My husband was so excited when the time came to stay home to homeschool C.
What he envisioned:
- Walking in the door to a sparkling clean home
- Clean, wrinkle free laundry hanging in the closet
- Delicious hot dinner ready to eat
- Our brilliant daughter sharing what she learned that day
- A living room full of C's toys and homeschool stuff (at least now the school stuff is upstairs)
- Clean laundry (on a good day) but piled in laundry baskets full of wrinkles
- Dinner (most days) but in a kitchen filled with an absurd amount of dirty dishes
- Our brilliant daughter not interested in sharing what she learned except for maybe a few highlights
My poor husband, he works very hard for me to stay home - he has two jobs and some nights he leaves at 7:00 and doesn't get home until 8:30. His expectations may be a little high (or maybe not) but I should certainly be trying harder.
Excuses
I would like to say that I just don't have time do get all of those things done, that our day is so full of learning and activities that I just run out of time and sometimes that is true. Most of the time, it isn't. The sad truth is - I am just a terrible homemaker. I hate folding clothes and I really hate washing dishes. I do love to cook, I love to make a dinner from scratch when most people use store bought items. When I make burgers or tacos I make it all from scratch including the tortillas and buns. I love serving up a yummy and healthy meal to my family - the only problem is that I make a HUGE mess in the process and I am very slow to get it all cleaned up.I try convince myself and Adiel that I am busy during the day. I am always telling myself that it is more important to get something else done - a blog post, researching homeschool activities, a printable pack for C, the list goes on and on of things that could wait but I allow to fill my day while neglecting things that really need to get done.
I enjoy blogging, making printables and all the other things I let fill my day. Allowing myself to get distracted by these things and not taking care of what needs to be done isn't fair to my husband. I am writing this post as a way to challenge myself to do better. I hope to be able to share in the coming weeks how I am improving in taking care of my home.
Goals
My goal for next week is to stay on top of the dishes, I am home all day and it is just C and I. I should be able to take ten minutes after each meal to wash the dishes we used.What areas of homemaking do you struggle with? Will you join me in setting goals to improve our diligence in homemaking? I think having a clean home I can be proud of will certainly add joy to both our school day and our marriage.
Thank you so much for visiting Joy Focused Learning!
~Angela
This post is linked up at:
| Teach Me Tuesday | Hip Homeschool Hop | Ultimate Homeschool Link-Up |Works for me Wednesday |
I found you through Growing Home. :) I honestly could have written most of this post. The only difference being I am not homeschooling yet. My oldest turned 5 last month, but I think we'll wait until maybe January to "officially" start. I struggle with all areas of homemaking. Dishes, clutter, making beds, and now even cooking (which I used to LOVE doing). Some nights it's good, some nights it's rather bland and other nights I call my husband to please pick up something. *sigh*. I think my major problem is consistency. I really have no excuse except I can't seem to stay on track for more than a week. Yes, I do have 3 children, but our house is very small--an RV to be specific. I really need an accountability partner, but can't seem to find one. Would you be interested? We seem to have the same issues but maybe if we made goals and kept on each other it would help. Or that might be too weird since I've never read your blog before and you've probably never read mine. If so, that is also okay. :)
ReplyDeleteI can't imagine trying to keep up in an RV. Part of my problem is I feel like our apartment is so small - I have no where to put anything, so I just give up! That certainly isn't the right attitude for me to have though. An accountability partner is a great idea - if you want to e-mail me through the contact form, I can e-mail you back or you can send me a message through my facebook page facebook.com/joyfocusedlearning
DeleteHi ladies,
ReplyDeleteI am the same way. I dont have kids yet and I work but I still need to do better.
A free resource that has truly helped me is flylady.net.
I also love my erin condren life planner. I can write down everything including routines which leaves me less to remember
I signed up for flylady's e-mails about a year ago - I just haven't been consistent with it. I'm hoping that being open and honest here will help motivate me! :)
DeleteHey!! I just posted about fly lady but I also remembered another thing that helps. I hate washing dishes too...so I cook a few dishes on Sunday so my kitchen only gets obnoxiously dirty one day and its easier to maintain during the week and I free up time for other stuff
DeleteGreat idea! :)
Deletefocusing on one goal at a time and then building on that is a great way to tackle things. I'm a poor housekeeper too, and I'm learning to work on one habit at a time. Replacing one poor habit with one good habit sets me up for success!
ReplyDeleteThat is a great idea Linda! I usually decide "today's the day" I'll be on top of EVERYTHING and I just set myself up for failure.
DeleteI had to laugh when I read this....because this is so me. I homeschool and work about 20 hours a week. My husband has been thoroughly disappointed by my lack of homemaking skill. I'm not sure really why, but I am so slow at it. I think I get detracted and overwhelmed all at the same time. The kids are like little tornados at my house. Part of me is like, "who cares...it will just be messy again in 20 minutes." I think a big thing for me is that I'm not consistent with the kids. They should be pulling their weight - doing their chores. Half the time it doesn't happen. I will be working getting my act together too! At least you are getting dinner done...that is my worst area. Try cleaning up your area as you cook. Between each step clean something. It saves time in the long run. Thank you for this candid post.
ReplyDeleteNot being consistent with C is a problem for me too. There is always way too many of her things in the living room. I've tried to implement a one thing in the living room at a time rule but I haven't been consistent with it. :(
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