Combining household chores with school

Many of us do a load of laundry every day, or every other day. When does it all get folded and put away?

A homeschool mom shared her great system: After lunch she reads a story out loud to all her kids. When there's clean laundry, which is practically every day, her children sit in a circle on the floor and fold clothes as she reads. When they're done, they divide up the clothes so that each child has his or her pile. Older children take responsibility for something extra: one takes the sheets, one takes the towels, and one takes the baby's clothes. When the story is over, everyone picks up the piles and puts them away. The result? No piles of clean laundry waiting to be folded. What kind of story? A great story, well read, speaks to all ages.

We use laundry as a break between lessons. My oldest schools on-line and frequently needs to rest her eyes from the computer. That's a perfect time to do laundry!

We also use cooking to teach math and science. Since we raise a lot of our own food here, DS has learned what herbs go well with what foods. He's been involved in every aspect of the planting and harvesting, which gave us a practical way to teach about the life cycles. He's watched us butchering chickens, which turned into an anatomy lesson. He wants to be a chef, so he cooks supper at least once a week, learning how to follow directions, double recipes, ect. There's so much we can teach them through everyday life.