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It is assumed by most families that washing
clothes is a non-stop activity and that hampers and bedrooms are always
full of dirty clothes. It is also the norm for mothers to spend
weekends running around town looking for a new boy's shirt for this and
girl's skirt for that, a pair of shoes for this other activity and so
on. This clothing mess has to stop--Christian families don't have
time for this. We have to think. We have to read. We
have to pray. The problem is not
clothing, though. It's scheduling. Families are doing too
many things and that leads to a chaotic life that no one could ever hope
to manage. The activities are decided upon at random, as they come up
week by week or day by day. There is no schedule or routine but
Mom runs around like a firefighter putting out every new fire that pops
up. This really needs to stop. We need to get control of our
lives, establish priorities and do fewer things--but do them better.
God does not want Christians running
around like chickens with their heads cut off. We are supposed to
be a people marked by meditation, prayer and depth of mind. There
must be time for peace and quiet. There must be time to pray and
study. This is supposed to be one of the benefits of Christian
home-schooling, but very few families achieve it. Home schooling become
little more that parent-managed chaos instead of school-managed chaos.
Take control of your life and simply or you're going to be poor and
shallow.
In a Christian home school, there needs
to be a routine schedule that makes the home resemble the
monastery--which, after all, is seeking the same goals. There
should be time for prayer. Time for studies. Time for work.
Time for eating and resting. These times should be ordered
prudently so that the objectives of these activities can be achieved
efficiently.
When the schedule is rightly ordered,
clothing becomes very simple. Because the schedule is well ordered, the
clothing needed for each different activity is known and clothing can be
changed when times call for movement from one activity to another.
Shirts don't get pulled off in a frantic to rush from one activity to
the next, and the next, and the next. School clothing gets taken
off and hung up so that work clothing can be put on. After work,
work clothing gets hung up (it's OK if it's dirty...it's work clothing)
and school clothing goes back on. School clothing doesn't get
dirty, no clothes are on the floor, and much less clothing is needed.
In fact, your children can take care of their own laundry once their
life is well ordered.
If a child has 2 or 3 shirts and 2 or 3
pairs of pants for school and 2 work outfits, they can learn to wash and
dry one (on a clothesline) while they wear another. There won't
even be much need for a big family-size washer and dryer because smaller
hand-washable washings will be all that's necessary. You can
afford better clothing because you'll be buying far less--and it will be
better taken care of.
However, the clothing mess can only be
eliminated when the schedule is in order. If you'd like to learn
more about scheduling, read or listen to my article "How To Create a
Schedule". You may also want to look at our sample Home School
Schedule for CLAA families. Both are available on the
CLAA
homepage.
God bless! |
