Simply Homeschooling with Tami Fox

The weather is cooling off, and you are probably thinking it is time to switch out clothes for your children for the new season. Since I have been doing this for many years with a large family, I thought I would share with you how I manage the season change in our closets.

First, I ask the children to go through one drawer per day of their dresser. I set up a station for them to put outgrown clothes and clothes to store for the next year. I also have a black trash bag handy for clothes with holes or large stains. By doing one drawer per day, the task is not overwhelming, and I can keep up with 4 boys this way. The goal is to make room for the new season and new sizes. Their dresser drawers must close. If they are bulging, then we thin down what they have in the drawers. Typically, they have four drawers, and this is what they keep in the drawers: socks, underwear, pajamas, t-shirts, and blue jeans (shorts in warm weather).

The next week, we purge their hanging clothes. Basically, they hang church clothes (shirts, pants, and jackets), and they hang their collar shirts. They have to be able to use their section of the large walk-in closet for their hanging clothes. We purge clothes that they do not like. We give away clothes that are too small for my youngest. We toss worn out clothing. It really only takes one session per boy to go through their hanging clothes, but I am more involved in this part of the process, so we only do one boy’s hanging clothes per day.

Now, we are into a third week of this, but I have spread out the process. I am not burned out and tired of it by doing it this way. I pull out the clothes we had in storage for the new season, and we figure out new sizes. Boys grow a lot from one season to another, so we generally have more clothes to donate that don’t fit, and we also donate the things they do not want to keep. They work on putting away the new season’s clothes, and the rule is that the clothes have to fit in their dressers and closet. If they have too many clothes, we thin down again. I am pretty ruthless in helping them purge and keeping it manageable.

For winter, I keep a plastic tub with a lid in the bottom of the closet. It holds snow gear. We don’t get a lot of snow, so this keeps it under control. They have a cold-weather coat that is on the coat tree. The plastic tub holds snow pants, scarves, gloves, hats, etc.

Now if you find yourself needing to get cooler weather clothes out before you purge, just get out a few things and purge the warm weather clothes as quickly as you can. Don’t make it a marathon session. I have done that, and it is hard to do.

Now for your Zone Mission for today, clear off your nightstand and detail dust it. Only put back things that you need beside of your bed. The less stuff you have beside of your bed, the more peace you will have when you go to sleep.

Today is anti-procrastination day. What are you putting off? Don’t put it off any more.

• Make Your Bed (Do this as soon as you get up.)
• Get Dressed Down to Your Shoes
• Swish and Swipe
• Start Your Laundry
• Decide on Dinner
• Check Your Calendar
• Start the Day off with a Shiny Sink. Don’t leave the breakfast dishes sitting.

School: Is your paperwork caught up? Do you need to update lesson plans or attendance sheets?

• Eat Lunch
• Clear off One Hot Spot
• Reboot the Laundry
• Declutter for 15 Minutes (Be sure to have your children declutter, too.)
• Drink Your Water
• Errand day: Make your plan for grocery shopping and errands. Pack water bottles and snacks for everyone. Pack up your library books that need to be turned in.

Happy Thursday! I hope you are having a wonderful week. It’s been a beautiful week for me. After talking to several friends about the benefits of drinking water, I thought I should write about it, too. Several years ago I switched primarily to drinking water throughout the day. I do start off my morning with a large cup of coffee, but I switch to water and drink about 80 ounces of water a day. I try to get most of that in before 4:00 pm. It works better if I just sip water after 4:00, so I get a good night’s sleep. I use The FlyLady’s refillable water bottle to help keep track of the ounces I drink. There are so many health benefits to drinking water — from better memory and more energy to purifying your body of toxins. Nothing really can replace water in health benefits. It’s also an economical choice for our family. I buy very few sodas and fruit juices. The boys have water in between meals. They drink milk at meals. Starting today replace some of your drinks with water and see if you can slowly work your water consumption up. In honor of Thirsty Thursday, go fix a glass of water.

Set your timer for 15 minutes for the Home Assignment and 15 minutes for the School Assignment

• Make Your Bed (Do this as soon as you get up.)
• Get Dressed Down to Your Shoes
• Swish and Swipe
• Start Your Laundry
• Decide on Dinner
• Check Your Calendar
• Start the Day off with a Shiny Sink. Don’t leave the breakfast dishes sitting.

School:

• Have you done some hands on learning with your children this week? Plan something for tomorrow!

• Eat Lunch
• Clear off One Hot Spot
• Reboot the Laundry
• Declutter for 15 Minutes (Be sure to have your children declutter, too.)
• Drink Your Water

Before Bed: (This starts right after dinner.)

• Check the Calendar for Tomorrow
• Lay out Your Clothes for Tomorrow (Have your children lay their clothes out, too.)
• Put things at your launch pad
• Shine Your Sink
• Clean Off a Hot Spot
• Go to Bed at Decent Hour

This week we are in Zone 3 – The Master Bathroom and One Other Room. If you are like most of us, the shower walls do not get wiped down often. Today, let’s change that. Spray down your shower walls and tub and wipe them down. I wipe mine down daily with The FlyLady’s purple rag. Since I am doing it daily, I don’t need to use any chemicals to clean it. We have hard water and iron in our water, so the shower walls can get yucky quickly. I timed myself, and it took me less than two minutes to wipe down my shower walls, tub, swish the toilet, and wipe the sinks and counter.

Set your timer and do a quick room rescue in one other room for 15 minutes. You will be surprised at what you can accomplish in a short amount of time.

If you need more help with organizing your home and homeschool, you can download  The FlyLady’s Homeschool Teacher and Homeschool Student Control Journals for free.

• Make Your Bed (Do this as soon as you get up.)
• Get Dressed Down to Your Shoes
• Swish and Swipe
• Start Your Laundry
• Decide on Dinner
• Check Your Calendar
• Start the Day off with a Shiny Sink. Don’t leave the breakfast dishes sitting.
• Clean out your refrigerator. Toss the science experiments.

School:

• Are you taking time to enjoy the fall weather as a part of your school day? Take some books outside and enjoy doing some school work outside today.

• Eat Lunch
• Clear off One Hot Spot
• Reboot the Laundry
• Declutter for 15 Minutes (Be sure to have your children declutter, too.)
• Drink Your Water
• Write up a menu plan for the next 7 days. Check your pantry and freezer and make a grocery list. This habit will save you time and money. Try out some new recipes with the slow cooker. It will save you time once you start back to your school schedule.

• Check the Calendar for Tomorrow
• Lay out Your Clothes for Tomorrow (Have your children lay their clothes out, too.)
• Put things at the Launch Pad that you will need first thing in the morning
• Shine Your Sink
• Clean Off a Hot Spot
• Go to Bed at Decent Hour