I was talking to another homeschooling mother of a large family when she said that she can't do it all. She is giving up making bread, yogurt, and mostly cooking from scratch. She asked me how I find time to do everything.
I have five children and home school the oldest three. They are 11, 8, 6, 4, and 19 months. If you looked in my pantries right now you'd find... 3 boxes of cheerios, rice, flour, home made mixes, quick oats, one box of mac and cheese, various tomato products, chocolate chips, spices. You wouldn't find many convenience foods. I cook all three meals a day for all seven of us.
How do I find time to bake bread, cookies, and other goodies?
I plan two baking days a week, usually Monday and Wednesday. I start bread while we're doing school. Once I get the bread in the oven and school is over I start cookies or brownies.
On Wednesday I bake two more loaves of bread and cookies. I also will make up any mixes for breakfast like waffle mixes, pancake, or coffee cake. I also make granola on Wednesday.
Fridays are our day for field trips and visiting friends. Every other Friday it's a free day so I do some freezer cooking and other types of bulk cooking.
Laundry is done every day. I usually do at least two loads a day especially since we use cloth diapers. Our house isn't spotless but it is usually picked up. I plan at least three five minute quick clean drills through out the day. Before school, after lunch, before Daddy gets home, and before bedtime.
In the Spring and Summer I plan for school work during the morning and then we head out to weed and take care of our gardens.
I'm planning on making yogurt on Mondays and work on our other homestead goals on Fridays. My girls are very excited about making soap.
I love to bake and take care of the garden. I love homeschooling my kids and watching them learn to be self sufficient. I believe that if you really enjoy something you can make time for it. However, we've also cut back on the time we spend out of our home. We're currently only leaving on Thursday afternoons, Fridays, and Sunday.
How do you find time to be a homemaker and chef of real food and be a wife and mommy?
6 comments:
I too make a lot of my own food, cook from scratch, bake, make noodles, make soap and many other things.
The key to doing all this.....is STAY AT HOME and don't run around.
I find many homeschooling mothers like myself seem to run and shop and volunteer too much away from home. This takes valuable time away from things like cooking from scratch, ect.
We all have the same amount of time each day. We need to guard that time and do what is important to God first, hubby second, and for our children.
Kim
I get asked this question a lot, too.
I start laundry before I get in the shower. I try to have 4 loads done before school starts.
I cook bread during naptime/quiet time, though yesterday I started bread before breakfast, and that went well, so I am going to try that again this week.
I garden while the children are playing outside, and also in te afternoons while they are napping. Naptime is also my sewing time.
We also have several chore times throughout the day; before breakfast, before lunch, and before dinner.
Hi Autumn,
I always say it is like getting a cow over the fence. I do it one leg at a time. LOL
You do amaze me. You are wise beyond your years.
Hugs,
Elizabeth
I think you summed it up...you have to intentionally plan your days and your priorities. It is doable if you are willing to schedule yourself. Thanks for sharing what you do to make your life work!
I applaud Autumn for her discipline and doing things that are important for her family.
However I have an issue with what Anonymous says about moms volunteering away from home and how it takes valuable time away from things like cooking from scratch. Isn't it more important to help others than spend hours making bread when you can just go to the store and pick one off of the shelf? And its probably cheaper too, if you get one that is on sale! I am all for guarding time for important things but not for excluding the whole world.
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