Housework and homeschooling

Years ago I had a friend who had a teenage son in public school. "He doesn't have any chores," she said quite frankly. "Keeping up with his schoolwork is his chore."

I wonder if that is common? It does seem like it would be hard to find time to do housework when you're in school for eight hours, have two hours of homework, and are in the school musical or on a sports team.

I often hear the global complaint that "kids today have no responsibilities around the house," although I don't know if there's any truth to it.

Here's an interesting quote from this site:

I am seriously concerned about children today, no manners, no chores, no responsibilities ...

My neighbor ( a 5th grade teacher) once told me that at a holiday party her students were sitting on the floor playing games. A drink was knocked over and she watched the boy who it belonged to. He was uninterested. When she finally asked him why he was not cleaning it up…he said, ” at my house my mom does all the cleaning up…” OH RIGHT!

I certainly think that homeschooling makes it easier for kids to learn to do housework. I know one woman who said that Friday is "Life Skills" day, where they do no bookwork or academics, but instead spend their time cleaning the house and cooking together.

Here's what my girls, ages 5 and 7, are doing around the house these days. (My son does nothing at the moment, not because he is a boy, but because he is only two.)

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Both girls have their "morning routine," which consists of making their bed, either tucking their pajamas under the pillow or putting them in the laundry basket (depending on what day it is), getting dressed, brushing their teeth and hair, and carrying their breakfast dishes to the sink (although I often do the last part for them.) They also need to do a brief pick-up of their room.

Rachael, age 7, has the "job" of unloading the utensils out of the dishwasher every morning. She says she likes to do that.

At dinnertime (this is a new thing) the girls set the table: Rebecca, age 5, sets out the napkins, and Rachael does the rest.

After lunch and dinner, about 90% of the time they both help clear the table, including scraping their plates and putting them in the dishwasher. (The rest of the time I tell them they can go, and I'll take care of it for them.)

Lately I've started something new that works nicely: while Rachael does her "independent schoolwork" in the morning, Rebecca and I sort and start the laundry. We sort the whites and colors, then put in a load together. She enjoys that, especially pouring in the detergent and fabric softener, and picking the right settings on the machine and turning it on.

One day a week, I haul up all the clean underwear and socks that have accumulated in the laundry basket. I dump it all on the floor and ask one or both girls to come sort out their underwear and socks (and Benjamin's socks), pair the socks up, and put it all away. I put away the rest of the clean laundry while they do this.

When we go grocery shopping, they help me load the conveyor belt. When we get home, I bring the groceries upstairs and set the bags at the top of the stairs. The girls both carry the bags from there to the kitchen, empty them, and put some of it away. This is a huge help, and I am surprised at how good they are at it. Today they were doing this while I changed Benjamin, and when I got to the kitchen the bags were all emptied, there was ice cream and waffles in the freezer, etc.

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So, it is not very much. But it is definitely way more than what I was doing at their age.

Is it more than the typical schooled kid? I have no idea.