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How do you fit in all of your house/wife/mom duties and homeschool? Do you have certain days you clean? Do you find time in the evening just to spend time with the family?

I am always looking for other ideas to stay organized. It is hard some days to fit in housework with homeschooling. My kids have days where it takes all day for them to complete their work. I have been focusing more on my family in the evenings and just letting the house "be". what do you do?

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flylady.net helps. 

Also, a once/week hour to quickly vacuum, dust, mirrors/glass, etc.  helps too.  The kids make sure there is nothing on the floor while I vacuum.  I do 1-2 loads of laundry first thing in the morning and change loads when I have the opportunity.  It keeps the laundry down.

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I can not relax at night if my house is filthy! So I always make sure the main area is clean. If my husband is home for dinner which is about 40% of the time, then we tag team. After dinner he does the dishes while my son helps with cleaning off the table, taking out trash etc... I get the little girls dressed for bed, then our oldest goes and helps them brush their teeth while I do a quick vaccuum of the kitchen/dining and living room. Hubby reads to them and does devotions while I make sure everything is clean. This takes no time at all. Now if he is working I'm still in the kitchen cleaning at 9pm half the time! lol

I used to have a cleaning schedule and it worked really well. I'd like to get back to that. We are going to try to have a set time during the day which is a 15 minute chore break. We can tackle a lot in 15 minutes if we work together!

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What's a clean house?  LOL!  Ok, seriously I get the boys to help me with as much as they can, you know many hands make light work and all of that.  The things they can't help with I do when they are doing independant work, or sleeping, or playing outside, or on those rare times that they are visiting with someone else.  Also my Hubby is a GEM!  Many times if something has fallen behind, he will tell me "don't worry about it I'm going to do it during my 'weekend' and you just focus on the boys they are the most important!" and he will do exactly what he says.  His work schedule is such that he works 10 - 12 hour days 4 days a week and gets 3 days off, so he many times will spend one of those days doing things that need done!  I can't tell you how many times he's said to me "make a list of all the things you want to get done but don't have time" and then he goes and does the whole list!  I used to feel guilty him doing that but I don't anymore because to him it's a way to show he loves us and he cares for us and he supports our homeschooling.  I am blessed with a great hubby. 

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FlyLady definitely helps.  I'm a FlyBaby myself. 

The emails are very encouraging but some days they can be overwhelming.  I'll check and see 20 emails and think "I have to read them all!" which I don't, not really, but I feel overwhelmed before I start.

Her book on the other hand is always great.  If I need a little encouragement or direction I can pick it up and read a few pages, and not get distracted online (um, like I am now!) while checking emails.

I think one thing I've taken from my Charlotte Mason AND FlyLady reading is the idea of 15 minutes.  Short lessons.  Short bursts of cleaning/organizing.  Another is habit training!  I even need it as an adult.  FlyLady is all about putting your routines on autopilot and the "do it now" principle.

I like Hannah Keeley's website too.

BUT as for the day-to-day HOW, I have a morning routine (everyone dressed, cook breakfast, pick up kitchen, start laundry, Bible time at the table) a noon routine (toy pickup, switch laundry to dryer, eat lunch, books, naps, then I go back and pick up the lunch dishes and the books) and a night routine (after dinner I pick up the kitchen, run the dishwasher, walk through the house and pick up any "strays", then go into the bedtime routine of baths/book/etc).  And I spread out my "zone" cleaning as FlyLady describes.  Between the routines we play and learn and play some more.

Between the time hubby gets home and I start dinner, is just family time.

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My morning time is a blur. I do start some laundry. Bigs do their own. But after 2 it is all organized. We vacuum and dust, and deep clean once a week on Saturday. Unless the floor really needs to be vacuumed. Bigs each have a chore( trash,feed animals,pu yard)We eat at 5:30-6 and the big kids clean the kitchen and sweep and mop the floor. Everyone gets a shower. Dad goes to work at 9:40. We pick up toys and take out animals. In bed by 10:30. It doesn't always go smoothly, but everyone knows what their duty is and we get it done. Mostly.