Making time to organize your home is a challenge for any homeschooling mom. What we need is not a home from a glamorous magazine, but a functional and friendly space which reflects our personality and the characters of all who live there. But we cannot see the personalities of the people if all we see is clutter and mess.

In a homeschooling home, organizing your space takes on a whole new dimension when you consider that you and your children will spend the bulk of the day in your home. Thus to organize your home, everybody needs to be on board. This discipline that you need to get your home together is a vital part of your curriculum for you and your children.

What about your children?

There are so many websites with generic chore charts for children. But it is my firm belief that they will not mean a thing to your children just stuck up on a wall. Most folk look for a quick fix to their children’s non compliance in doing their work, but only the training in habit and responsibility will get you the results you need.

With consistent training your children will be able to care for and organize their own spaces in the home. Please spend some time looking through my approach to training children in chores and responsibility.

I know you are busy...I am too!

Now, back to you...most homeschool moms are still learning how to juggle our days with schooling our children, taking them to extra-murals, cooking meals and caring for our husbands. Add to that the day-to-day clutter that adds up…we soon can feel like we are moving past a point of no return!

For a long time I was on the Flylady’s mailing list She helped me tremendously to implement daily, weekly and monthly habits which began to take my home from a place of chaos to where our home is always only 15 minutes away from tidy.

But many moms often feel overwhelmed when the Flylady’s many daily emails start coming. Others don’t like being told what to do. This was never a problem for me as I would just read her subject line, delete the email and do the job. The thing to remember with cleaning and organizing, as with all things, that we would not necessarily choose to do…it takes motivation and a choice to do them.

I know from my own experiences that there are so many other things that I would prefer to do than organize and clean, but it is one of those necessities that have to happen daily. My tips below will help you to stay sane and maybe even enjoy the task, but most importantly, they will help you and your children achieve a home that is neat and welcoming to all members who live there.

My quick tips...

Keep the big jobs for holiday/vacation times. You can download a Holiday To Do List here.You will need Adobe Reader in order to print this planner. You can get Adobe Reader here

Start in the area that you know needs your attention the most.

Don’t try and conquer a mountain in one day, pace yourself and only do what you can manage in a small time allotment of say 20 – 30 minutes.

Remember to involve your children as you can.

Organize your kitchen

Organize your living areas

Organize your children’s rooms

Organize your homeschool

Organize the bathrooms

Organize your outdoors areas

Organize your art cupboard

Organize your office area

A little extra...

Denise, another talented homeschooling mom, has created a fabulous website to help moms make their homes a haven using her well researched (and easy) decorating tips - so be sure to check out Cottage Home Decorating

For extra help and some ideas that really work...you can sign up for a series of organizational tips to help you take some steps to becomming a more organized mom! Sign up below.

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