The Great Juggling Act Part One: {house work}

One of the biggest challenges in home schooling is learning how to juggle. Learning the balance and rhythm to make your days flow without losing your sanity in the process. Just the thought of this keeps many moms from embarking on homeschooling. They count themselves inadequate without even attempting it. I have heard literally dozens and dozens and dozens of times "I could never do that!".  

The reality is, it's hard. It's incredibly challenging...and aside from actual labor and child birth, it's the hardest thing I've ever done. When your children are home all day every day there is NO break in the action. There is no one to watch your kids while you clean the house/tackle the laundry monster/organize an over-stuffed closet/do the dishes or cook dinner...which means that in order to do any of those things (which unfortunately must be done, most of them daily) you have to somehow keep an eye on your children/keep them from hurting themselves or each other and play: waitress-nurse-problem solver-fight breaker upper. To add the weight of educating your children to this jumble of responsibilities sounds like absolute madness. I truly understand the "I could never..." sentiment...because if I'm completely honest, I can get swept up by a wave of discouragement and count myself not fit for the task. 

Satan loves to use any smidge of self doubt to drag me down and keep me from that which God has called me to. He's very crafty and very lame like that. He can actually work his negativity web around me so slyly that I begin to think it's reality...and I begin to question everything I've been working towards. 

I know what is it to self doubt. I know what is it to feel that the role I've been called to is bigger than what I can actually do. 

Thankfully, I also know The One who created me. The One who put a desire in me from a young age to have a family of my own one day...The One who stirred up my heart to keep my children close and pursue home school...The One who blessed me with a supportive husband and united our hearts for this endeavor. How could I see all that my Heavenly Father has specially equipped me with and then turn my back on the calling He gave me? 

I believe that this crazy juggling act before me is one that God has prepared for me to do. That is what I cling to when all else seems out of control and too darn hard.

So how do I add home school into our day and also juggle younger children and housework? I'll tell you what I have done, and I'll tell you what I'm looking forward to doing this new school year (which starts next Monday!).  I am a firm believer in trial and error. I am forever changing things up and trying to find a better way to do things...because I believe that putting into practice what we learn, from both positive and negative experiences is a good thing. Static living is not living to the fullest. And I don't know about you, but with 4 kiddos in tow, I just don't have time to waste doing things that don't matter. 

With housework...what I have done in the past is just survive. Truly. The past two years of homeschooling I have not had a rhythm to my housework; and that is something I am actually excited about altering this school year. In the past, I have cleaned only out of necessity. 

Oh, a kid scribbled crayon on the tile floor?...I guess I'll scrub that. 

A spider ran into that dusty corner?...guess I'll squish it and wipe up the dust.

An entire, brand new box of cereal was just dumped on the floor?...I'll get the broom.

A kiddo used diaper cream as hair & body lotion?...time to do some laundry.

A couple of us are out of clean underwear?...quick, add it to the washer!


People are coming over for dinner?...I'll do a fast and furious wipe down of the bathrooms and hide stray toys.

Seriously, this was how I managed...or lacked to manage our home. Slightly embarrassing but hey, I was also pregnant with baby numero quatro or had a newborn for those two years so I'm cutting my previous self some slack. 

You can imagine how this style of doing things only added stress. Chores around the house were dealt with on a crisis basis...there was no preventative measures, no routine to keep the house in a presentable state each day. That spelled disaster. It caused panic. It was not fun.

I have been easing into a new routine around the house, and the smallest of changes are helping in big ways. It's a little bit "Fly Lady" and a whole lotta Large Family Logistics . 

Basically, I am going  from haphazard homemaking to having a time planned to take care of all that goes into running our house. I now have specific days and specific times to tackle the daily tasks (laundry, dishes, cooking, picking up) and also the weekly to-dos (floor cleaning, bill paying/filing, bathroom cleaning, sheet washing, dusting and special cleaning or organizing projects). I will be adopting even more of the new house work routines as we begin our new schedules next week. 

Since I consider myself a pretty laid back gal, I have fought this type of scheduling with everything within me. Hence, my less than stellar approach I described above. However, now that there are six of us in this family, it is really unavoidable. I must put my big girl panties on and do some things I do not like...for the sake of my family. I have noticed, as I have been creeping ever so slowly into some of these new habits, that after  couple of weeks they are starting to come more naturally. One such adjustment is making sure my sink is empty each night and that the dish washer is running before I go to bed. Old Carly would look at the dirty dishes from dinner and hope that I would have more energy or time to deal with them the next morning. I was crazy. The next morning, it was terrible to come into the kitchen to see last nights food stuck on like cement. Not an encouraging start to the day. It was even worse when I had no clean sippy cups/spoons/bowls/fill in the blank because they were all staring at me under a glaze of yesterday's food. No bueno. As kids began thundering down the stairs asking for breakfast, the dishes added a huge stress at what should have been a sweet start to a new day.

So now I put forth a little extra effort, a little extra time to make sure the dishes will greet me in the best way possible in the mornings...clean. Sounds simple? It is, but it's these simple, thought out, intentional things that make a big difference. Here's how it fits into our daily schedule: (my added housework is in blue).

6:30 - get up, coffee & Bible study, start laundry
7:30 - get dressed, empty dish washer

8:00 - breakfast

8:30 - get dressed, make beds, brush teeth
         help little ones get dressed and make sure school room is ready, change  
         out laundry

9:00 - memory work in History, Geography, English, Science, Math & Latin

9:30 - All About Spelling/Shiloh     Handwriting/Deacon

10:00 - Handwriting/Shiloh     All About Spelling/Deacon

10:30 - Math

11:00 - Reading 

11:30 - free play
           clean up school room, fold laundry & prepare lunch

12:00 - lunch

12:30 - free play
           clean up lunch, get little ones ready for nap & put away laundry

1:00 - rest time (littles nap, big ones read or build with Legos)
          my time! :) Read, email/blog/facebook, nap, tv show 

2:30 - crafts/drawing/painting

3:00 - free play
         weekly chore (different every day) & quick clean up of the house before  
         Daddy comes home

4:30 - board or card game while I start dinner

It's simple, but it's intentional. I really like the idea of being done with the days house work by dinner time. Granted, there will be dishes...and there could be other odd jobs because of the kiddos, but for the most part, my house work ends with dinner. That is a good thing for me and my guilty-mama complex. Now I can put my feet up and relax with my hubby to end the night and not feel compelled to do more. I can rest assured that I used my time fully that day and that everything else can wait for tomorrow. 


For some of you, this may seem like a no brainer. Perhaps you've had a routine to your house work that you've slipped into easily and now it comes second nature to you. You are awesome and I salute you. Others might be in the chaos I used to be in, of haphazard homemaking...let me encourage you, you can do it! You can make slow changes that will become new habits. Decide on one thing, one area of your home and commit to handle that one thing differently...don't pressure yourself to change everything all at once. Take a deep breath and allow yourself time to work up to more. Be proud of the small changes and celebrate your victories. 


Have you had success or struggles in this? Are you a reformed haphazard homemaker? I'd love to hear your ideas, tips and how you handle this part of creating your house a great home for your family. Are you living in the chaos of reactive house work? What one area are you going to commit to make small changes in?


Blessings to you today as you are in the midst of this!

Up next...The Great Juggling Act Part Two: {younger children & home school}