Even for the naturally tidy parent, the ability to organize your homeschool can feel like a daunting task.
This is so much more than laundry, meals, and getting to ball practice on time. You’ve taken on the immense responsibility of educating your children. Disorganization in your homeschool can leave mom feeling overwhelmed and on the edge of burnout. As bad as that is, there’s more.
Disorganization by Definition
What is disorganization, anyway? You might think organization is cleanliness, but that’s just the fruit of organization.
So, what are we talking about? Disorganization is defined as a “lack of proper planning and control” or “inability to plan one’s affairs or activities efficiently.”
If we apply this definition to homeschooling, it’s easy to get a mental picture. Every homeschool parent has been there. It might look like being late to important events or not being able to find papers, books, curriculum, supplies when you need them. It can make the homeschooling parent look out of control of the situation to outsiders and even her own family.
And does she feel this? She does. The stress of disorganization is real and it can completely derail your homeschool!
How Disorganization Impacts Homeschool Children
- Disrupts focus. Disorganization keeps everyone in multitasking mode rather than deep focus mode. This can make study time more challenging.
- Disruptive behavior surfaces. This study demonstrates the impact of clutter and disorganization on our children’s brains. Emotionally regulation is impacted.
- Embarrassment. When children are small, they don’t show embarrassment the same way an older child might experience embarrassment about their surroundings, but disorganization on our part can be a painful experience for our kids.
Disorganization Impacts the Homeschool Mom, too.
When we homeschool, the truth is our homes are in a perpetual state of looking pretty lived-in. Our kids have Lego projects going on, science experiments on the kitchen table, and don’t even get me started on books!
So, there is a certain amount of clutter we’re likely to live with in this step of our mom journey. But, when it tips over and touches our inability to keep our head on straight (can’t I just have a quiet corner to sip this cup of coffee?), or getting to important places on time (why can’t I find my keys?), or simply finding a pair of matching shoes or socks — it impacts our blood pressure, cortisol, and general mood.
What We Can Do to Organize Our Homeschool
While the idea of getting organized can feel a little scary, it will bless our families in the long run. And you’ll feel relief at being able to relax in your surroundings!
What can we do?
- Set up systems in our home that support us.
- Make decisions about what is most important in our surroundings.
- Create a rhythm of organization in your homeschool.
No need to embrace mom-guilt, take simple steps to start organizing today.
Still need help? We’ve got you covered with this How to Organize Your Homeschool Masterclass.
I’m feeling so overwhelmed because of my own disorganization here recently. So, this article was certainly much needed to motivate me to get myself in the right frame of mind and get everything organized to best suit myself and the one child of mine that I currently homeschool. This is my second year homeschooling and while I feel much more confident now than I did this time last year with homeschooling …I’m still doubting myself and when things are not organized and unable to be located when they’re needed it causes me to feel not so confident about my homeschooling. Thanks for sharing this article , I enjoyed reading it.
Thank you.