Balancing the Home in Homeschool

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So a reader here sent me this question:

“How do you homeschool while still balancing the many demands of running a home in the midst of being surrounded by the demands of the home?”

This is an excellent question, and while I don’t know if this person home schools as of right now or is looking into it, I think I have an answer for her.  I can answer this question from my perspective and from my experience, but homeschooling is not a one size fits all endeavor by any means.  Although one thing may work for me, you will find other things that work for other homeschooling moms.

Scheduling, schooling, life – these things are all intertwined in the home, and therefore they each individually need to remain fluid as these ebb and flow in terms of making greater demands at different times.  For instance, when getting your income taxes ready to be submitted, the “home” responsibilities are greater if these fall on your shoulders.  Making a meal to bring to a sick friend, dealing with problems with the insurance company, and needing to switch out clothes for a change in season are all home responsibilities that require more time and attention while grading projects, helping a struggling student, and creating new school activities for preschoolers are school projects that need more time.

Over the years I have found it beneficial for the home and the homeschool two things to be separate aspects.  I compartmentalize home things in certain time slots of the day while school also occupies certain times of the day.   For the most part, I follow these time slots rather rigidly.

Following are some tips that help me do this:

• I have an “office” day every week.  This is when phone calls are made, bills are paid, and paperwork is dealt with.  Of course there are times when these things need to be handled as they happen, but for the most part I am able to stick to this overall plan
• I don’t plan on accomplishing much when it comes to more extensive cleaning or organizing during the school week
• menu planning, which I have talked about before, really does allow for more efficient cooking
• Doing the same things at the same time every day helps, even down to the order in which you teach each school subject.  I think it benefits both you as the teacher and your kids as students to know what to expect.
• In a similar way, we start off with the easier subjects and work our way to the ones that the student finds more complicated.
• Bible time and character training is a great way to start our school day
• Don’t answer the phone during the school day, let school be your focus.  I have my husband and my mom set on a specific ring.  Unless I hear either of these ring tones, I don’t respond until we have a break in the school day
• In the same way, the computer follows the same guidelines
• Having several clean up times throughout the day helps the home not get out of hand
• Recess or breaks are as beneficial to you as the teacher as they are to your students
• As I mentioned before, we take Wednesdays off.  This began because of outside activities, but I think it is something we would continue anyway.  It is a great way to break up the week, and it is my office day when I can make phone calls during business hours during the week.  Most places don’t have weekend hours, so I can get done what I need to get done on a break from school without feeling guilty about it
• If you follow the above tip, you do need to be prepared for longer school days for the other four days (we also take weekends off).  My kids all prefer it this way, too, they like the break on Wednesdays, and I think if you have older kids who can “vote” on how they would like the school week to flow their opinion should be taken into consideration
• Make sure friends and family members are aware of the times you are schooling.  Let them know not to try to reach you during these times unless  it is an emergency
• If you have older kids, setting guidelines on their school time and their home time is also beneficial.  For instance, my kids are not allowed to check email during school hours.

This should give you a good list to play around with, to tweak in whatever way benefits you.  It is a unique challenge to homeschool in that I think an assumption is made that because you are home, you can just handle whatever it is at any time.  I even find this with people who are looking for babysitters.  At times people think that because my older girls are home during the day they would be able to babysit at the drop of a hat.  The school day is planned, there are things that are due each day, and those things need to be respected.  We can certainly plan for a babysitting opportunity in advance by having the lessons completed ahead of time, but I draw a pretty firm line in the sand that being home does not mean that my kids are not in school.

Perhaps the tips I have shared here will help you find the balance you crave in your homeschool and your home life.

What are your struggles in balancing the home in your homeschool?