Simply Homeschooling with Tami Fox

Getting Organized in your Home and Homeschool

Happy March 1^st! I enjoy the beginning of a new month, and I enjoy this time of the year as it begins to warm up after the winter. In March, the habit we will be practicing is getting dressed all the way down to our lace-up shoes. This one habit causes a lot of discussion, and unless it is against a cultural belief, I want you to try this habit with your children all month.

It sounds simple enough to get dressed down to the lace-up shoes, but it takes some thought. It takes some planning. You need to have the laundry caught up and put away. It is helpful if you practice your Before Bed Routine and lay your clothes out each night. Teaching your children to do this habit will help you start your school day off faster and more peaceful. We all want that in our homes!

One common statement about wearing shoes in the house has to do with the dirt children can track into your home. If you teach your children to clean their shoes off before they come into the house, this will not be a problem. With four boys and living in the country, I taught them to sweep the kitchen floor. When they would come into the kitchen door and track dirt or leaves into the house, I would remind them to sweep behind themselves. It did not take long for them to realize that it was easier to clean their shoes outside. I always used a nice voice with them when asking them to sweep behind themselves. I do not yell or scream to get them to do things.

Start today with everyone in the house getting dressed first thing in the morning. Let me know if your school day goes better when you do this. It sets the tone in our house that we are ready to work when we are dressed down to the shoes.

Your Zone Mission today is to sweep the front porch.

Your Home Blessing for today is to wipe the windows and mirrors.

My menu plan for Wednesday is grilled chicken and a salad.

Have a wonderful day!

Getting Organized:

In your home and homeschool

One question I received last week was about kids and the amount of dishes that they dirty in a day. Does this happen in your house, too?

Since we homeschool and have three meals a day plus snacks at home, there is a potential for a lot of dishes to be dirtied in a day. A few strategies that I have used includes the children hand-washing the dishes they dirty them throughout the day. I have also used color coded cups. When I had really young children, I used a laminated mat with each child’s name on it and a circle. They had to keep their cup on that mat. This kept them from leaving cups all over the house and losing them. As they got older, I have taught them to clean the kitchen as they cook. These few strategies have lessened the amount of dishes that are dirtied in a day.

Your dishwasher is not a just a holding place for dishes. Use it as often as you need. I have to run my dishwasher twice a day. The boys take turns emptying it as soon as it finishes a cycle. That way it is ready for them to put their dirty dishes in as they need it.

One idea someone passed on to me was to limit the number of glasses and plates that are available to them. The children are then put into a position to have to wash the dishes as soon as they dirty them. This would help those children to get a clean glass or plate out every time they need something.

We also use reusable water bottles. That can make for several of them to be on the counter drying overnight, but it helps a lot with the amount of glasses used during the day.

Have a wonderful day!