Large Family Logistics: Diagnosing my Problems

I'm currently working through Large Family Logistics (someone asked me if we have a large family; I said among large homeschooling families, not really; in Ohio, kind of; here, YES! haha). The book would have been great when I just had a toddler or two, though, honestly! There are so many things about being a homemaker that I didn't know and that perhaps most of us from my generation didn't know. Most of us, even if we had chores and such to do when we were home, were at school all day and didn't see the inner workings of a running household. When the author made that point it suddenly made everything make sense. Sure, I knew how to cook and clean. There is so much more to it than that, though, and especially when the kids were really little and couldn't really help with anything I remember feeling like a failure because I could never stay on top of laundry/cleaning/etc. while taking care of them. Things are getting some better because the older ones are able to help, but of course the younger ones are still here able to destroy in a single bound what took all day to complete. We're working on that. :P I have also learned that when everyone (including Dad) uses the house on an hourly, daily basis, the house is not going to look like it's out of a magazine. It's something that drives me crazy, but it's the reality of the situation. Our house is our school, my base for my business, my husband's office for his work, etc., etc., etc. It is not going to look like no one lives here except maybe when we're on vacation and I get it all cleaned ahead of time so we can come home to a picture-perfect house (hahahahahahahaha ha. ha. ha.).

The other main thing I want to try more of is getting the kids more involved in a way where they actually learn how to complete a task, and that I don't just expect them to figure it out (which I now realize is what I've been doing for who knows how long). Thanks to the author for that help! Getting the abstract random portion of me (which is a big one) to be more sequential like my husband's wonderful brain has been an ongoing battle, and this is yet another way. What do you mean the kids don't know exactly what I'm saying the first time I tell them to clean something? Can't they read my mind? Okay, so it's not quite that bad.... ;)

Great book... love the textbook size now that I'm used to it, although when it first came in the mail I thought I had accidentally ordered the large-print edition. :P