How to Keep a Clean House and Homeschool Too

By: Kathleen Crane

When you have children, messes sort of come as part of the package. It's hard to stay clean and organized. It's even harder when you have to homeschool. Homeschooling generally means that your children never leave the house! Never! They don't go to school and you don't get a home full of peace for about 5-6 hours each day. Yes, that sounds intimidating. How do you keep your home relatively clean and your sanity intact? How do you survive homeschooling? It's not easy, but it is possible. Here are a few tips on how to stay on top of housework while homeschooling. Continue reading.

Accomplish a few things while you homeschool

Bring whatever work you have that can be done on the school table or in the room where classes are held and use those small moments when your kids are doing exercises to cross some chores off your list. For example, cut some veggies for your meal tonight or process weekly mail. If you homeschool in the kitchen, take the time to disinfect the countertops and clean the sink. That way you can still supervise your children while they are doing exercises. If you have classes in the living room, take the time to put some stuff away, mop the floor, straighten cushions, etc.

Leave cleaning for later

Go with this rule of thumb which says that you should leave the chores for later in the afternoon when your kids are supposed to be doing homework and they are not going to get in the way. Besides, the later you start cleaning, the longer your home will be clean. Your husband will come back home to a relatively clean and tidy place are saying from PromptClean Canary Wharf.

Accept the “whoever makes messes gets to clean up” rule

Have your children clean up their own messes or at least whatever they can clean up. Develop a cleaning routine for them. For example, get them to put away all their school books and supplies after homeschooling as well as to pick up their toys after playtime. To make it easy for them, divide the work into small chunks. For instance, let them focus on one thing and then move on to the next one: the Legos, the play doh, the stuffed animals, etc.

In other words, get your children on board.

The earlier in life you manage to develop a sense of responsibility in your small ones, the better. Housekeeping is a family affair and your children should be aware of that. Make sure to assign individual cleaning responsibilities to them. They could set and clear the table, put dirty clothes in the laundry basket, wipe up spills, sweep floors, sort laundry, etc.

Accept the fact that you are not perfect

The mere fact that you are a mother, housekeeper and a teacher speaks for itself. It's perfectly normal to not be perfect. It's perfectly normal for your home to be tidy and dusty. You are not a super woman, you are a human being and no, you can't stretch time, no matter how good you are at time management. You need to lower your standards. Choose to have a relatively clean home, rather than a spotless home. Don't despair because you can't get all the tasks done in a single day like you could when you didn't have children and you didn't homeschool. Those days are gone and you need to readjust your cleaning routine. If you can't clean the bathroom in a day, focus on getting the toilet and shower clean and leave the rest for tomorrow. If you can't vacuum the entire house, do a couple of rooms today and do a couple more tomorrow. See? As long as it gets done, who cares when it gets done?

The sooner you figure out a way to keep your home clean while homeschooling, the better. All in all, it comes down to setting your priorities right and following a cleaning routine that works for your family. Good luck with that!

Kathleen Crane is a writer and founder of GardenersMates, E14.