oh, and an aside -   I am NOT a naturally organized person.  I thought I might give that impression in my discussion of organizing the school area.   Some people seem to be born with the knack of keeping everything in order, and some don't.  For me, it takes effort and much retraining of the brain!  Flylady helps, too!  My house is definitely in process, and me along with it!

With that explained, I still would like to figure out a way of storing/using our school things in a way that makes it simple for the kids to use, and yet still allows the house to look like a house and not a school.  Does that make sense?  I'm sure it will be an ongoing, ever-fluid process.

Last fall, I reorganized where we kept our school things.  I moved things from the family room to a little used front room.  It was intended to be a dining room/or living room, but we have a couch, piano, and antique secretary in there.  It wasn't being used much, so I thought it would make a good place to keep school things.  I wanted to free the family room from school clutter and chaos. 

My hesitation in turning the front room into a school zone was appearance.  It is the first room you see when you enter the house, and I didn't want the first thing seen to be clutter.  I would like it to be neat, calm, and welcoming.  But, I decided that we are, after all, a homeschooling family.  And if our home reflects it, that is all right.

I put an old microwave cart in the corner and used it to store pencils, crayons, manipulatives, etc.  On the top of the cart, I used magazine holders to store the kids' softcover folders, notebooks, and workbooks upright in their own holders.  I also decided to set up a card table and chairs for them to do their work on.  That way, their work won't be scattered over the family room and kitchen, for us to move out of the way every time we sit down!

Today, the piano tuner was scheduled to come.  He is blind, and so I wanted to clear the path for him to make things easier.  I removed the card table and chairs, and cleared everything from the piano.  The room looked so much better minus all of its' stuff!  The cart was still beside the piano, but in contrast to the clear room, looked like a cluttered eyesore.

So, today my thoughts are, once again, on how to arrange things in that room.  I want it to be useful, yet not unappealing to the senses.  I haven't reached any firm conclusions - at least not ones that won't cost $$$.  But, I'll keep you posted. 

If I could dream, I'd want a nice bookcase with doors that can be shut to hide the debris.  And I'd get a nice, round, wooden table with fold-down leaves for the kids to work on.  When not in use, I could drop the leaves and put it against the wall. 

But, what can I do in the meantime? 

Does anyone else wish to balance the necessary learning supplies with some degree of neatness?

Have you come up with some ideas that help organize things in a way that still allows a room to look nice?

Please share your ideas!