Tuesday, August 16, 2011

Keeping it Together

Life as a homemaker is sort of overwhelming. Especially if you're a homeschooling mother, or a stay-at-home mom trying to work a job from home, but let's face it, even if "all you do" is stay home with your preschool kids, that is a monumental task. You're investing in lives that you hope will make a difference in the world someday. You hope they'll reach others for Christ, that they'll get decent jobs, be contributing members of society. You pray that they will be lovers of Jesus, that they'll make a difference. But right now, it's hard to see past the oatmeal sticking to the pot in the sink as you build a puzzle with your little one.
Then there are those who work a full time job outside the home, and wonder where they can make time to spend with their families while still keeping an orderly home, and finding something nutritious to put on the table every night.
I finally came to the conclusion a few months ago that staying home with my kids is not "all I do" It is a full time job and I am on call 24/7. And on top of that I need to manage to find time to do my other full time job: cook, clean, and keep house. And not just any cooking, I care tremendously about what goes into the little bodies I'm growing. I need to prepare healthful food to satisfy my conscience.  Mess, dirt and clutter bug me, but not as much as they bother my husband when he comes home from a stressful day at work, so I need to find time to do the things that are important for Nathan to see when he walks in the door everyday too. 
To top that off, there are the little things that I notice need to be done as I'm flying from one thing to the next during the day, but don't have time to stop and fix right then and there. Take the flowers in the front that need to be deadheaded. It irritates me everytime I walk past that garden to go out somewhere or when I come back home, but as soon as I get inside it's completly forgotten in the thick of all I have to do indoors. And my blog, which I am passionate about, but don't do nearly enough with! I wish I could carve out at least an extra hour per day to spend working on this.
Finally, last but certainly not least my third job: the one room school house I run. A daily adventure is that! There are so many books and binders and activities for all levels I had to find a way to make it all streamlined and orderly.
So, how in the world are we moms supposed to keep it all together?? I'm working on some ideas that, so far, are helping me stay on track.  It's my binder system.  It started out as simply an idea for a Home Management Binder, and that is the backbone of the system, but also included are my Daily Working Binder, and my Student Evaluation Binder (which are my homeschool sanity) and my Prayer Journal; because what's a mom, or a wife, or a teacher without some daily guidance from above? As well as a Recipe Binder. In the next several posts I will be revealing the system I created. Most of the ideas were stolen from here and there and tweaked to serve my needs. I hope you might find this useful as well and tweak my ideas to meet your specific household dilemmas. Stay tuned for ideas and pictures!
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