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How to Experience God When You Hit A Plateau

Reading Time: 5 min 5 sec

Have you ever felt stuck in your relationship with God? Things are moving along beautifully, your times with God are rich, and you are growing in your faith. You feel like every day the Holy Spirit is revealing something new, and you are hungry for more of God in your life.

And then suddenly, almost overnight your relationship with God seems to come to a grinding halt?

You are still doing everything you did before, but those practices seem to have lost their effectiveness. You start to wonder what is going on as you continue to slog through your daily devotional and toss up some prayers to God throughout the day.

You went from excited, your heart full with love for God, to a feeling of emptiness. It feels like you aren’t on the same wavelength with Jesus anymore.

The longer this feeling of emptiness prevails the harder it is to find the motivation to keep actively seeking God. Honestly, you start to feel like it’s a waste of time. You know God loves you, but right now you just feel dead inside.

You long for the passion of yesterday, you desire to know and experience God, but you are at a loss as to how to move forward. What do you do when you reach a plateau in your relationship with God?

The Journey

2. God’s Invitation

3. The Power of Community

1. The Journey

EVERY follower of Jesus goes through periods of time when it feels like we are talking to an empty room. You know you have reached a plateau when one of your friends starts waxing eloquent about their amazing relationship with God and you want to clock them. (Did I say that out loud? )

You can breathe a sigh of relief because everyone (even great men and women of faith) have experienced plateaus in their walk with God! Yay! That should be encouraging news!

The commentary from Life with God Bible actually speaks to this topic,“God is intentionally present to us in our spiritual infancy and then allows us to be increasingly “on our own” as we spiritually mature. God works to establish a balance between his presence and his “seeming absence” so that we will develop character.”

So, throughout our relationship with God, he arranges times for us to be on our own. He is ALWAYS present but sometimes he will withdraw his tangible presence so that we can develop character and a profound hunger for a deeper experience of God.

Your feelings of dissatisfaction and desire for more of Jesus is a huge sign that God IS on the move in your life! So, YAY! When you reach a seeming plateau this is great news because it means that you are entering a new season and maturing in your faith. I would encourage you to stop and celebrate how far you have come in your relationship with God.

2. God’s Invitation

Okay, so how do we partner with the work of the Holy Spirit in our lives as we enter this new season? First, we need to understand that some of the tools that may have worked in the past such as devotionals, prayers, spiritual books, etc. might not fit this new period of your relationship with God.

Instead of trying to finish or press on with a resource give yourself permission to place it on a shelf. You can always come back and reacquaint yourself with that resource in the future. Our goal is not to finish a devotional, but to partner with the Holy Spirit in what he is currently doing in our lives.

So, how do you know what tools would be a good fit for this new season?

Ask yourself the question: What is God Inviting me into? What draws you and sparks your interest? What tool feels invitational to you when you think about an aspect of your walk with God?

Do you feel a desire to go deeper in prayer? Are you hungry for authentic Christian relationships? Do you crave a deeper dependence upon God? Do you want to weave prayer into your everyday life? Do you want to experience the lavish love of God?

If you are struggling to figure out what God is inviting you into, here are two more questions that you can ask yourself, “What Things Are You Talking to God About Right now?” and “How are you most aware of God in Your Life today?” The answers to these questions will be a great starting place for you to explore.

As with everything, talk to God about your desires and ask him to provide the right tools for this season of your life.

Here are some resources that I LOVE to help get you started:

3. The Power of Community

As a follower of Jesus, we were not designed to live life on our own, but in community with others. One of the great ways that we can partner with the Holy Spirit is to live in relationship with other Christians.

Yes, it is messy. Yes, it can be at times uncomfortable. The church is full of broken people who are all dependent upon God’s lavish love and grace. However, investing in authentic relationships built on trust with other Christians is CRUCIAL to your ongoing growth.

Ruth Haley Barton really unpacks the power of community here, “The purpose of journeying together in spiritual friendship and spiritual community (whether there are just two of you or whether you are in a small group) is to listen to one another’s desire for God, to nurture that desire in each other and to support one another in seeking a way of life that is consistent with that desire.”

We need other people to come alongside us and affirm what God is doing in our lives. When we develop relationships of trust and vulnerability, it allows others to speak Gods truth into our lives. Spiritual Friendships encourage us to press on in pursuit of a love relationship with Jesus.

So how do we find and develop authentic, nurturing relationships with other Christians?

You can seek to develop spiritual community in your local church, through small groups, and one on one friendships. You can develop relationships with the intercessors, who will cover you in prayer.

This won’t happen by chance. You have to pray and intentionally seek out friendships with people who are going for it in their relationship with God.

If you desire to embrace all that God has for you in this new season; I would encourage you to celebrate where you are, ask God what he is inviting you into, and intentionally seek out authentic Spiritual Friendships with others.

If you want to know how to get started in living a deep life with God; grab our Deeper Life Beginners Guide (below). And join our community of moms who are hungry for more Jesus in their lives and in the lives of their families.

What about you? What is God inviting you into in this new season? Leave a comment, and don’t forget to follow Most Important Work on Pinterest!

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What Happened When I Got Sick and Tired of Superficial Faith

Reading Time: 5 min 38 sec

Do you as you get done with the endless rounds of church services, volunteering shifts, small groups, and food pantry donations, ever stop short and ask yourself, “Is this all there is?”.

Seriously, do you ever feel like a poser always projecting this vibrant relationship with God when frankly you are not even sure you could tell the difference between his voice and the pizza you had for dinner last night?

Do you ever feel like all your running around for God leaves you feeling even emptier inside? Your devotions and all your knowledge of God feel pointless because it never seems to transfer into real life?

You feel discouraged, unmotivated, and maybe even a little guilty. This is not what you imagined a living breathing, relationship with God would look like.

I was there. I had reached the end of what I could work up for God. My endless doing for God felt exhausting, overwhelming and never enough. My relationship felt stagnant like someone had pressed pause, and no conference on the earth was going to change that outcome.

I grew more desperate as the dissatisfaction continued to grow. There had to be more to a relationship with God than my current experience of him.

So, what do you do when you reach a wall in your relationship with God that you can’t scale, you can bury under, and you can’t knock down?

The Desperation

2. The Invitation

3. The Transformed Life

1. The Desperation

I grew up in the church. I was there every time the doors were open. I was involved in various ministries, attended all the classes, and pursued learning as much as I could about God and how to be a good Christian.

I went on staff at a local church and served as part of their elementary team and later as their youth pastor. I created and led events that were designed to help students and their families grow deeper in their faith. I was all about producing more, accomplishing more, and working more all in an effort to prove my worth not only to others but to God.

I would run from conference to event to workshop hunting for an encounter with God all the while burying this deep sense of dissatisfaction and exhaustion. I believed the lie that “good Christians” (especially in ministry) don’t give up, they stick with it. I found myself running from one thing to the next trying to serve my way into encountering God’s love and approval.

If you would have asked me I would have told you that without a doubt God’s love for me was not conditional on my performance. And that there was nothing I could do to make God love me any more or any less than he did right now. I thought I believed it, but I obviously hadn’t experienced God’s transforming love.

Can I tell you that it is exhausting to try and outperform God? Okay, that might be a little over dramatic (:) but it felt like the harder I “ministered for Jesus” the more dissatisfied I became. My quiet times felt stale and lifeless and I couldn’t figure out where to go from here.

2. The Invitation

I had grown up hearing stories of men and women of faith. Who not only exemplified the fruits of the spirit (the holy grail of the Christian life) but who even more surprisingly had actual deep relationships with Jesus.

They had actual conversations with God which were captivating because if I were honest, my conversations with Jesus were more me talking and him listening. They completely surrendered their lives to God, it wasn’t always pretty, and yet shockingly they were at peace. That’s it, I thought, I want what they have. Little did I know that an invitation was about to be presented to me.

I was sitting in a staff meeting when I first heard about several people I respect journeying through a book (Journey with Jesus) that was based on the spiritual exercises of St. Ignatian. I wasn’t familiar with St. Ignatius at the time, and a coming from a conservative evangelical background I was leery of anything with a saint in front of it. 🙂

However, I remember sitting there and hearing the stories of these leaders whose lives, ministries, and intimacy with Jesus were transformed. I knew this was something I had to check out.

One of the things that I learned about St. Ignatius is that he was a man who strongly desired to help others encounter a deep experience of Jesus. The key for me was the word Experience. I did not need more head knowledge about God, I wanted a relationship with him.

The process was a little daunting, you commit to nine months of not only meeting with God for an hour a day but also meeting regularly with a Spiritual Friend. After time spent in prayer I felt like this was God’s bold invitation to me.

I am not going to lie. This experience cost me something. I had to rearrange my life so I could participate in this journey.

As a mom, who at the time had several kids under the age five (and a brand-new puppy), finding an hour to meet with God each day was not easy by any stretch of the imagination. I had to be creative when it came to carving out time with Jesus. But it was so necessary for my soul.

3. The Surrendered Life

Those nine months (that actually stretched into a year and a half) changed my life. Through daily scripture reading, prayer, silence, and hands-on activities, I encountered the lavish never-ending love of the Father.

I discovered that as I experienced God’s love by indentity started to undergo a transformation. God used this tool (for that is all that it is) in my life to allow me to experience the height and depth and breadth of his lavish love. It was like a breath of fresh air. Finally, I could cease striving to try to prove my worth and rest in my identity as one chosen, adopted and unconditionally loved by my Father in heaven.

I learned that the basis of my relationship with God is learning how to be rooted and grounded in love. It is out of my great love relationship with him that I can, in turn, share his love with others.

My whole paradigm shifted, my identity, security, and outlook on life changed drastically. I don’t have to jump from conference to conference trying to figure out the missing key to a deep relationship with God. My relationship with God has grown significantly. I get to step off the treadmill of performance and actively participate with the Holy Spirit in my life.

I am, like all of us, on a journey. Every day, I discover something new, and it feels like I am just scratching the surface of a relationship with Jesus. Life is still challenging but you get to rest in the peace that you are unconditionally loved by God. This changes EVERYTHING!

You get to embrace of life of freedom instead of constantly worrying about how you measure up. You get to live everyday in anticipation for you know there is SO MUCH MORE to a relationship with Jesus.

So, my friends, are ready to experience God on a deeper level? Here are some ways that you can get started in actually EXPERIENCING the love of the Father.

Everyone’s journey to a deeper life with God is different. If you feel drawn to the Ignatian Exercises you can check out this book Journey with Jesus by Larry Warner. I love it because it is written in a very accessible and experiential way. You actually get to participate in activities that help create space for the Holy Spirit to speak to you. Did I make it clear that I LOVE it? 🙂

If that seems like a bit much, to take on right now, I would suggest reading Surrender to Love by David Benner. It is a short but powerful book (its worth it even if you hate reading) that has played a huge part in my walk with Jesus.

I pray that you will experience the height, depth, and breadth of God’s lavish love for you.

You will never be the same.

If you want to know how to get started in living a deep life with God; grab our Deeper Life Beginners Guide(below). And join our community of moms who are hungry for more Jesus in their lives and in the lives of their families.

What about you? What is God’s invitation to you? Leave a comment, and don’t forget to follow Most Important Work on Pinterest!

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How to Spend Time With Jesus When It’s Hard

Reading Time: 5 min 41 sec

Do you ever feel like a failure when it comes to your relationship with God? Your pastor, your friends, and your soul all tell you that daily time is crucial for your faith, but you just can’t seem to meet consistently with him.

You occasionally hear about the lives of great men of faith and something in you stirs, you long for deep intimacy with the Father, but that longing never seems to translate into real life. You plan to wake up early and spend time with God, and then you oversleep your alarm. You know waking up early will never happen so you plan on meeting with God after dinner, and then your spouse wants to take you out on a date.

Every day it seems like your grand intentions of spending time with Jesus are forced aside due to something. Your kid wakes up with a nightmare, your boss e-mails you with a question, your spouse is watching tv and you want to hang out, the mountains of laundry that need to be folded, and frankly, you are tired and you don’t want to do something you “should” do.

Good things are truly the enemy of great things. There will always be a thousand reasons, excuses, emergencies, and opportunities for you not to spend time with Jesus.

But what could your life look like if you spent time with Jesus every day? How would your heart transform? Your attitudes and your interactions with others?

C.S. Lewis, Billy Graham, Mother Theresa, Corrie Ten Boom, and Dietrich Bonhoeffer all started their walks with God where you are right now! It’s not too late to experience a deeper life with God.

The Foundation

2. Reordering Your Life Around Jesus

3. Tools for the Changing Seasons

1. The Foundation

Your father in heaven lavishly loves you regardless of whether or not you have gone three days without spending time with him. He is not a punitive God, ready to heap fire and brimstones on your head. His over the top love for you is not based on your performance. There is nothing you can do to make God love you any more or any less than he does right now.

Ephesians 3:17-19 says, “And I ask him that with both feet planted firmly on love, you’ll be able to take in with all followers of Jesus the extravagant dimensions of Christ’s love. Reach out and experience the breadth! Test its length! Plumb the depths! Rise to the heights! Live full lives, full in the fullness of God.”

This love that is overflowing with grace is the foundation for your entire relationship with God. How can we go beyond a surface relationship with God? How can we experience a deeper life with God?

First, by taking some time to ask ourselves, why do you want to experience a deeper life with God? Do you feel resistance to having devotions? List those reasons (ex. It seems like a waste of time, nothing ever happens, there is so much to do, I mess up so much that God doesn’t want to spend time with me etc.) Really examine your heart and be real. Is it because you feel like you should spend time with Jesus because that’s what good Christians do? Or because you know it will be good for you? What is your reason?

There is no right answer. Your father in heaven has been pursuing you since the moment of your existence. Regardless of where you are talk to God about your resistance, your thoughts, and feelings, and ask for a deeper desire for him.

Do you know that every time you show up and are present that you bring joy to God? Every time you make the small choice to say yes to spending time with Jesus and no to something else (even good things) you fill his heart with joy.

2. Reordering Your Life Around Jesus

A couple of years ago I trained for a half marathon. When I decided to race, I knew it was going to take more than a goal and fancy running plan. I woke up every morning at 5am. I ran through blisters and cramps, I ran when it was the last thing I wanted to do, and I kept running when I was tired, hot, and discouraged. I ran for hours.

I reordered my life to accomplish my goal. It took sacrifices. I went to bed earlier, I had to say no to some social activities, and I watched what I ate. I was single-minded in the pursuit of my goal.

The key to success was that I didn’t just try and fit my runs around life, I rearranged my life to fit my running schedule.

This idea crosses over into our relationship with God. If you have a desire to go deeper in your relationship with God, wishing won’t get you there. To have an intimate relationship with God, you need to reorder your life around him. It doesn’t work to make a goal, create a fancy plan, and then try to fit it around your schedule. Other things will ALWAYS move you away from your goal.

It will take sacrifices. You might have to get up earlier, say no to a tv show, or time with your family. But know that these sacrifices will pay DIVIDENDS in the future. You will be a woman who is operating out of your identity as a beloved child of God and that simple fact will CHANGE everything. As you go deep in the love of God, that loves flows through you, and overflows on the people around you. Your simple act of faithfulness will transform your family and your life.

Are you reordering your life around Jesus?

3. Tools for the Changing Seasons

Do you feel like your time with God is boring and stale? Do you feel like you are not connecting with God? Rest assured, you are not defective or a bad Christian. As we transition into different life seasons, the ways we connect with God might need to change in order to fit where we are in that season. Being flexible by not getting locked into certain ways of meeting with God can help you connect with him in different ways and at deeper levels.

For instance, you have entered into a very busy season either with your kids or at work. You are spending a large majority of your day in the car driving. This would be a great opportunity to change it up and start listening to an audio version of the Bible.

Or you find yourself slogging through current devotional (which you LOVED two months ago) and not really connecting with anything other than how much it is NO LONGER working. This would be a great time to either try a different devotional or connect with God using art.

Here are some ideas for how you can figure out what might be a good tool for your current season.

Ask God what are you inviting me into?

Ask yourself, what am I feeling drawn towards? Is there a devotional that you can’t stop thinking about? Do you get excited about the idea of using art as a way to connect with God?

Try out different tools until you find one that seems to be a good fit.

Don’t feel the need to finish something. If a tool is no longer meeting you where you are at (you are dreading you using it) put it down, it may really fit where you are in a future season.

Here are some resources that might be a good fit for your current season.

IF you want to know how to get started in living a deeper life with God; grab our Deeper Life Beginners Guide(below). And join our community of moms who are hungry for more Jesus in their lives and in the lives of their families.

What about you? What is your #1 issue when it comes to living life with God? Leave a comment, and don’t forget to follow Most Important Work on Pinterest!

A Homeschool Day In the Life

Reading Time: 4 min 48 sec

When we first decided to homeschool, we had a vision to create a certain type of atmosphere for our children. We wanted to foster deep family relationships, build life long memories, dive down rabbit holes, and allow our children to bask in the magic of childhood. We wanted our children to have the freedom to play, to explore and to create. We wanted to foster independent thinkers, lifelong learners, and courageous children.

And above all else, we wanted to encourage a deep, lifelong relationship with Jesus. We wanted to raise men and women of faith who live out of their identity as beloved children of God.

Every time we listen to Anne of Green Gables, giggle over board games, get down on our knees to pray, dance to the blues, and pour over logic, we are making small choices that move us toward our big vision.

When you look at our typical homeschool day,you need to understand that this is what works for our family in this season. I know it can be easy to get caught up in what you are or are NOT doing, we all want to do it RIGHT, but that misses the point of this article. You need to do what’s right for you, what fits your personality, and the needs of your family.

Mama’s, we are in this together! We are stepping out on faith, working hard, and imaging a different type of future for our children. So, don’t get too caught up in the details (we do not all have to use the same schedule) and let’s give ourselves A LOT of grace, and make choices today that move us toward our vision for the future.

Daily and Weekly Rhythm:

We found that it helps our day flow smoothly when we follow a rhythm instead of a schedule.

Years ago, I created a schedule, and it totally stressed me out. I always felt like the clock was the master of our day, and we are always struggling to keep up.

Now, we take our time, and after completing a task, we just move to the next thing on the list.

Every day we work on core subjects but each day has a different emphasis.

Borrowing from Brave Writer our weekly schedule looks something like this:

Monday– Poetry Tea Time and Free Write

Tuesday– Nature Study

Wednesday– Art and Music

Thursday– Extra Curricular Activities, Games, and Languages

Friday– Field Trips

Morning

I stumble out of bed and head downstairs to make coffee in the wee hours of the morning after my alarm goes off for the second time. I realized quickly that I am more productive in the morning than waiting to work until the afternoon. I have found that these early mornings of silence set my day up for success and I actually miss it when I sleep in.

I check my e-mail, work on my blog, and other projects until about 7am. My children stumble down the stairs ready for snuggles. After helping my husband get out the door for work, we finish up breakfast and start working on our chores for the day.

We then move to some type of exercise, in the warmer months we go for a walk, run or bike ride, in the bitter cold of winter, we will use an exercise video to burn off that excess energy. On certain days of the week, the kids are involved in extracurricular sports.

While they finish up chores and play quietly, I go to my room (the quietest place in the house) for devotions.

We officially start the day by lighting our candle to remind us that God is in us and with us. We then spend some time in prayer inviting him into our day. We move to read our Bible (we ABSOLUTELY LOVE this one) and memorize scripture. Depending on the day, we will either sing some worship songs or work on interactive projects, to help the kids move from head knowledge to heart experience of God.

We then snuggle under a huge blanket and start reading through a huge stack of picture books from the library. Books are the foundation for our daily curriculum. We choose books based off of our monthly unit study, the kids’ interest, core subjects, and just for fun books.

We then move to work on math, reading lessons, logic, and handwriting. We discovered a great French handwriting book this year that has dramatically improved their handwriting skills.

We intermix lessons with reading aloud to give them a break. A large amount of our learning can be done together but I do work with my six-year-old on reading separately, while I have my eight-year-old work their handwriting.

Here are our daily goals that we try to make happen FIRST each day. If nothing else gets done, at least I know that these things were accomplished.

Time with Jesus

Outside Time

Read Aloud (Books, Books, and more Books)

Games & Music

We will finish out the morning with either free play, listening to an audiobook, art, games and stem activities.

Afternoon

At around noon, I start making lunch while the kids play. After eating, we begin afternoon quiet time. Where the kids either nap, read books or play quietly in their rooms. I have found that this is a necessary part of our day, as tempers can flare without some time to themselves. I spend this time working on the blog and completing work projects.

At about three-thirty, everyone comes back together to play outside, go for a walk, or depending on the weather, to watch their favorite tv show.

Before I know it, it’s time to start preparing dinner and cleaning up the endless art projects, massive forts, and the sticky messes of the day.

Evening

After dinner, we spend the rest of the night playing a variety of board games together as a family. We are HUGE fans of board games. We include them wherever we can all throughout our day. They not only are FUN, create lifelong family memories, but they allow us to improve core skills (math, logic etc).

After putting kids down to bed. I finish preparing for the next morning, working on some projects, and reading. Before I know it, its time I am in bed. And yes, I am asleep in about two minutes (morning comes FAST). 🙂

That’s our day! What about you? What does your homeschool day look like? Leave a comment, and don’t forget to follow Most Important Work on Pinterest

You Got this Mom!

How to Homeschool in a Small Space

Reading Time: 4 min 58 sec

Have you ever wondered if it’s possible to homeschool in a small space? I don’t know about you but sometimes while homeschooling our homes can eerily resemble an episode from Hoarders. Cramped living spaces filled with old curriculum, books, paperwork, supplies, and projects seem to spread like a virus to every nook and cranny.

You sit down to homeschool your child, only to feel frustrated with your inability (and your child’s) to focus due to so many distractions. You organize all of your supplies only to find after a couple of weeks that the clutter has returned.

Your home is supposed to be a retreat but all you see is an endless to-list and an organizing nightmare. You feel overwhelmed, discouraged, and hopeless. You wonder if it is possible to homeschool in a small space without clutter spilling out of every drawer and cabinet!

Every homeschooling parent dreams of perfectly organized spaces where you have plenty of room to spread out and everything you need is always right at your fingertips. I am here to tell you that it doesn’t matter if you have a small or large space. It’s about the practical steps you take to control the clutter.

We are going to be talking about eight practical steps you can take to create a stress-free learning environment:

Stop Saving for a Rainy Day

2. Go Digital

3. Something Borrowed

4. In Plain View

5. Establish a Daily Habit

6. Avoid Sales

7. Utilize Media

8. Only Amazing Resources

1. Stop Saving for a Rainy Day

Do you ever keep resources just in case? You bought a math book, tried one or two lessons, you weren’t thrilled, so you put it back on the shelf, in the hope that it might miraculously be a good fit later down the road.

“If you’re not using the stuff in your home, get rid of it. You’re not going to start using it more by shoving it in a closet somewhere.” Joshua Becker

Let me be honest, if you haven’t used it in the last six months most likely you will never use it. Take a good look at all of your curriculum, whether its books, textbooks, handouts, projects and remove everything you haven’t used in six months. * You might be surprised at how many just in case, books and resources take up precious space on your shelves.

Good intentions do not create an organized stress-free home.

*This does not include staples (such as reading or math books) that you will use to teach your next child.

2. Go Digital

Do you have folders crammed full of handwriting samples, artistic masterpieces, math tests, and brochures from every field trip you have visited in the last six months?

I stumbled on this hack out of necessity when my second (of two) homeschool drawer was crammed to overwhelming with past paperwork. My good intentions of putting my paperwork into sheet protectors never ever happened (can anyone relate?).

Maximize your limited space by utilizing a scanning app to save every document (no drawer required). I have loved the flexibility and the price tag (its FREE) of the Genius Scan App. I scan every document and then upload them directly to the computer. It makes creating a portfolio a breeze (almost) every year. Say Hello to Empty Drawers!

If you find a better app, please let me know!

3. Something Borrowed

One of the ways we can run out of space so quickly is storing that reading or math book for two years until your next kid is ready for it. Did you know that the library is a gold mine of FREE Resources that… wait for it… YOU DON’T HAVE TO STORE!

I am talking about more than the lone textbook you found on your last library search, but a vast amount of material that will save you hundreds if not thousands of dollars. Check out this post 10 Library Hacks to the Hidden World of Free Curriculumfor step by step instructions.

4. In Plain View

An important aspect of homeschooling in a small space is being able to see everything at a glance. When organizing DO NOT stuff drawers or place items behind each other hoping to maximize space.

Take time and evaluate your materials. Here is a good rule of thumb when evaluating your materials

Keep the Best (Is it portfolio worthy?)
Remove Duplicates (Do you really need 8 pairs of scissors?)
Get Rid of all of those Scraps of Paper and Trash
Keep Only what you Love and use Regularly
Store the Same things Together (ex. Keep all pencils or library books in one spot)

5. Establish a Daily Habit

It is imperative when homeschooling in a small space to establish a daily practice of purging and placing everything back where it belongs. It might seem like an obvious suggestion until it comes to putting it into practice.

We choose to declutter at the end of every afternoon. I set a timer for ten minutes and we run about the house putting projects, books, and supplies away in preparation for dinner. Find a rhythm that works for you whether its right after school, late afternoon or during the evening, the point is to do it every day.

6. Avoid Sales

I don’t know about you but I can get a little carried away at those curriculum and library sales and start treating it like I am in the snack aisle of my local grocery store. I come out cash poor, regretful, and wondering where I am going to put all this stuff.

“It’s not a good deal if you don’t need it” -Unknown

Impulse buying can keep our homes, finances, and mental spaces in a place of chaos and clutter. Avoiding window shopping will go a long way in keeping your home free of mess.

7. Utilize Media

Get rid of some of those big heavy textbooks and utilize your digital resources. Not only can you purchase amazing apps and programs but I was shocked to find Rosetta stone language programs, math tutoring, and streaming documentaries (and that was just the tip of the iceberg) for FREE on my local library’s website. You can check out this article for step by step instructions.

8. Only Amazing Resources

Think of yourself as a curator of the best homeschooling resources. Only allow learning tools that you truly LOVE to enter your home.

“Your home is a living space, not a storage space.” Francine Jay

You do this by borrowing, researching, and committing to return items that do not fit your family’s needs. This step takes intentionality and commitment as there is always the pressure to find that perfect resource FAST. This step will play a huge role in allowing you to homeschool in a small space with peace.

So how do you find those AMAZING resources? Grab your free 10 Tips to Finding Excellent Curriculum checklist (get it below) to help YOU on your homeschooling journey!

What about you? What is your #1 concern when it comes to figuring out this homeschooling adventure?

Please feel free to leave me a comment and don’t forget to follow Most Important Work on Pinterest!