7 Excellent Ways to Keep a Clean House While Homeschooling

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How to keep a clean house while homeschooling.

One of the questions that new homeschoolers, and veteran homeschoolers for that matter, invariably ask is, “How do you keep a clean house while homeschooling?”

You would think that being home all day would help, but children leave messes behind them. By the time the kitchen is clean, the playroom is a mess. When the playroom is clean, the living room is a mess.

You finally get the playroom AND the living room clean, and the kitchen has been turned into an art studio. It seems impossible to ever catch up.

What do you do?

Choose one of these ways to keep a clean house while homeschooling.

1. Motivated Moms

Motivated Moms is a system I’ve used on and off for years. After I time I purchased the half-sized page-per-day paper planner, and it was used as both a housework planner and a daily to-do list.

I kept it in a 5 1/2 inch by 8-inch binder that I carried with me. There was also a section for my homeschool plans. It works really well! Provided you diligently work the system.

2. Flylady

Flylady is a system I try, drop, and try again. I adore the concept but have trouble actually keeping it going. A few habits have stuck with me through the years though.

I wear my shoes which handy when an emergency comes up and I need to run out the door. I make my bed, and I swish and swipe.

3. Sidetracked Home Executives (TM): From Pigpen to Paradise

Sidetracked Home Executives(TM): From Pigpen to Paradise is a fun book to read, and I’ve set the index cards up a couple of times. It worked really well!

Until my toddler dumped the cards on the floor.

4. Home Comforts

Home Comforts: The Art and Science of Keeping House is a great resource! She does have lists for what needs to happen on a daily, weekly, and seasonal basis. A ton of information is also included on setting up the kitchen, meals, laundry, home safety, etc.

It’s a wonderful resource just to have on the shelf. Wondering how to clean a wool blanket? Look it up! Curious about the proper way to set a formal table? It’s in the book!

5. Large Family Logistics

Large Family Logistics: The Art and Science of Managing the Large Family highlights an organization technique where you have a written routine for each day of the week. You list the schedule and chores. Put the page in a plastic protective sleeve and check things off as you go.

There are also many tips and tricks for running a large household with many children from organizing clothing to cooking. It has great advice for everyone but is super handy if you have a bunch of kids.

keep a clean house while homeschooling6. Bootcamp for Lousy Housekeepers

Bootcamp for Lousy Housekeepers uses a similar technique to Large Family Logistics in that you have a written routine for each day of the week, but it’s not written for large families. It’s written for anyone who’s keeping house.

In addition to making a written routine for each day of the week, Heidi Schaap has you make a plan for yellow days (days that aren’t going well) and red days (where everything that could go wrong, does go wrong).

7. Last, but not least, you can hire a housekeeper!

I’ve never tried this one myself but I’ve had people swear by it, and sometimes it seems like the best option of all. Simply kick back and allow someone else to clean.

The first six methods are ones I’ve tried and tested. They’re great systems to keep the house clean while homeschooling, provided you do the work!


18 Comments

  1. This is a helpful list. I love “Large Family Logistics” and reread it often! I hadn’t heard of “Home Comforts” before but pinned it. I feel like the more we’re home, the messier our house is, but that’s okay. I’m learning to be okay with it although I don’t often like it 🙂

    1. Keeping a clean house while homeschooling isn’t easy. We never, unless the children are sleeping, have a clean and tidy house. It is comfortable and we’re only 15 minutes away from clean. 🙂

  2. Tactics – what’s easy, what’s reasonable, what’s efficient. I keep my supplies in the room they are designated for. And we keep the same routine so it’s automatic. I choose a time of day that’s best, and I don’t worry about it until then. And I make it a family affair. We all have our responsibilities. Every room in this home gets cleaned daily @ 5:00 before Daddy gets home.
    And yes! Flylady is great!

    1. Those are wonderful tips, LindseyLoo. I keep supplies on each floor but not in each room. We have a family clean-up time also, but our is after dinner. It makes an easy chore time for the kids. 🙂

  3. I’ve read Large Family Logistics, tried FlyLady for awhile (in fact I still get her emails) and had the Motivated Mom’s planner a couple years ago. I have tried to implement my own system using bits and pieces from each, because I can never seem to stick to one for very long. I also recently started reading Managers of their Chores, which totally seems like it will work, but you have to put a lot of time into it at the beginning, and with a new baby and 3 others 6 and under, I just don’t have time right now! But thanks so much for those other resources, I will have to check them out. And I don’t know why, but everytime I read a post about cleaning, it gets me in the mood to clean, so that’s a good thing! Maybe I should just do that every morning? Lol.

    1. You sound like me! I keep wandering from system to system, enjoy aspects of each, but haven’t stuck with any single one.

      And you’re right… reading posts about cleaning is really motivational! 🙂

  4. Oh how lovely a housekeeper would be! These are great suggestions for keeping up with the schoolwork and housework!

    Thank you for stopping by the Thoughtful Spot Weekly Blog Hop this week. We hope to see you drop by our neck of the woods next week!

  5. I purchased Home Comforts. What a neat looking book! I can’t wait to read it. I have also tried fly lady, have made my own system where I write down everything in a room that needs cleaning, then assigned each task a day. That worked wonderfully for a while, until I fell off the wagon. Keeping the children on a morning routine has actually helped me keep myself to one. And I know that everyone has clean ears, clean teeth, and a made bed! I still think we have too much stuff, though. But we’re working on it.

    1. Morning and evening routines make such a difference in my house. Everyone knows what to do and (with prompting) get it done! 🙂

  6. Oh, I love the housekeeper idea. Wouldn’t that be nice?!?!? If I ever ended up with a pile of money, I think that’s one of the first things I’d do… A personal chef would also be pretty awesome. 😉 Thanks for the tips. I definitely struggle in this area…

  7. I think I have used a few of those resources (while having some of the books sitting on my shelf gathering dust after I gleaned from them some things that have helped my life). I think one thing you may not have listed is have your children help you with the process, especially when they get old enough to do so. I could clean my house all by myself, but training them has been great and sometimes the outcomes are wonderful! Then there are days where I am about to pull my hair out, but then at least I know we live in our house which we are in almost ALL the time, and that I will get to it. 🙂 Grace, right? Thanks for the other resources! I’ll have to check into them. Another one I have used is Managers of Their Homes, but I forget the author. That had some neat thoughts in it as well!

    1. Kids are wonderful helpers! I’ve divided the chores up between the kids, and we’re able to quickly clean what would take me hours by myself. Training too time, but it’s worth every moment now. 🙂

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