Well, it almost felt like Spring there for a week or so!  Today we’re back in the deep freeze with snow blowing nearly 40 miles per hour.  Wow!  Having the kiddos back inside today after last week’s taste of spring is tough! Being homeschoolers means the kids are home more often than not anyway, and any homeschooling mom will tell you that that means more time for mess-making around the house!   Makes me yearn for a nice spring day with nothing on the school schedule, so we can open up the windows, let the fresh air blow through and get some cleaning done!  Spring puts me in such a cleaning mood, so even a blustery winter day like today after a nice week makes it harder to overlook those cluttered corners that have been slowly collecting around the house.

A normal school day for us begins after breakfast, not too early because this Chickadee is more of a night owl than an early bird.  On good days, our schooling ends at lunchtime, but more typically it’s closer to 3:00 PM.  (Depending on attitudes, outside classes, music lessons, or field trips!)  That means that I’m usually busy teaching or facilitating for those hours and when we’re done it’s time to get dinner ready and get the kids ready for evening activities, soccer practices, 4-H or AWANA, then after that it’s getting the kiddos in for baths and ready for bed.  By 9:00 PM I’m usually ready to sit down with a good book or lesson planning or to spend time with the Husby… so who has time or energy to clean the house after a full day like that?  :/

The funny thing is, the kids keep just as busy as I do, but their messes seem to have the magical ability to reproduce even when they are supposed to be downstairs doing their school work.  Wish it worked the other way, and the messes would clean themselves up while we weren’t looking! *laugh!*

Unlike most bloggers, I freely admit that my home is far from perfect.  We have a list of remodeling and home improvement projects about as long as my arm, and we’re working through them as soon as we get the funds for each.  Slow going.  But it is Home, and we make the best of what we have.  My goal this Spring is to find a system that works for us to ensure the clutter-creep doesn’t take over as we focus on schooling.  There’s not a greater peace-robber, in my opinion, than a home space that no longer feels like a sanctuary due to the mess.

How do you control the clutter?  Homeschooling Mamas, what’s your secret to keeping the clutter at bay while you’re busy schooling the kidlets? When do you start your Spring cleaning?