Having a Home School with 4 pupils requires a bit of planning. There is a lot of laundry, a lot of food to be cooked, a lot of mess that needs to be tidied up and a lot of dirt that needs to be removed. One mother cannot do it alone. It is all about teamwork.
We would like our children to be able to look after themselves, when they move away from home. So they take part in all the daily work with practical things around the house. We have tried to teach them these tasks, and that they are a part of it, since they were very small. Often they will come themselves and ask if they can take part, or they understand that it is a part of life, that has to be done, to make the practical part of life work. If they don’t have any clean underwear or they are hungry, it is very easy for a child to understand that it is not only somebody else’s problem, but also your own task. You are responsible for your own life. We have also tried to show them that it can be fun time spend together, if you try to make it fun. When we fold laundry we dance, sing and listen to music. When we cook, we talk and laugh, and often deep talks can arise through these moments spend together. We can also play ghost with the sheets or give the small kids a hammock sving. Using a saw or gardening tool can also be a learning process, and a task with satisfactory visible outcome. We have strawberries, raspberries, apples and tomatoes in our garden and if you look after them, you can eat them. That is very real to understand. Things can evolve from these moments. It is not boring stuff, it is life.