Cleaning House. I think most mothers have a love hate relationship with this aspect of their lives. We love a CLEAN house, but not always doing what it takes to get to that point.
As a mother of 5 home educated children in a 1300 sq. ft. home, I have been in the slums of cleaning depression and overwhelm before, often in fact. I have been in that place of misery and woe, no motivation, towers of dirty dishes, mountains of laundry (clean and dirty.. we all know how it goes from bed to floor) , bathrooms that you need a toxic suit to go in .... I'm telling you, I've been there.
Over the years I have done many things to try and tame the wilderness of having a family. I have used chore cards, charts, stickers, food, reward buckets, and so on. They all worked ... for a short time. But when they worked, I "knew" I had the answer, I knew that I was doing it right and that EVERYONE else needed to do it that way too! The excitement would wear off after about a month for the kids, and then Sgt. Mom would make her presence known. She amplified tears, frustration, arguing, grounding, negative consequences etc. To no avail, there wasn't anything "magic" that would make chore time a priority for anyone and keep the house clean.
No, Family Work is much different then that. It is where I as the mother go in and lead out. Instead of telling my children to "go do" their chores, I invite my children to come with and help me. We work together without assignment. We all work together until the work is done, even if that means 2 people are sweeping the floor because there isn't anything left to do.
We have worked with this, and tried it in different ways to cover all the areas of the house, and each time we adjust, it just keeps getting better. The best thing though? We have been doing Family work for 2+ years. That's amazing you guys! It's not always the most exciting thing to do, but we have stuck with it because there is much less fighting, arguing, persuading, etc. Everyone easily knows what is expected, and it is a much easier and effective method for proper training. They are cleaning and I am right there. I can instruct them in the process, instead of going in the kitchen after they think they are done wiping the stove and calling them back to do it again.
Now, like I said, we have tried different things within the magical realm of Family Work, and not all of them are as good as the other. Last winter we found a good rhythm. The house was usually always clean, and when it wasn't it was super easy to get it that way. When spring came, because of the farm, garden and spring fever, I changed how we did family work thinking that what we had been doing was only a winter routine. I was so wrong. My house really suffered this spring/summer. It felt like we had gone backwards a couple years in our cleaning progress and I wasn't sure how to fix it. Long story short, we began implementing our winter routine, and voila... success. Clean house, happy mom, happy kids!
We have a basic flow to our day, with the cleaning spread out in short 10-15 minute bursts. These bursts are done Before and After each meal. Before Meal clean up consists of cleaning the living area - complete with vacuuming. We are to a point where we only need to vacuum once a day, usually before lunch because a clean house is inspiring to keep clean and we don't have the same amount of mess. After Meal clean up is cleaning the kitchen - complete with dishes washed, stove wiped and floor swept. The kids love it because they know if they work hard and fast they will get done real quick and be able to continue with their learning the rest of the day. Here's our flow - (I've learned to not have time of day assigned to any of this... when we get up we begin and just go through it, never changing regardless of how late or early we wake up!)
Feed Animals/Water garden
Make/Eat breakfast
After Meal Clean up
Education Time
Before Meal Clean up
Lunch
After Meal Clean up
Education/Leisure Time
Before Meal Clean up
Dinner
After Meal Clean up
Family time
Bed
Using this routine, along with a regular 6 month purge of or stuff, has been the answer to keeping our home clean, better our relationships with each other, and have the time and space we want to learn, play, and be inspired for daily living. I know each family is different, but what I have learned is that Family Work is a tried and true method that families used for thousands of years, and it still works today.
Here's to your happy home!
the HomeMade MOM
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| Peace in the middle of the day... with 5 kids all day! |
I. GET. IT.
Something HAD to change!
I don't know what it was exactly, other then God giving me divine direction after many frustrated tears and prayers. I was in a place of going back to core phase with my children. Each year for the last 7 years I have found something new that we needed to review, and I was in a place where I could swallow my pride and admit I didn't have it all together in reference to my house being clean. I saw a webinar from a home school mentor mom, Donna Goff from MentoringOurOwn.com She is full of wisdom, and this particular webinar was on the importance of Family Work. |
| Usually covered with Lunch mess mixed with papers |
Family Work?
Isn't that what we were doing? All of us working and doing our chores and taking care of our responsibility because we all live here?
Ok, I can do this.
We have worked with this, and tried it in different ways to cover all the areas of the house, and each time we adjust, it just keeps getting better. The best thing though? We have been doing Family work for 2+ years. That's amazing you guys! It's not always the most exciting thing to do, but we have stuck with it because there is much less fighting, arguing, persuading, etc. Everyone easily knows what is expected, and it is a much easier and effective method for proper training. They are cleaning and I am right there. I can instruct them in the process, instead of going in the kitchen after they think they are done wiping the stove and calling them back to do it again.
The Answer
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| These pics are my house, after Lunch.. Usually when it's the craziest mess! |
Our Family Work Routine
Feed Animals/Water garden
Make/Eat breakfastAfter Meal Clean up
Education Time
Before Meal Clean up
Lunch
After Meal Clean up
Education/Leisure Time
Before Meal Clean up
Dinner
After Meal Clean up
Family time
Bed
Using this routine, along with a regular 6 month purge of or stuff, has been the answer to keeping our home clean, better our relationships with each other, and have the time and space we want to learn, play, and be inspired for daily living. I know each family is different, but what I have learned is that Family Work is a tried and true method that families used for thousands of years, and it still works today.
Here's to your happy home!
the HomeMade MOM
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