I try to never sound like an expert in homeschooling or home keeping. Woefully, I am neither. A friend of mine once said, “I could never do all you do.” My response, “Don’t worry, I can’t either.” I have years of homeschooling under my belt along with years of curriculum evaluations, curriculum writing, article writing, planning, and teaching. Yet, every year is a new adventure. For that I am thankful as it would be quite dreadful if the school year were routine. I also have years of home keeping experience but I must confess the years have not made me much wiser. I sit here writing in the midst of a kitchen in need of attention, toys abandoned on a cookie crumb floor, and a bathroom on the last roll of toilet paper. I could mention laundry but the thought of climbing that mountain brings me to tears. Homeschooling is an adventure that is messy with discovery and creativity. Homeschooling is a lifestyle and not something you put back on a shelf like a book you finished reading. Ah yes, I could sit there and look into the sunset of lessons and art projects for quite some time. Yet, dishes do not wash themselves. As much as I would like to pretend jeans do not wash themselves either. So when do I clean?
I have heard it said that on a good homeschool day the home keeping suffers and on a bad homeschool day the house is clean. I have also heard that one cannot serve two masters. Often we homeschool or we clean. Can we do both? You see, I have compartmentalized homeschooling and home keeping for years. I did one or the other because once the school day was over I had dinner to prepare and children to send off to bed. I lacked the time to attend to a mantel crying to be dusted. My cleaning days would be on days we did not school or late at night. Both left me exhausted.
I have traded in two masters for one. My perception is not homeschooling or home keeping any longer. My perception is ruling my home. As a Christian, my master is the Lord. The Lord graciously gave me a husband, children, and a home to maintain to His glory. My memory allows this little fact to escape on a regular basis. Yet, glimpses of this reality will fall into place and I will once again realize I run my home my home does not run me.
Oh wait, you were reading this thinking I would give you practical advice on how to fit in cleaning. You expected I would give you a timeframe down to the minute. As someone who struggles in this area I know that will not work. You can tell me to do a load of laundry every morning and while I know that would benefit me I won’t do it. Why? My perception was one of chaos. I felt like I had a million pressing issues to do and laundry could wait that is if I remembered laundry at all. You need a change in perspective to make a real external change. Then, we can talk practical changes in my next article.