A Woman's Work is Never Done

Having a clean, orderly house was always a high priority for me.  In fact, before we had children John and I bought our first house and carpeted everything except the kitchen in off-white carpeting.  The walls, drapes and carpet were the color of a pearl. When we started having children and found it necessary to purchase a larger house, we were smart enough to opt for a color palate that was more kid friendly, but I still wanted our home to be neat and clean. Keeping everything spiffy was not too difficult before I made the commitment to homeschool, but when I realized that for a sizable chunk of my day I was going to be sequestered in my schoolroom, I knew that I was going to need to set up a schedule for my housework that would be as unbending as my school schedule.

As I began working out my schedule, I realized that in order to get everything done I needed to get up at five-thirty every morning.  This was hard for me.  I was always up at six, but losing that additional thirty minutes of sleep seemed like a huge sacrifice.  Nevertheless, until my children were old enough to help me with household chores, I was going to have to haul myself out of bed at five-thirty a.m.

When I got out of bed, the first thing I did was put on my makeup and style my hair. When I was dressed, I went into the kitchen and started cooking breakfast.

I had time set aside on my schedule for everything that I would do during the day:

• A time to make the beds
• A time to do the laundry
• A time to wash the dishes
• A time to sweep the floors
• A time to vacuum
• A time to dust

Because I had scheduled everything that I would need to do during the day, I never really had an excuse for not doing something. I could never justify saying, “Oh, well, I think I’ll let that go today,” because I knew each task had a time slot when it was supposed to be completed.

This may sound like a grueling life, but the schedule made it possible for me to spend the required time in school and complete my housework every day. Of course, in order for the schedule to be effective, I had to actually discipline myself to follow it, and this is where that thing called “habit” came into play. The word “habit” tends to carry with it a negative connotation.  We attribute all sorts of unsavory behavior to bad habits, but we seldom attribute positive behavior to good habits. Yet, our habits dictate most of our lives. Each of us has bad habits and good habits; the key to success in any endeavor lies in minimizing our bad habits and maximizing our good habits.

By doing things in the same order every day I formed habits that helped me finish my housework quickly and efficiently. I never had to wonder when I was going to find time to perform a particular chore; I knew exactly when I was going to do everything because everything was on the schedule. Thus, performing the mundane household tasks that are an inescapable part of life became a habit. I no longer gave any thought to when or how I was going to perform any of my duties. I followed the schedule and developed habits that enabled me to complete my housework quickly.

During my twenty-five years as a homeschooling mom, I looked forward to the day when my last student would graduate, and I would no longer need to get up at five-thirty every morning. In the fall of 2000 that day finally arrived; however, I immediately began working at our family’s mortgage company, and I found it necessary to get up every morning at five o’clock.

I am still on a schedule so that every morning I know exactly what housework needs to be done on that particular day of the week before I leave for work. We then have breakfast, Bible reading, and prayer before I drive the nine miles to our offices where I arrive no later than nine o’clock. I rarely leave the offices during the day; most days I go home between five-thirty and six o’clock. By the time dinner is cooked and the kitchen is cleaned, I may have an hour for television before I go to bed—sometime between nine-thirty and ten o’clock.

My life has never been easy, but it has been possible because I trained myself to adhere to a schedule that allowed me to first pursue a career as a homeschooling mother and, later, as a businesswoman.  Because I recognized that, as a woman, I would always bear the responsibility for cleaning the house, doing the shopping, and preparing the meals, I formed habits that enabled me to meet all of my responsibilities—not just for a few weeks or months, but for many years. I have now been working full-time in our mortgage company for twelve years, and the demands on my time are even greater than they were when I was homeschooling. I know that I could never have met those demands if I had not begun so many years ago by making a simple schedule that would enable me to take care of my house and family while I also homeschooled my children.

If you feel overwhelmed, I advise you to make a schedule that will enable you to do all of those things each day that are necessary for you and your family to thrive. Then, train yourself to adhere to your schedule. You will find that, in the long run, it will make your life easier and more enjoyable.

Joyce Swann is a nationally-known author and speaker. Her own story of teaching her ten children from the first grade through master’s degrees before their seventeenth birthdays is retold in her book, Looking Backward: My Twenty-Five Years as a Homeschooling Mother. For more information visit her website at http://www.frontier2000.net or like her on Facebook at http://www.facebook.com/frontier2000mediagroup.

Why I Love Texting

I began texting in 1975 and used it very effectively in my homeschool. In fact, I would have to say that texting was a major contributor to our success and soon became my new best friend. No, it was not the kind of texting that kids do using their big thumbs on teeny tiny keyboards that send weirdly coded messages to itty bitty screens. It was the kind of texting that saved us many hours and made our school day much more efficient.

Our kind of texting involved textbooks. Because we used accredited courses for all grade levels and enrolled each child separately, every child had his own brand new set of textbooks.  Since these books were not going to be handed down to subsequent students, I had an opportunity to utilize all texts as if they were consumables.

Those of us who attended public schools were thoroughly indoctrinated to believe that marking in a textbook was akin to committing a crime. Of course, the thinking was that if these books were defaced they would not be suitable for use by subsequent students. However, when you homeschool and are going to purchase new books for each student, that “logic” is no longer logical. My rule is this: The books are made to serve you; you are not made to serve the books.

A student can spend hours copying sentences to underline the subject once and the verb twice. Why? When you own the books, all you have to do is instruct your student to underline the subject once and the verb twice right in the book. An exercise that would have taken half an hour can be completed in five minutes. The best part is that all of the benefits of the grammar lesson still apply. Absolutely nothing is lost to the student by not spending time copying material.

Likewise, when my students learned their spelling words for their weekly tests, I quizzed them orally and had them spell the words aloud. Since each student had a different spelling list, nothing could be accomplished by having them write the words. I kept track of any words they missed and had them restudy to be quizzed on those missed words the following day.

When students were instructed to compile a list of words and their definitions from their lessons in geography, science, etc., I told them to highlight those words and their definitions in their textbooks and to study from the texts rather than writing them on a separate sheet of paper.

Math books can also be used as consumables.  Addition, subtraction, and multiplication problems can frequently be worked directly in the book. Of course, as math becomes more advanced, that is no longer possible, but whenever it makes sense, have your students work directly in their texts.

By eliminating hours spent copying material from their textbooks, your students will finish their work much earlier and will be less tired and better prepared to tackle their other assignments.

Next week: my final blog on time management: A Woman’s Work is Never Done

Joyce Swann is a nationally-known author and speaker. Her own story of teaching her ten children from the first grade through master’s degrees before their seventeenth birthdays is retold in her book, Looking Backward: My Twenty-Five Years as a Homeschooling Mother. For more information visit her website at http://www.frontier2000.net or like her on Facebook at http://www.facebook.com/frontier2000mediagroup.

Making Your Home School a "Real" School

In 1991 Dr. Bill Hagan, a religion professor at California State University at Dominguez Hills who was my children’s professor when they were earning their Master’s Degrees through independent study, phoned to tell me that he and his fifteen-year-old daughter were going to be passing through El Paso the following week. He said that since they were going to be here, he would like to come by our house and meet his students in person. Although the children were finished with their school day before he and his daughter arrived, we spent several hours talking about my approach to home education and how I incorporated my educational philosophy into my classroom.

In 1993 our family was featured on the CBS series How’d They Do That? and, because Dr. Hagan had actually visited us in our home, they interviewed him to ask why he thought we had been so successful with homeschooling. When the show aired, I was surprised to discover that in his interview Dr. Hagan said that although we had a homeschool, I ran it like a “real school.” Initially, I was taken aback by his remark because the truth was that I ran my homeschool nothing like a traditional public or private school, and I could not imagine why Dr. Hagan would come away with that impression.

As I thought about Dr. Hagan’s remarks, however, I realized that most people, including many homeschoolers, do not recognize a homeschool as a “real school.” Many people assume that homeschools have little, if any, real structure and that homeschooled students are allowed to study only what interests them and to do so on whatever schedule suits them. Unfortunately, there is some basis for people having this impression of homeschoolers, and it has led to many parents applying this line of thinking to their homeschools.

I am, therefore, writing this blog to offer some insights into how to make your homeschool “real.” Not real in the sense that it will be modeled after the public system, but real in that it will be a structured and predictable part of your family’s daily life.

First, set “real” school hours. At our house, school was in session from 8:30 a.m. until 11:30 a.m. Normally, that ended the school day. However, if anyone had not finished his work in that allotted time, he came back to school at 1:00 p.m. to complete his lessons. This schedule was a constant during the 25 years that I homeschooled. As the children grew older and their work became more advanced, we found it necessary to make some changes, but the school hours were written in stone. If, however, someone finished his work in less than the three hours allotted, he was “out of school” for the day.

Second, each day give each student “real” assignments that include all of the subjects to be covered and the amount of work to be completed in each subject. When your students know in advance exactly what they are required to accomplish during their school day, they tend to get to work and get it finished so that they will be free to do other things.

Third, set up a “real” school year. Prior to the beginning of the school year, set up your calendar so that you know ahead of time exactly when your school year will begin and when it will end. You may be thinking that this third suggestion should, actually, be the first suggestion. Under normal circumstances, that would be correct; however, I am writing this in the middle of the school year. I have, therefore, moved it to third place so that you can make your adjustments now for a school year that is not on target. 

At the beginning of the school year, mark your starting date and your ending date for the school year on your calendar.  Next, count the number of actual school days in each month (remember to subtract any days such as holidays or school breaks so that you will have an accurate count of actual school days).

If you use a curriculum with daily lesson plans, check to determine whether you have allowed a sufficient number of days to complete all lesson plans. If not, adjust your calendar so that you will either begin your school year earlier or end it later in order to complete all lessons. It is a good idea to allow ten additional days for emergencies and sickness that may interfere with your schedule.

If you do not use a curriculum with daily lesson plans, prepare a daily lesson plan for each student for the coming school year. That way you will know exactly how much work each of your students needs to complete each day.

We are now at the mid-point in the year, but you can use this same system to discover exactly how many days your students will need in order to complete their current grade levels. When you have done that, adjust your calendar to allow time for them to do so. If you discover that in order to complete their work your students will need to have a longer school year than you had anticipated, you can let them know now and avoid a lot of unhappiness in May.

Setting up a “real” school year, establishing “real” school hours, and giving your students “real” assignments each day will help you create a homeschool that operates like a “real” school.

Joyce Swann is a nationally-known author and speaker. Her own story of teaching her ten children from the first grade through master’s degrees before their seventeenth birthdays is retold in her book, Looking Backward: My Twenty-Five Years as a Homeschooling Mother. For more information visit her website at http://www.frontier2000.net or like her on Facebook at http://www.facebook.com/frontier2000mediagroup.

It's About Time

The world is comprised of two kinds of people: those who complain that they do not have enough time for everything on their to do lists and those who lament their boring lives where time hangs heavy and they have “nothing to do.”

 Yet, time is the one thing that every person on earth shares equally. Whether you are Donald Trump or a resident of a homeless shelter, whether you are the picture of health or dying of a terminal disease, whether you are a genius or an idiot, you have exactly the same amount of time as every other individual. Each day every person on earth is allotted twenty-four hours. No one can buy additional time and no one can sell time that he will never use.

Time wisely spent has resulted in the acquisition of knowledge that has led to the eradication of many deadly diseases, the ability to communicate with anyone in the world in a matter of seconds, high speed travel, and numerous products that make our daily lives comfortable and enjoyable. Time wasted is like a piece of down carried away by the wind never to be seen again.

When I think about using time productively, my mind always turns to the years I spent homeschooling my ten children. During those years I met many homeschooling mothers who began their school year in September each year with high expectations only to discover in the spring that they were behind schedule and that their students could not possibly complete their courses by the end of May. At that time most reacted in one of two ways: Either they became so discouraged that they did not even try to rectify the situation, and just before Memorial Day they pronounced their students finished for the year, or they embarked on a game of catch-up that made their school days impossibly long. In the latter case, the students became overwhelmed and were able to learn very little.

Because the New Year falls in the middle of the school year, I think this is a good time to take a fresh look at how we as homeschoolers are using our time and the time of our children. Therefore, during the month of January, I will be writing about time management for homeschoolers, and I will share some of the things that worked for me as I homeschooled my ten children. I will offer tips to keep your homeschool on schedule and your school days short.

I also look forward to sharing some of the time management lessons that continued to guide my life after my children had all graduated and I began working full time in our mortgage business. I hope that you will join me this month as we all prepare for a productive New Year.

Joyce Swann is a nationally-known author and speaker. Her personal story of homeschooling her own ten children from the first grade through masters' degrees before their seventeenth birthdays is retold in her book, Looking Backward: My Twenty-Five Years as a Homeschooling Mother. For more information, visit her website at http://www.frontier2000.net or like her on Facebook at http://www.facebook.com/frontier2000mediagroup.