How Can I Homeschool If I Can't Even Keep My House Clean?

I was one of those teenagers whose mom kept the door to my room shut and feared to enter the place. True. I am a born slob. To my knowledge there is no 12-step program for the organizationally challenged. Although the Attention Deficit Disorder label seems to have a striking resemblance to this problem, I can't use it as an excuse since in my case it is more of a lack of training and result of laziness than a clinical “disorder” (No pun intended.)

And as you can imagine, life as a housework “phobic” with small children to care for, a household to manage, outside responsibilities, and a lovable neat-freak husband with whom I desire to maintain a joyous relationship has, at times, been overwhelming and, unfortunately, chaotic at times. With the decision to homeschool I have had to look realistically at my home management skills, personal discipline and ability to motivate my children in a positive manner. Obviously, if I couldn’t convince my son to make his bed, I pondered, how could I make him do math problems and learn to write a complete sentence? Certainly, I couldn’t use negative things like spanking or other punishment to bring about a harmonious compliance with my rule as benevolent Queen of the home.

Using my infant and toddler as an excuse, I felt pretty smug about being “too busy” to keep the house organized and clean on a daily basis until a dose of reality hit me in the face with the truth that this was not a valid excuse.

A few years ago we had a play date with a neighbor and mother of three children, the two youngest of which were about the same age as mine. She was obviously a naturally organized person, and a total enigma to me. It was a dose of reality to be in her home for over an hour at 9 a.m It was almost unnerving but gave me hope to see the order and cleanliness that reigned undisturbed in her home. My son noticed the difference, too. I was mortified to hear him say upon entering our den of disorder afterwards, “I like their house better.” Her house itself had the exact same floor plan as ours and was nearly identical.

I turned to a veteran homeschool mom at times for advice. She told me to teach my son to pick up his toys at night by setting a policy where any toys left on the floor at bedtime are thrown in the trash. She vacuumed each night, which was a foreign concept to me. This was a big step in the right direction and obviously meant I had to pick up and clean up at night, too, if I expected my 2-year-old son to start developing this habit.