Homeschooling Is a Mess
March 23, 2011
This afternoon I took a moment to look around the house.
There are hundreds of thin strips of colored paper in various locations around the living room. The remains of an art project that the girls have been picking up and discarding for the last two hours.
Legos and half completed Lego structures take up residence on nearly every flat surface (and some not so flat surfaces, like the sofa).
There are library books, books we own, picture books, novels, homeschool workbooks, nonfiction books, a dictionary, notebook paper, pens, pencils, a glue stick, Sharpies, markers and water glasses littering the coffee table and floor.
There is egg and rice all over the floor, curiously around the high chair, courtesy of a certain 9 month old who shall remain nameless.
The dishes are overflowing the kitchen sink and counters. And dishwasher.
The kid’s rooms look like a tornado came through.
Did I mention it’s 10 AM?
Yes folks, homeschooling is a mess.
I hear homeschooling moms say, “You can either do school, or you can do housework.”
It’s true isn’t it!
How do you deal with the need for order and the need to create a rich learning environment for your kids?
I’ll tell you what we do.
At 4:30 every day it’s officially Chore Time. My phone alarm goes off, even.
(Of course oldest, who does Laundry, does his chore several times a day.)
I used to be one of those “clean as you go” type of people, but I found this was too distracting for the kids.
It’s easier for them when schooltime can have a clear cut “done” time. If there are numerous periods during the day when I or they have to stop schoolwork in order to tidy up, they get too off course, and then I’m back to corralling them back into the living room.
Which is rather like herding cats. Or using spaghetti for bookends.
Some days it’s just fine with me, but other days the Beautiful Disaster really gets on my nerves. Today was one of those days where I was having to talk myself out of a panic attack at it all. I did my best to ignore it while doing read alouds, math, history, geography, etc. I did ok. But I wish I could be more relaxed about the mounting piles. Instead, my face contorts into this kind of nervous twitch.
How do you handle the mess of homeschooling?
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Carrie,
Well of course I basically only homeschooled one little angel at a time. And both girls kinda did their “own” thing. I just monitored.
But, if I was in your situation, I would (and keep in mind, it’s always easier to look at a situation than to actually be in the situation) say:
Forget the mess! Russ and I look around and say, “where did the time go” Right now I would give anything to have food particles around the highchair, (oh wait, I do! lol) (guest from yesterday), or pens and colored paper around everywhere!
When our daughters were young, I was a neat-nick! I mean you could eat off my kitchen floor! I spent hours scrubbing every inch of it with a toothbrush! But, now I wish I had spent that time more productively, like playing with my girls. Teaching them to sew or to cook. Who wants to eat off the kitchen floor anyway??
Try to forget the ugly mess and look at the beauty of the mess. Like this morning I looked around the house at the mess from yesterdays visit of my awesome family and it looks lovely to me. I remembered what caused the messes and it made me feel warm and loved. Yes, Legos everywhere, kitchen, livingroom, bedroom and bathroom! Don’t care! Dolls, doll clothes, playhouses everywhere, don’t care! Love those that played with them! The Wii, games for the Wii, game cubes everywhere! Don’t care! Love that boy that left them laying there! And love watching him play those games!
I know that as a young mother with small ones, it does get frustrating, the constant messes, but little ones grow up TOO FAST!! They won’t remember a spotless house like they will the TIME you spend with them. I guess what I’m trying to say and taking the long route to do so, is, DON’T SWEAT THE SMALL STUFF! Play, teach and love. Houseworks boring anyway!! LOL
Crazy Lady Lila
i dont handle it well at all… i am a person who really ‘needs’ clear space for energy & motivation, & spiritual growth..
3 boys 8 & under & i pretty much have a meltdown every month… likely in ‘that’ time of cycle.. and then i get angry at myself because i get into a negative spiral..
gosh i really am thankful for home/un-schoooling blogs like this, that make us all remember, no matter how alone we are feeling in our ‘mess’ or other issues.. there are other mums/families going through the same mojo stunting stuff..
i get so annoyed at people [including husbands/partners] who say, well just send them to school then.. what if i dont want to send them to school.. there IS a middle ground somewhere here people!
While I guess I can’t say I’m officially homeschooling yet, I still have the mess. I have designated one room as the messy room (the family room), and every so often when I’m going through the house and see toys in other part of the house, I ask DS to put them where they belong.
If we are feeling stubborn at the moment, all I have to do is say, “Benjamin can put them where they go, or Mommy can put them where Benjamin can’t reach them.”
@meagain: LOL, I have that “time of the month” challenge, too. I thing DS feeds off my negativity, which causes him to act up, which makes me angrier, etc. You are not alone in that.