Homemaking Homesteader

Monday on the Homestead

10:00, 2008-Mar-3 .. 3 comments .. Link

Monday’s are a strange day. Part of me is gearing up for a new week and part of me is winding down for the weekend. Tobin works over the weekend and then has his days off during the week. We do manage to work this out. So this morning the part of me that is gearing up for a new week has already started working on the to-do list around my home.

Here is what it looks like for today (by this time in the morning some of this has already been done):

Laundry – 3 to 5 loads, actually have not counted to find out the exact number

Clean up the kitchen, sweep and mop the floors

Straighten up the laundry room: sweep and mop the floor

Vacuum the living room and vacuum the furniture off to remove the dog hair

Clean the bathroom

Sweep and mop the dining room floor

Bring in firewood

Food preps, which won’t be much today, we are eating leftovers and no baking needs to be done

Of course I don’t do all of this myself. I mentioned in a recent blog I was working on training my younger ones with the household chores. I had one lady ask me about this wanting to know what I do. Her kids, however, are 6 and under. Well what I do and what this lady would do would be very different. My kids are 9 (almost 10), 12 and 14 years old.

So here is how I tackle the cleaning/training time:

All three kids clean up the kitchen after breakfast. I follow up on this when they are done to make sure they attended to all the details.

One of the kids sweep the dining room floor after eating and then mop it.

I start laundry and give Sierra assistance as she works to clean up the laundry room and sweep and mop. She basically already knows how to do this, she just skimps on it if I am not following up on her.

While I do laundry and work with Sierra, Jacob cleans the bathroom and teaches Isaac how to do this too. He can clean the toilet, wipe off counters, sweep and mop, shake rugs, etc.. Other details he is still learning how to do. Jacob has been cleaning the bathroom for about a year now.

After the laundry room is done and laundry is underway, Sierra and I will move into the living room to vacuum furniture, pick up any clutter and vacuum the furniture and do a little dusting.

Jacob will bring in firewood.

All this usually takes us about an hour or less and then we move onto school work.

School for Today is:

Saxon Math, 1 lesson

Reading in books from the Robinson Curriculum: Jacob is reading Picturesque America and will be starting For the Temple by GA Henty. Sierra is reading The Rover Boys on Treasure Isle and Isaac is reading: Four American Naval Heroes.

Writing: Isaac will do some handwriting practice, Jacob and Sierra will write one page on whatever topic they choose.

Presidents: We are doing a unit study on presidents and the election process and we will begin this weeks study in the afternoon. Actually I may be gone so Leanne who is home today will be directing kids. This week we will be focusing on the Constitution, Bill of Rights and the Three Branches of Government.

So this is what my “Gearing up for the New Week” Monday is looking like! My “weekend” Monday means that Tobin and I will head into town for our weekly date.