MamaB Creates the Learning Environment

You will be forgiven for not remembering that Miss.SingSong is not actually the main topic of this blog.  This blog is, after all, the story of a mom who chose to homeschool.  Thus, it is my story.  But she is such a big part of my life!  Part of my story as I choose to homeschool (and what parent doesn't do at least some teaching at home??), is how I keep things organized for better learning.

I love all of Julie B. Beck's talks and articles.  I love her.  She makes me want to be so much better.  She makes me feel elevated as a woman who has chosen to be a wife and mother first, and to make all other life decisions based on how they will impact those two sacred roles.  In her talk entitled Mothers Who Know, Sister Beck talked about homemaking:

"Mothers who know are nurturers. This is their special assignment and role under the plan of happiness.⁵ To nurture means to cultivate, care for, and make grow. Therefore, mothers who know create a climate for spiritual and temporal growth in their homes. Another word for nurturing is homemaking. Homemaking includes cooking, washing clothes and dishes, and keeping an orderly home. Home is where women have the most power and influence; therefore, Latter-day Saint women should be the best homemakers in the world. Working beside children in homemaking tasks creates opportunities to teach and model qualities children should emulate. Nurturing mothers are knowledgeable, but all the education women attain will avail them nothing if they do not have the skill to make a home that creates a climate for spiritual growth. Growth happens best in a “house of order,” and women should pattern their homes after the Lord’s house (seeD&C 109). Nurturing requires organization, patience, love, and work. Helping growth occur through nurturing is truly a powerful and influential role bestowed on women."

Isn't that wonderful!  And wouldn't my first year of teaching have been so different if I had realized how important it is to create a place of order for children to learn.  (As a point of vanity, I must add that I improved as a teacher each year I taught, and my students excelled beyond expectations for that school my last year.)

 I love thinking of homemaking as creating.  I have the power to create a happy, organized, and clean space for my family.  Creating is one of the divine attributes that, as a daughter of God, I can cultivate in myself.  My Heavenly Father is a creator of worlds, He can help me know how to create the home environment that my family needs.

But I don't do it alone.  I have Mr. Perfect's help!  You really are going to understand why I call him Mr. Perfect now.  Mr. Perfect starts the laundry, and often moves it to the dryer and starts a second load if needed before he leaves for school most mornings.  How lucky can a girl be?  Besides this, he is also the one to clean up the kitchen after dinner is over and Miss.SingSong is in bed.  He works non-stop so that I can relax a little bit.

Keeping my home clean and organized is not a natural talent.  And I'm not perfect at it.  But I do feel that it is important to make my home a place of happiness, a place where Miss.SingSong can explore and learn, and a place of refuge from the world.  I want my home to be a place that Mr. Perfect can come home to and relax.  I don't think that many people feel relaxed when they come home to a mess.  He and I are a team, and we agreed to a division of labor as we raise our family; I want to do my part as well as he does his.

In trying to make my routines as easy as possible, I discovered that I can vacuum our whole condo while leaving the vacuum plugged into one outlet.  That certainly makes the vacuuming easier.  On days that I don't vacuum I try to make sure that I sweep (is swiffer a verb?) and mop so that the floors are clean for a crawling baby!  I want her to explore, and I'm much more comfortable with that if she's exploring on clean floors.  So I clean my floors to have a happy and safe home.

I have also realized that keeping routines short and sweet is easier when I do them consistently.  If I clean everything regularly and don't let the mess build up, then it doesn't take long each day to clean it up again.  I love the feeling that I get when I know I've made the home a safe, happy place for my husband to return to after he has been working so hard to provide for us.

The biggest secret to my clean home, though, isn't really a secret.  I've heard it for years, and I didn't put much stock in it for years.  Make your bed as soon as you get up.  I don't know what it is about a made bed, but it just makes the rest of the cleaning seem easy.  When my bed is not made, even a clean kitchen just doesn't feel as clean, and I feel less satisfied in it.

I suppose the conclusion, then, is that mom was right - making the bed is the first thing I should do.  And God will help me find routines that fit my life as I try and make it a matter of prayer.  He also cares about the environment my family is raised in.