by Kimberly Farmer

Balancing School, Business, and Housework

This question gets asked a lot… How do you juggle homeschooling, housework, and a job? Well, the answer is different for everyone, but the struggle of finding a balance between educating my children, managing our house, and running a business from home is real and it’s continuous, because it requires self-discipline, adjustment, and consistency. Often, it’s sheer will-power that wins the day against an exhausting and never-ending to-do list or outside factors that just can’t be helped. Let me be clear – Every day is not glamorous, and I don’t have it all figured out, but I have learned a few things over the years that I am happy to share. I have found that when I’m on top of my game, my home becomes a haven, my head is cleared, and our days make sense, so it’s worth the effort.

Obviously, what works for me and my family, may not be best for you and yours, so I’ll explain more about me, so you can better adapt my suggestions to work for you. I’ll break down the areas of school, housework, and business as I explain my situation, share my perspective, and give some practical suggestions. I’d love to hear your ideas, as well, because thriving is a process and its always changing like the seasons.

 

 

WHERE I’M COMING FROM

Life Requires Adjusting

When I was young mom with a two year old and a baby on the way, I had a great friend, Dena, who was gracious enough to let me visit her home for friendly chats. She, too, had a two year old and a baby on the way, so our situation in life was similar. What was not similar, was the extent of our home management skills. She always had an amazingly clean and orderly house, healthy and tasty meals, and fashion-sense to boot. I, on the other hand, was doing well to keep my house in reasonable shape periodically, have some meal options in the pantry, and put on clothes and makeup. My life wasn’t falling apart, by any stretch of the imagination, and I was a happy mom and wife, but my will-power and self-discipline to stay on top of things, needed some attention. Visiting with my friend at her home, was just what I needed because it motivated me to get myself pulled together. If she could do it, I could do it. Well, I tried to be so incredible, and usually failed, but the inspiration was there and I did improve. Over the next few years, our family grew, moved multiple times, and I took on homeschooling and running a small business from home. Now there isn’t a closet big enough to store all my figurative hats. Maybe you can relate?

Homeschooling

At the time of this post, I have been homeschooling for eight years (my two children are in middle school and upper elementary). We have used both parent-led and video-driven curricula over the years. When it comes to teaching-styles, I fall somewhere between traditional and eclectic. I choose strong programs and then adapt them as needed, add in extra teaching, and sprinkle in fun activities. Our school days have always been about 7 hours long.

Business

I have a Computer Information Systems degree and a double minor in Art and in Communications, which I spun into a graphic design and marketing career. My role as a graphic and web designer has never been the job that “brings home the bacon,” but it does contribute to our home, and six years ago I was offered the opportunity to begin my own graphic design and marketing business, which I named Dreamleaf Design. The industries of my clients are wonderfully diverse, and they are spread all over the country, ranging from small businesses to larger associations. Besides Dreamleaf Design, I also have this Sandpiper Creatives website, which I enjoy using to share resources, ideas, and encouragement.

Housekeeping

Around home, I’m a bit of a walking contradiction:
I am a very organized person, and I love routine, but I don’t naturally enjoy a strict schedule.
I am at my best in the morning, but I like sleeping and don’t like getting up early.
I love a clean and tidy home, but I don’t like to deep clean.
I appreciate healthy cooking, but I do not like to cook. I repeat, I do not like to cook.
I am the frugal spouse, who keeps the books and stresses out.

 

 

THE WAY I SEE IT

Prioritize and Compartmentalize

Obviously all three areas are important and all three have to co-exist. Unfortunately, multi-tasking across them isn’t very productive for me. At best, I can only be working on two of them at the same time. To stay sane and to help us all get through our day, I prioritize in an order that I can fall back on without thought when all the worlds are colliding and demanding my attention. It’s just not possible for everything to be done at one time. That’s just not life. So, prioritizing is key for reaching a manageable balance.
1) School
2) Housework
3) Business
Relationships (temporary exception)

School

I prioritize school first because it’s physically possible for someone else to wash the dishes or fold the laundry or even pick up groceries. It’s even possible for a client to have their business needs met through another business, even if it hurts me financially. But no one else is overseeing my kids’ education but me, and their whole lives are ahead of them and they are relying on me to give them the best start. If I don’t take care of school, that loss will be the greatest.

Housework

I make the house a priority over my job, not because it is technically more important, but because if I neglect the house for too long, I lose my own sanity and just can’t function well in ANY area. I am not a clean freak, so I let a lot go for the sake of accomplishing other things, but I do try to maintain a descent amount of organization and cleanliness so that my family can enjoy our haven and I can better apply myself to educating my kids and meeting the needs of my clients.

Business

Sometimes the needs of my clients are of higher importance than anything else going on in my life at the time, so to cushion the consequences of neglecting my family during those times, I have learned to create business boundaries and policies that protect me from over-extending myself. This way, I take on less work, but I’m able to give my best without compromising school and household. Because of the nature of my work, projects aren’t always consistent and predictable – they can be sporadic and come in waves. There are times when a client’s needs are an emergency or require more time than usual. In those cases, school may have to be put on hold, dinner may be crazy simple, and my family will think I fell off the planet. But these times are rare, and I have found ways to manage our time and days to help combat that happening or to minimize the damage when it does.

Relationships

People are more important than education or business, so I gladly allow temporary interruptions to my priorities, when caring about or investing in people is involved (a good friend is visiting, time with extended family, ministering to someone over the phone, etc.).
*I do NOT consider errands, appointments, etc, welcome interruptions. So I try to schedule appointments (doctor, dentist, whatever) AFTER school time. When we began homeschooling I took advantage of scheduling appointments during the morning or afternoon because it was easier to get an appointment or there was less traffic to deal with, but a few years ago, a friend of mine, Judy, helped me realize the damage that was doing to our school days and productivity. So now I try to schedule events, errands, appointments, etc. for outside of our school time whenever possible.

 

PRACTICAL SUGGESTIONS

Schedule/Routine

On school days, the kids begin the day with their alarm clocks. They get ready for the day and complete a light chore (one that helps me!). Our school day starts at 7:30 with our Bible/devotion time, ends at 3:30, and includes an hour lunch break. (See our Progress Tracking Chart.) I have deliberately planned for each child’s subject directly before lunch break and directly after lunch break to be as independent as possible. This allows me in a business emergency to have a large window of relatively uninterrupted time that I can devote to a business-related project. Knowing that this time is built in just in case I need it, helps me to not jump on the computer to work when my kids are really needing me for school or there is another home responsibility needing my attention.

So when do I accomplish work? I try to do most of my business-related work on the weekends, because I have more uninterrupted time. I am also able to work for a little time in the evenings if needed, and in the case of a more time-sensitive project, I can use that lunch window if necessary. Accomplishing work on the weekend when possible helps me stay on top of my game during the week when we are tackling school and I’m more likely to feel fried and get behind.

Sleep

To get up early and be on top of our day and get started right, I have to go to bed earlier, because this girl needs her sleep. The big problem with going to bed earlier, is that I also value a tiny bit of quiet, alone-time at some point of the day, and that takes place after the kids have gone to bed. (When else am I going to watch my international movies?!?) That doesn’t leave me much time. As a solution, I have the kids each go to their bedrooms half an hour earlier than their bedtime to play quietly or read. They are awake, but the house is quiet, and this gives me an extra half-hour to myself at night that I wouldn’t have otherwise. When the half hour is up and its bedtime, I give them a final tuck in and get in a little more “me time” before I hit the hay, too.

Cutting Outside Distractions and Unnecessary Commitments

When life was normal (before 2020!), we were committed to church, piano lessons, homeschool group activities (only when deemed valuable and not stressful to me), and periodically one sport. Our family just can’t function well if we try to involve ourselves in more than that. There isn’t enough time in the day or the week.

Online/Devices/Technology

I don’t accept email notifications on my phone, have social media accounts outside of Facebook or have as much immediate access on as many devices as most people. Personally, I just can’t. I feel like I’m already teetering on the edge.

Meals

The kids are responsible for their own simple breakfast (cereal, granola bar, fruit, etc.). Lunches are SIMPLE because I want to keep that lunch window open for me to accomplish other things and not trash the kitchen (sandwiches, soup, left overs, etc.). Dinners are nicer and are planned one week in advance. I’m still a big fan of crock pot/instant pot recipes and meals that make tasty left overs. The kids each get one snack that they can have whenever they want during their school day. This cuts down on the “Mommy, I’m hungry” chit chat that interrupts everyone. (Check out our Snack Shop post for a practical math idea.)

Tiny Tips

  • Shoes – I wear tennis shoes almost every day, because I am more likely to get up and be productive when my feet are comfortable.
  • Daily Chores – Each day, I try to do one load of laundry and one dishwasher load.
  • Food – Our family shops once a week and uses grocery pickup. One huge time advantage to doing this (besides time not spent inside the store) is that my husband and I both add to our grocery list on our apps as soon as we think of something we will be needing the following week. This means that we don’t have to spend time discussing, or finding lists.
  • Alarms – My organized sister-in-law who is also juggling housework, raising two boys, and teaching her classes from home while supervising her kids’ education, uses her the alarms on her phone to keep her on track throughout the day. I have adopted her idea, and it really does help so much, because it’s so easy to loose track of time doing less important things and get behind.
  • Know Weakness and Delegate! – Unfortunately, I wasn’t blessed with a love of cooking, and I do not enjoy being in the kitchen. I still feed my family (don’t worry!), but I do get out of it as often as I can! My husband, who enjoys cooking and eats very specific things due to his diet and pickiness, usually makes his own meals, and my daughter who is old enough to cook and enjoys it, is very independent in the kitchen, as well. I take full advantage of this, because it frees up my time to be doing other things that I need to do and that I probably enjoy more. Everyone wins.

 

 

PROGRESS, NOT PERFECTION

As I mentioned, there isn’t a one-size-fits-all solution to balancing so many areas of our lives, but I do know that the Lord will help us prioritize and evaluate when we invite his counsel. Also, although it can be tough to hear, we can ask our spouse for suggestions and feedback as we sincerely explain our burdens and listen without taking offense. Improvement usually comes in baby steps, so take it one bit at a time and build on new, good habits, that are healthy for your family. We’ve got this.

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