Large Family Laundry Routine

I've talked before about how I use my laundry routine as part of our homeschool, especially with my little ones.

We don't just learn in the laundry room, sometimes I actually DO laundry.  

No matter the size of your family, LAUNDRY HAPPENS!!

I've tried many methods over the years from scheduling laundry days to delegating it to older children.  Schedules - aarrgh - don't get me started.  They're so restricting and what if Monday is laundry day and you're invited to a homeschool get together.  Then what?  Do you transfer laundry to Tuesday?  But that just screws up Tuesday's schedule.  Do you wait for the next Monday to do laundry again?  Of course not - the laundry room would explode.

How about delegating?  That worked OK until Downy was used as laundry soap.  After all my t-shirts lost their shape, I delegated myself back to the laundry room.  And besides, I love washing clothes and I actually missed doing laundry.

NOW, I've settled into a laundry routine.  My routine keeps me moving on auto pilot.  

Morning - Wake up, collect laundry, sort, start load, coffee, get dressed.

Noon - Laundry switch, 2nd load if needed, lunch.

Afternoon - Fold and stack on dryer.

After supper - Put away.

Next day - Repeat.

If you like watching other people do laundry and want all the details of my large family laundry routine, I have a video on my YouTube channel, A Country Life.  I yak on and on about washing only dirty clothes, my favorite bleach and folding immediately.

What's your favorite household chore?  I want to hear from all the other laundry lovers out there -  I can't be the only one.

Laundry Room Speech Therapy

Dirty laundry is the story of my life.  Laundry baskets don't stay empty very long around here.  Seems like I wash a load, turn around, and the basket is full again.  I spend a lot of time sorting, washing, transferring, folding, and putting away laundry.  I'm not complaining though.  Really, it's an easy job when compared to other household chores.  It's one I haven't delegated to anyone else.  Scrubbing the tub...Amber?  Are you busy?  Sweeping the garage...Sam?  Grab the broom.  I'll stick with the laundry.

It probably comes as no surprise then when I say I spend a lot of time in the laundry room.  I teach Pre-School skills, give spelling tests, and even conduct speech therapy while completing the task of laundry.

We haven't ventured down the path of organized speech therapy with Joseph yet.  I know it's the norm for children with Down syndrome, but I rarely subscribe to the norms.  I'm wishy washy about the usefulness of it.  I'd have to pack up younger siblings, drive a distance, take time away from our normal homeschool day, leave older siblings to fend for themselves.  Would the results payoff?  I don't know.  Ask me about this in September and I'll probably think differently.

However, I do strive to incorporate my own version of speech therapy into our daily schedule.  The best place for practice is in the laundry room, of course.

Here's what I do:

As I remove items from the dryer, I have Joseph label them (with words).  He'll say something like shirt, an easy word for him.  I'll add to that and have him repeat it.  I might say t-shirt or long-sleeve shirt or sweatshirt.  These are harder for him to say.  He's not fond of multi-syllable words.  Taking another item from the dryer, he'll label it pants.  I'll say blue jeans or work pants or athletic pants.  He has a hard time with the consonant+l blend and also the /th/ phoneme so I like to incorporate those as much as possible.

I know speech therapists have special training to help with these issues and all I'm armed with is the internet, unconditional love and a burning desire for him to succeed, but so far it's working for us....until I change my mind.  Like I said, I'm wishy washy on this subject.

Linking up with Works For Me Wednesday

How to Preschool at Home....(start in the laundry room)

Preschool.  It's a big step for both kids and parents.  We've chosen to keep our kids at home for preschool.  It kind of makes sense considering we homeschool.  Lot's of reasons might have you thinking about preschool at home.  Distance, cost, impressionable minds, time.  Whatever your reason for keeping your kiddos home for preschool, rest assured, you can provide an excellent repertoire of preschool skills.  And I believe it can all begin in the laundry room.

Yes, you read that right.  Preschool in the laundry room.  Let me explain.

Moms spend a lot of time in the laundry room.  Instead of pushing the youngsters away to play so the work can be done quickly and efficiently (sounds nice, doesn't it?), why not include them.  Laundry becomes a time of teaching and learning, rather than just another mom chore.  The laundry folding may take longer, but for good reason.

What can be learned in the laundry room?

--matching socks

As I pull clothes from the dryer to fold, I let all the socks fall to the floor.  Maria lines them up waiting for its match.  Then she pushes one sock inside the other and hands them to me.  I always ask, "Who wears these?"  Then I place them on the right pile. (skill learned = matching)

--naming items 

For young beginners this is a great way to start incorporating preschool into the task of laundry.  Maria loves to reach into the dryer, grab something and then tell me what it is.  She'll say things like, this is a sock, this is a underwear, this is a hoodie, this is a pants.  It's so cute, especially as she starts using the correct subject/verb agreement (skill learned = vocabulary)

--identify owner of laundry

This is a favorite of Maria's.  We call it the "Who wears this?" game.  As I fold and she looks on, I say "Who wears this?"  She looks at each item and then yells out the rightful owner.  It's amazing how observant a two year old can be.  She knows everyone's socks and underwear and shirts and pants.  Sometimes she even catches me as I place socks on the wrong pile.  "No, mom, those are Joseph's." (skill learned = observation/memory)

--name colors

Another obvious preschool skill is learning colors.  This can be as complicated or simple as you want to make it.  Socks can be grouped by colors:  white, black, multi.  Clothes come in so many shades of colors, so it's very easy to expand on the simple sort.  Try lining up all the blue clothes from light to dark.  Or how about naming the colors of the clothes like a box of crayons.  light pink=carnation pink, dark blue=midnight blue, bright green=leprechaun green.  Older preschool age children love this and can get very creative in their color naming. (skill learned = colors, adjectives)

--practice math concepts
I like to incorporate math into folding towels and washcloths.  The simplest is to count the towels and washcloths, separately.  Which is more?  Or spread out a bath towel, hand towel and washcloth.  Let your child put them order from big to small.  How about geometry?  How many hand towels does it take to fully cover a bath towel?  Separate into squares and rectangles.  Joe, Peter, and Maria all love to fold washcloths.  Kitchen washcloths are folded in half.  Bathroom washcloths are folded in fourths.  Fractions don't have to be scary. (skill learned = counting, size relationships, fractions)

--caring for your home
A favorite job is always cleaning out the lint catcher.  I like to remind my kids that a job worth doing is a job worth doing well.  And doing it well means completing the task including the cleanup.

Preschool can be done at home without any extra materials, extra cost, or extra driving.  I've found that including my kids into my daily tasks I can provide them with opportunities to learn all the necessary preschool skills.  Laundry takes longer this way, but that's ok because soon enough they'll be on a plane to Ecuador and I'll be left to do laundry alone.  That last sentence doesn't make sense to you?  Emily is in Ecuador (that's 3,155 miles from here) and I'm feeling a bit like:

Where did the time go?

Wasn't she just 3 years old and folding washcloths and matching socks along side me?

Hold those little ones tight

And teach them skills so one day they can take flight.

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3 Easy Steps to Put the White Back into Dairy Show Whites

We've just finished the animal showing portion of our local fair.  Emily shows dairy, which includes cows, heifers, and calves.  Amber showed our POA, Pearl, for the first time.  It's a lot of work for the kids and parents, but the lessons learned make it worth it.  Of course the trophies, ribbons, and fair premiums are appreciated as well.  

But speaking of lessons learned, I've learned a few tricks over the years about laundering dairy show whites.  Would someone please tell me why all white clothing is the uniform of choice for dairy showing?  Don't they know cow poop splatters in every direction when it hits the ground.  Anyway, I'm sure my opinion (they should wear greenish, brownish show clothes) isn't going to change the minds of the national dairy showing committee, if there even is one.  

First off this isn't the best example of dirty because they are Emily's showmanship pants.  They don't wear these very long and work extra hard to stay clean because part of the judging is based on the showman's appearance.  But you can see a few manure stains on the pant leg.  They sometimes have to lean on the animal so the backside of the show pants are usually quite dingy.

First step is to soak the pants in Clorox 2.  I fill the sink with hot water and pour in about 1/3 cup of Clorox 2.  I let the pants soak for at least 24 hours, swishing them around a couple of times.

After they've soaked, I search out any stains and apply a liberal amount of OxiClean Max Force Gel Stick.  I'm not normally brand loyal, but in this case, stick with the brand.

  

 I use a bristled scrub brush and vigorously brush in a back and forth motion over the stain.

I let the OxiClean work in for about 20 minutes and then transfer to the washing machine.  Add the recommended amount of (any brand) laundry soap and about 1/4 cup bleach.  I set my washer to the "whites" setting and launder.  It's amazing how they return to their original whiteness.

Now, this pair of show whites is not the ones pictured above.  These were much dirtier than those and look how clean they are.  The pockets are nice and clean.  The bottom hemline is ultra white.  Ready for next year.

And since show whites are kind of boring blog fare, here's a picture of Emily with Margret.

Linking up with Works For Me Wednesday and Raising Homemakers.

*this post contains affiliate links, if you click through and purchase anything, I make a small commission - THANK YOU

Works For Me Wednesday - Laundry Folding Tip

Sadly, the summer is winding down.  Summer dance has ended.  The family campout is over.  The pencils and notebooks have been bought.  It's inevitable; school will begin.  And for those of you moms who happen to homeschool your life will once again revolve around reading lessons and multiplication tables and biology labs and and and ........

Things seem so peachy the first week back to school.  New books, new supplies, new planners.  Then the 2nd week starts up and I know what happens in my house.  I look around and holy cow it's a mess.  And the laundry.  Oh the laundry.  Once I heard a story about a mom who bought new socks and underwear for her family because she was totally overwhelmed with the mountain of laundry in her basement.

One google search for laundry tips and your head will be spinning with all the ideas.  I watched an online video series on laundry/meal planning/dishes.  She recommended doing only one load a day from start to finish.  Wash in the morning, switch to dryer at lunch, fold in the afternoon and put away after supper.  This might work for smaller families, but for my large family one load a day just won't cut it.  Seems there's always an extra load of beach towels or bedding or throw rugs.

From collecting dirty laundry to washing to putting away, I'm going to share the ONE trick that has helped me keep on top of the laundry.  I'm not saying you need to adopt my way, but if laundry is causing you a bit of a quandary I encourage you to think through the steps, search out laundry hacks, make a plan and follow it for 2 weeks.  Then make changes as necessary.  We modern homemakers really have it easy in the laundry department.  Yes, we have more clothes and fabric items in our home than in the olden days, but we also have machines to do the work of laundering - no feeding clothes individually into the wringer washer.  When we put clothes into the washer we get to walk away and do other things like reading lessons or spelling tests.

The Laundry Trick - FOLD THE CLOTHES STRAIGHT FROM THE DRYER

When I hear the chime signaling the end of the drying cycle I DO NOT grab a laundry basket.  I open the dryer and fold the clothes placing them in piles on top of my front loaders.  I have 9 piles, one for each person in the family and each person has their spot.  I arrange them from oldest to youngest:  myself, husband, Emily, Nick in the back and the other 5 kids in the front.  That leaves me space on the far right for sorting socks, folding bibs, friends' forgotten items, etc.  I fold all day as needed and then put laundry away at the end of the day, typically while the kids clean up supper dishes or just after putting the little ones down to bed.

Towels and washcloths are all washed together with bleach, placed in a basket and folded at the dining table.  I usually grab the closest, able child for that job.

Folding right from the dryer has allowed me to stay on top of laundry (for the most part) even with a large family, even while homeschooling.  When I used to put the clean clothes in laundry baskets it was so easy to transfer more laundry to the dryer.  Pretty soon I had 4 baskets of clean clothes to fold and it felt overwhelming.  One load folds up in about 10-12 minutes.  4 loads? Takes Forever!

Folding Clothes Straight From the Dryer Works For Me

Works For Me Wednesday is a linky party hosted by Giving Up On Perfect.

The Download on Laundry

Lots of talk about laundry in the blog world and home keeping in general. I just wanted to note a few of my not so tricky "tricks" to help keep laundry going smoothly. A long while back I posted my laundry routine in detail. Today, I just have a few pointers.

1. Only dirty clothes are washed.


2. No one is allowed to bed at night until their clothing is put in its place (drawer, clothing hook, laundry basket).


3. Every bedroom has a small plastic tote for dirty laundry.


4. One child is assigned to laundry pickup each month. Every morning before any play or even school they must collect all laundry and place in laundry room.

Now this only keeps the collecting part of laundry under control. The next step involves me. But it's generally easy because I can see at a glance, by 8:30 a.m., how many loads will need to get done in order to make the mountain a mole hill. I make a mental note as to when to start the wash. Now? because there is so much. Maybe later? because there's only one full load and I have other pressing things to do now. My last bit of advice is to just get the dirty laundry into the laundry area. I've found that any job is easier when you can see the whole picture.

**Just a note about my laundry details post: Somehow between then and now my average number of loads per day has increased to 2-3 loads. I'm sure it's due to winter clothing being larger than summer clothing and the fact that the kids' clothes are growing along with them. Bigger kids = bigger clothes = more loads of laundry