Is keeping up with your home while you homeschool your kids overwhelming?
It can feel like a fight we can’t win if we don’t use strategies to help us manage it all. I’ve noticed when sitting in homeschool circles, moms often say this one thing. They say, “I tell my husband that I have three massive responsibilities on my plate: cooking our meals, cleaning our home, and schooling our kids. Then I tell him I can only be good at two of them, and he has to choose which one I drop.”
I get it. I sometimes feel I’m drowning beneath the pressure to keep it all up. When we began homeschooling, it took a while to figure out the best ways to manage it all without compromising on their schoolwork or the peace of our home.
With time and a great deal of trial and error, I’ve figured out some ways to help myself simplify some of those tasks. I believe you can enjoy homeschooling your kids without giving up the peace a well-managed home offers to your family.
This post is all about 7 easy strategies to homeschool your kids and manage your home.
The following sections break down my seven best strategies to keep our home running smoothly while I pour so much of my time into our homeschool. Now, before I reveal these, it is crucial to note that it takes me operating at my very best to manage all of them at once.
I’m still getting this established within our family, so there are days or weeks when it works better than others. Regardless of the growing pains, however, these have made a drastic difference for our family. As these become more routine for everyone in our family, those good weeks continue to happen more frequently. It’s worth the effort to establish it.
MEAL PLANNING
Don’t roll your eyes. I know this is a no-brainer, but the process works differently for each family. Sometimes the process works differently from season to season throughout the year, too. So, if what you’re doing right now isn’t serving you well, it might just need some tweaking.
Some people like to meal plan week to week. Others can plan out the entire month. Some people shop twice a week, once a week, or even less frequently, depending on their own dynamics. In my home, I like to plan on Fridays. This allows me to have a plan for the weekend when I’m usually busier in the kitchen with the whole family in play mode. I have also made all the decisions before the fun starts, and can start the new week prepared and ready to go.
Usually, I will write down seven dinners, three or four options each for breakfast, lunch, and snacks. I make a note of what nights are going to be busy and try to plan leftovers or something from the crockpot on those nights. Then I always utilize my Walmart Plus membership and have my groceries delivered. There may be a few items I need to pick up from specialty places, but this saves me hours. And time is a resource I must protect.
I also love to create meals that earn me standing ovations, but in real life, that just doesn’t ever happen. I’ve learned to keep it simple and make the things I know my family likes. I do aim to try something new every now and then just because it’s fun for me. But if you need permission to not feel the need to live up to a Pinterest-worthy menu week in and week out, here it is. It’s just not worth it.
One last note, I get tired of cooking 87,000 meals every single day. I’ve learned to have things on hand that my kids can get themselves or make with minimal help from me for breakfast and lunch. They are learning about making good choices, kitchen safety, cooking skills, and I get to focus more on dinners. The exception to this is the weekends when I like to prepare bigger breakfasts and lunches because we are all together.
CHORES
This area fascinates me. Every family is so different here. I know that it is more difficult when all the kids are younger, but do yourself (and them) a huge favor and teach them as soon as they are able. At a minimum, they can tidy up after themselves in some capacity.
In our home, my kids are 5, 7, and 9. Each week, I assign a “zone” to each child. I rotate these weekly, so they get enough practice cleaning a specific area, without getting stuck with just one. Our zones are the living area, the family room, and the kids’ bathroom.
I teach them how to clean the areas, and then each day they are responsible for their zone. The zones don’t have to be mopped, dusted, or deep cleaned daily. They do what needs to be done that day and make sure to do the full thing at least once throughout the week.
In addition to their zones, each child knows that their morning chores include making their bed, brushing their teeth, getting dressed for the day, and putting their dirty laundry away. All this together might take them fifteen minutes because it never falls all the way behind and is being maintained daily.
Once that became a habit for them, I added two more categories. The first is weekly chores. They each got two. They have one they do daily and one they do once a week. For example, one child feeds the pets daily and waters the indoor plants once a week. Another child brushes the pets daily and scoops the yard once a week. The last child takes the trash out daily and helps dad with lawn work once a week. We rotate these, too, but we keep only the oldest helping with the lawn simply because the younger two aren’t ready yet.
The last category I added is a mealtime responsibility. I give each family member, including my husband, a task to do after dinner, and we keep that task for at least a week before rotating. By this time in the day, I am exhausted and still make dinner after a full day of work. Nothing feels worse than being that tired and watching everyone get up, leaving to go spend quality time together, and being left alone to work on cleaning the kitchen for what feels like forever.
My theory is we can all still chat and enjoy each other and have that kitchen back in order in about ten minutes because five people are better than one. There is still plenty of time for family time and play. And a huge bonus is that I get to be involved in it.
Here is the list of how I broke down these tasks in case you need inspiration. I put away leftovers or ingredients that are still out. One kid loads the dishes in the dishwasher, my husband cleans the counters, one kid sets the table prior to the meal, and the last kid does a quick vacuum and spot cleans the floor.
You might be asking yourself what I do all day with my kids helping so much. I keep the laundry caught up, unload the dishes in the morning so we can reload them all day, prepare the meals and snacks, and deep clean the areas that need it.
This seems like a lot to manage, and it is, but it is essential for our family. The kids need to know how to take good care of themselves and their things to show up well for the life they have been created to live. Not teaching them these responsibilities does them no favors. None of this takes a long amount of time, and they have more of a sense of purpose when they feel like they are part of the family team.
I keep this organized with our Skylight Family Calendar. The kids love checking things off their lists and seeing the tiny confetti celebrations they earn when they do. It takes a lot of work to remind them and manage it daily off my shoulders, too.
PLAN YOUR HOMESCHOOL LESSONS
There are so many options to consider when you decide to homeschool your kids. I love having open and go curricula that tell me exactly what to do next. Ours all lay it out simply, really. But if I’ve learned anything about myself, it’s that I need a visual to know what’s coming up. Decision fatigue hits me hard and fast, so if I can look through the week and go ahead and decide once for all of it, I’m much more likely to stick to the plan and approach it with much more energy.
I do this process right after I meal plan on Fridays. I look ahead at the next week, fill the next lessons into my homeschool planner because I’m a list junkie, and nothing feels better than checking off a completed task. It keeps me informed and breaks my greater goals into simple steps. By doing this task, I can sink into the weekend, enjoy time with my family, and show up on Monday already prepared for what the week looks like.
This keeps me on track with what week we are working through in school, and if that has changed because of illness or life. It helps me see where we need to adjust our time instead of hoping we are on pace for the year. I like to know that I’m showing up to serve them with diligence because while homeschool does offer a lot of freedom, it still requires us to do the work.
If you need help refreshing your homeschool schedule, read this post for some ideas.
KEEP A HOME RHYTHM
My brain is in constant battle with itself. I crave routine and am utterly bored by the idea, too. But my kids thrive when we have rhythm. So, to allow myself flexibility and also provide structure, we shoot for a rhythm. We have things we only allow weekly, like TV and screen time on weekends.
During the week, it’s understood that those things just do not get turned on. Daily, we shoot for starting at the same time and tend to do things in the same order with our homeschool, so we all know how to gauge when we are finished.
I structure our school days in a way that we all start together, then have a small break for some chores. The kids are able to do their chores then, or while I work individually with their siblings. We keep the same order of events and schedule them, rotating sport schedules and family life so that we can keep life predictable, but there is no strict time frame for any of it.
If there is a task that requires more time or less than usual, we can cater to that. This also helps me know the best times to schedule appointments or outings. This has the same effect on the kids as taking the time to teach them age-appropriate chores. It takes time to establish in the beginning, then habit takes over. Now I’m not having to micromanage every person all day long. It keeps me sane while balancing so much responsibility.
PLAN FOR BREAKS IN RHYTHM
We’ve spent a good amount of time talking about planning. It all works great until you go out of town or have guests come to visit for the weekend. To keep the systems running smoothly, I’ve learned that it is extremely important for me to do the planning for the next week before we leave or invite a break in our rhythm.
At the very least, get the decisions made and have the plans. Doing so allows you to place your order first thing upon getting back to normal. I used to be so focused on planning for the immediate trip or guests that by the time I had our weekend activities planned and executed, I was exhausted. It would take me a full week of bare minimum functioning to return to a baseline of decent productivity.
I haven’t mentioned this yet, but I do have ADHD. I’m sure this contributes greatly to my hitting a point of burnout more easily. It doesn’t take much variance in my routines or high activity with extra people to wear me out.
If I make sure to have the plans for my next week set, then I can come home and let myself rest before having to start the next week. This one thing keeps me from feeling very behind and overwhelmed.
DECLUTTER YOUR HOME
If we were having coffee and you happened to say that thing that homeschool moms say often, I’d lean in. After listening to you, I might ask you to look at your life. I’d ask you to see if maybe you are managing too much. Not just too many activities and responsibilities, but too many things.
Clutter is a silent suffocation that we think is so normal we don’t even notice its hold on us. I was in my own season of being that mom. The mom who thought I could not homeschool my kids and manage all the tasks well, I was drowning. I was not just drowning in the fact that I had so much counting on me. I was also drowning in the laundry.
Decisions about meals, budgeting for the meals, and making them all day long left me tired. It all left me feeling guilty that my kids were getting such a tired version of me for their learning. I knew something had to change.
So, I got ruthless. I started in the area that was hurting me the most. I got rid of everything that was not essential, a favorite, or used all the time. Naturally, I started with our clothing. I found a list of a reasonable number of items to have for each category of clothing for each season. With this list in hand, I took a meticulous inventory.
Then I pulled my children into our living room and explained my changes. If they had 15 t-shirts for playing and needed 7, I would let them choose their favorites. I anticipated a lot of pushback on this, but they surprised me. They ended up scaling back even more than I asked in some areas. As it turns out, they were feeling suffocated, too.
After we did this, I boxed up the season we were not using with a detailed inventory inside the box. I did this so that future Amy doesn’t have to figure it all out again. Now, I can open those boxes and see what we already have and what each person needs. I can shop wisely without wasting money or time.
Now, our laundry can go for a few days with no attention and be completely caught up in a day of work. It used to take me at least a week to pull us out of that pit in the past.
After I felt the freedom, this brought us, I moved to the kitchen. Then I moved to toys. I eventually made it to all the areas that were causing me to fall behind. I’m still fine-tuning this. We just moved and I’m still setting up certain areas to function intentionally.
TAKE CARE OF YOURSELF
No. I’m talking about bubble baths and a glass of wine for self-care. I’m talking about making sure you are not on the back burner. Be aware of what you need for grooming. How do you relax? What do you find fun? How do you like to spend time with the Lord? Are you drinking enough water? Have you found a way to exercise that feels good? If not, it won’t be easy to pencil into that crazy schedule you have.
If you don’t take care of your physical body and mental health, you will not last long on pure grit. You must do a little bit each day to make sure you are running well. Otherwise, you will have a hard time keeping up and enjoying it all while you do. This last sounds like common sense, I know.
But in a home where everything seems to be unraveling, moms usually drop themselves first. They quickly find themselves trying to put out a fire while being on fire themselves. None of these must take a monumental amount of time.
Take a walk and listen to a book. Boom. You moved your body and let yourself sink into a source of joy while you did. Keep your meals simple. Grilled protein, some veggies, and simple carbs. It doesn’t have to be a recipe every day. Eat something real and easy. Don’t fall into the trap that it must be fancy or complicated to be good or healthy.
Sleep. Stop sabotaging yourself by staying up late and then starting the next day miserably. Take a little time to unwind, but set an alarm and train yourself to go to bed.
My point is simple. Working to homeschool your kids, managing your home, and doing everything to keep it all together requires so much from you. Make sure you are sprinkling in tiny habits to keep yourself on the list.
HOMESCHOOL YOUR KIDS FROM A PLACE OF PEACE
This list can feel daunting if you feel the need to tackle it all at once. I think the best approach is to start in the most problematic area and fine-tune things there. Then you can progress to the next area that is causing the most stress for your family.
Grab yourself a buddy to do this with and bring your family into the process. You are building a team, and it is critical to include them in the details. You want them to confidently carry out their responsibilities, after all. The skills they will learn will be priceless to them as adults. The peace in your home will allow you time to enjoy your family, hobbies, and your decision to homeschool your kids.
Thank you for being here! If I can help encourage you in any way, I’d love to!! Tell me in the comments if there is an area you plan to take some small steps to change.
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