Things That Help Our Days Run Smoothly

When young moms ask my advice about homeschooling, I'm at a loss. My family looks different than theirs so it's not going to run the same way. I want to say: "Oh just do this or use this curriculum and your problems will be solved!" But it doesn't work that way. You have just two littles and I have 4 big kids. You do all the cooking and cleaning and I'm just a supervisor and helper of those tasks. You do all the teaching, but your school day is an hour long. My big kids do most of their school independently, but our school day is 4-5 hours long. Homeschool families just don't compare. 

BUT I do have some tips I've learned as a big homeschool family that really help us. I hope you may find some encouragement in here somewhere:

• soaking breakfast dishes until lunch time so we can focus on school work in the morning
• specific "tidy up" times (we do one in the morning and one in late afternoon) so I don't have to constantly be correcting the children for not picking up after themselves
• chores only after school (I'm not including setting table and the like here, just stuff like vacuuming, dusting, watering plants, sweeping the porch, etc. Trash is the exception. It has to be taken out in the morning.)
• I have learned to develop a team mentality when it comes to where things belong. I like to think it's my kitchen, but since I depend on my kids to do so many kitchen tasks, it's really a team effort to keep it running. So I figure I won't be the boss of where stuff goes until it's mostly me in the kitchen. Right now, it definitely isn't. This also goes back to the idea of: I can nag all day long or I can figure out a new way of thinking that eliminates the stress of doing that all the time. 
• When it comes to keeping the kids' closets in order and clothes neatly stacked in drawers, my method is denial for the most part.