Spring Cleaning with Children ~ Lessons in Home Education

"Another important item in systematic economy is, the apportioning of regular employment to the various members of a family. If a housekeeper can secure the cooperation of all her family, she will find that "many hands make light work." There is no greater mistake than in bringing up children to feel that they must be taken care of, and waited on by others, without any corresponding obligations on their part. The extent to which young children can be made useful in a family would seem surprising to those who have never seen a systematic and regular plan for utilizing their services."

~ Beecher, Catharine & Harriet Beecher Stowe, American Woman's Home, 1869

While magazines and blogs are inspiration to some women to clean those cobwebs, it takes a different kind of motivation for children. Here are some ways to involve them in spring cleaning (and in the name of home education):

The Berenstain Bears and the Messy Room

• Head to the library (field trip) and check out some books on the subject. Berenstain Bears and the Messy Room is our favorite choice (subject: reading).

• If you have older children, put them in charge of creating some all-natural cleaners (home economics, science). They can measure out the safe ingredients for these recipes (math) and prepare the cleaning solutions for you (chemistry). Be sure to discuss the safety tips mentioned at the last page of the printable and share the reasons for avoiding harsh chemicals in cleaning.

• The day before, get out the art supplies and have your children color and cut out our cleaning labels to place on your homemade cleaners. Or, they can create their own labels (arts and crafts).

• Place one of your mate-less socks on the hand of your energetic toddler. You may want to dampen it first with a spray of all-natural furniture polish. Ask them to wipe the surfaces they can reach for you (such as baseboards, lower shelves, etc). If anything it will keep them busy while you clean (pre-school).

• Play fun and upbeat learning songs while you clean. Our favorites are ocean songs, space songs, dinosaur songs or any other Cd in the Science Series by Twin Sister Productions (science and nature).

• Ask your older children to choose one item each week to do from the "Monthly Work Section" or "Spring Cleaning" Checklists. It is handy to print them out and have children record the date each time they complete a task so they can track what hasn't been done in awhile (home economics). This will also encourage them to complete the list when they see their progress.

• An older daughter may want to prepare a cleaning management binder to adopt as her own (home economics).

• You may also be interested in organizing the children's room at this time. Here are some printable labels from our sister site (menu link below). Just have your children place like-items in plastic storage containers. When sorted, label each box and store away neatly (home economics, basic skills).

LABELS Children's Room Organizational by JES

When all items have been checked off your to-do list, you can prepare some kind of reward. Perhaps a family outing or some popped corn and a wholesome DVD?

Here are some other spring cleaning posts that you may be interested in:

• Cleaning Inspiration/Preparation
• All Natural Cleaner Recipes ~ Free Printable
• Cleaning Management Binder ~ Free Printable
• Citrus Cleaner Recipes ~ DIY's
• Disinfectant Spray Using Essential Oils
• Cleaning with Lemons
• Create Your Own Chemical Free Cleaning Cleanser
• Making Lavender Infused Cleaning Products
• Making Lavender Scented Carpet Deodorizer
• Cleaning Product Labels ~ Free Printable
• Control Your Clutter ~ Housecleaning Inspiration
• Your Interior Decoration… Today ~ Housecleaning Inspiration

This post may be shared with some or all of the following link-ups: The Art of Home-Making Mondays, Modest Mom Monday's, Monday's Musings, Make Your Home Sing Monday, Good Morning Mondays,  The Scoop, Titus 2sdays, Titus 2 Tuesdays, Roses of Inspiration, Tuesdays with a Twist, Raising Homemakers, Wise Woman Link Up, Homestead Blog Hop,  Wow Us Wednesdays, Wildcrafting Wednesday, Coffee and Conversation, So Much at Home, Homemaking Thursdays, Home Sweet Home, Hearts for Home Thursdays, Home Acre Hop, Growing in Grace Thursdays, From the Farm Blog Hop, Farmgirl Friday, Front Porch Friday Blog Hop, Awesome Life Friday Link Up, Simply Natural Saturdays and Clever Chicks Blog Hop. Thank you lovely ladies for hosting these.  Painting is titled "Mom, I Cleaned My Room" by Dick Sargent.