The Homeschool Mom's Guide to Balancing Schoolwork and Housework

Struggling to balance homeschooling with housework? This guide for homeschool moms offers practical tips on creating schedules, incorporating kids into chores, and time-saving hacks to make both schoolwork and housework easier!

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Do you feel like you're constantly cleaning up after the kids while trying to teach them? Homeschooling and housework often collide in the same space, leaving many moms feeling overwhelmed. Here's how to manage both without losing your mind.

When we started homeschooling, one thing I noticed pretty quickly was that the house always seemed to be in disarray. It was hard to decide what I needed to do first. Do I clean the house so that we could all concentrate and focus on schoolwork? Or should the housework wait until the school day was over, even if that meant a mountain of dishes in the sink all day long?

It took some trial and error, plus learning to look past some things, but now we seem to have found a good balance. Does that mean our home looks Pinterest perfect? Nope, that's never going to happen. But I've also realized that because so many of us are home just about all day every day, it needs to be a home we can live--and learn--in. Piles of paper and all.

Here are some tips I've learned that has made the balance of homeschooling and housework more manageable.

How to Balance Homeschooling and Housework

1. Create a Simple Daily Schedule

One way to make sure you have time for everything on your to-do list is to break your day into manageable chunks, or blocks, of time, balancing homeschool hours and housework. You don't want a rigid, hour-by-hour schedule. Instead, create a homeschool routine that works with your family. Something flexible that can handle the unexpected stress-free.

How do you create this kind of routine? Be sure to have a homeschool routine that allows a balance in your home life. A schedule or routine that includes household chores along with schoolwork. If you make a plan for your household tasks, then you'll have the time you need to get them done. But don't have set times for your tasks, household or school-related. If you plan to vacuum at 1pm on Monday and something comes up, then the vacuuming isn't going to get done.

Instead, plan for your house chores to happen in breaks of your learning blocks of time. Plan to switch out the laundry between the group learning time and independent learning time. Another idea is to build chores into your blocks of time. Empty the dishwasher during the breakfast block.

You can easily set up your weekly homeschool routine with my 5 Easy Steps to Create a Simple Routine for Productive Homeschool Days guide, which you receive as a bonus when you join my email community. Plus you’ll also get tips and ideas to simplify your homeschool days through weekly emails as well.

2. Incorporate Kids Into Household Chores

Another way to balance your homeschool day and household chores is by having your kids help. The earlier kids learn to help with chores, the easier it will be to balance your homeschool and housework. An added bonus is that kids will learn life skills along the way! You can fit smaller chores into your daily routine, but make larger chores a family activity by having everyone pitch in on a certain day.

Assign your children age-appropriate chores and turn them into learning opportunities. For example, younger children can match socks or count toys as they pick them up and put them away. Elementary age children can practice handwriting as they write a grocery list. Teens can learn to prepare meals. Make chores a game with a chore chart and fun, little rewards.

In our home, we have a set day for larger cleaning projects, with each child assigned a room or two. They all work at the same time and since it's done often, it doesn't usually take very long. A few times a year, we'll do a bigger deep clean. My kids are also assigned smaller, daily chores. For example, each morning my younger boys clean out the dishwasher and reload it with dirty dishes. My oldest son is responsible for taking out the trash. Since they know what daily chores they have, I don't need to remind them (too often) and there's less bickering.

3. Set Priorities and Let Go of Perfection

Remember that perfect housework isn't the goal. Kids need time to practice cleaning skills, and they aren't going to get it right from the beginning. You may have to guide them as they clean, or perhaps go behind them to catch what they miss. Eventually they'll get better and can do it themselves with little to no help. Teaching kids important life skills they'll need is the goal.

Letting go of perfection might mean that you need to prioritize tasks that must get done and save the non-essentials for another time. As I mentioned above, my kids have daily chores of cleaning out & reloading the dishwasher and taking out the trash, along with weekly chores of laundry and cleaning a certain room. We do non-essentials, like big bedroom cleanouts only a few times a year when we have a few days off to devote to them.

I struggled with letting go of the "perfect house" mentality and had to learn to overlook socks or papers strewn around when we started homeschooling. When the kids were younger, I had nap time to clean and they went to bed much earlier than they do now. It was easier to contain them to a single room. But now that they're older and we have much more going on, I've learned to accept good enough over perfect. The kids are learning important cleaning skills and I don't have time to do it all myself anyway. In areas that I do want cleaned perfectly, like the guest bathroom, I do it myself. Letting go of the perfect house ideal has relieved a lot of stress.

4. Time-Saving Tips for Housework

Saving time while completing housework will also help you create a balance while homeschooling. One way you can save time is to use timers when completing household tasks, especially if they are happening during the homeschool day. You want your main focus to be on homeschooling your children, so make sure that that is your priority, not cleaning, by allowing yourself a certain amount of time for housework. Using a timer when your children help can make cleaning into a challenge or game. I know my kids are always more willing to do housework when I try to challenge them to get it done in a certain amount of time.

Another idea is to include certain cleaning tasks in some of your daily time blocks. For instance, cleaning the dishwasher and starting a load of laundry easily fit into a breakfast block. Include a 20-minute cleanup after all schoolwork is done for the day, letting your kids know they have free time when they're finished. If you have a specific chore to do on your own, plan to complete it while your kids are working in their independent learning time block.

A final idea to save time on housework is to try to multi-task. For example, while you are making lunch, you can switch laundry to the dryer and start another load. I often have a child sitting in the kitchen with me as I cook. It's easy to check on how they are doing on schoolwork, have them read to me, or keep them focused as I prepare a meal. Most importantly, try to keep cleaning tasks smaller so they take less time during your homeschool day.

5. Utilize Block Scheduling for Both

A final tip that can be helpful for balancing homeschooling and housework is a twist on using blocks of time in your schedule. Earlier, I mentioned including housework into your time blocks, like emptying the dishwasher in the breakfast block. Those types of tasks can fit in nicely to certain activities. However, sometimes you may have tasks that take longer. Or perhaps you feel that including housework into homeschool time blocks is overwhelming because of constant transitions.

In that case, consider block scheduling as a way to alternate between homeschooling and housework to keep momentum going. Dedicate a block or two of your day just to housework. It doesn't have to be a large block, even 15-20 minutes allows for light housework to be completed. Then you can set up your schedule so that your dedicated housework block comes after a learning block so that you and your kids can get up and move around. Perhaps even include a little break or snack afterwards before you move onto the next block of the day, especially if it's another learning block.

Utilizing block scheduling as a way to balance homeschooling and housework can help you avoid overwhelm in your day. If a household task that needs done comes up, especially an unexpected one like scheduling a doctor appointment, then you know it can be done during your household chore block. You and your children can focus just on schoolwork during that block of time, then just focus on housework when it's time for that block. Anything that you do to make your day flow better will help alleviate stress.

Balancing schoolwork and housework as a homeschooling mom can be challenging, but it doesn't have to be overwhelming. With a little structure, the help of your kids, and the acceptance that things don't need to be perfect, you can successfully manage both. Stay organized, prioritize, and be kind to yourself--you've got this!