Homemaking Doesn’t Take A Summer Break

My kids and I pushed through the end-of-year homeschool apathy, and we are ready to enter our summer break. (I’m not the only one who just doesn’t feel like school anymore in May, right?) Typically, I struggle with motivation in the summer, but this year I am trying to remain focused. I need to remember, and maybe you do, that homemaking does not take a summer a break.

I have homeschooled year-round in the past, but our family found a longer break in summer fits our lifestyle better. Nonetheless, it has come with its challenges. Boy, do I have intentions each summer for big things! By the time August hits, though, I look back and see a wasted summer. The kids spend the season being restless and bored. Meanwhile, I am idle and keep telling myself, “I’ll get to that next week.” This method would work perfectly if summer had endless weeks… The combination of my laziness and my children’s restlessness almost always leads to bickering between the kids and my constant annoyance with them. It’s no wonder I have detested summer for so many years.

The Bible As A Guide For Summer Planning

The practical consequences of my lack of focus, motivation, and follow-through on our summer breaks should be enough to make me approach the season differently. However, this would be underestimating just how lazy I can be. Recently, as I have been studying Biblical womanhood, I felt particularly convicted about how I treat our breaks from school. Taking a “recovery week” is one thing, but “recovery months” are just selfish. Here are some verses that convicted me.

1. Ephesians 5:16 – “Redeeming the time, because the days are evil.”

My time is limited. I don’t know how limited it is, but I am certain I have less time today than I did yesterday. So, what am I doing with the time God has given me? I am an expert time waster. Literally, I can spend every hour of my day being busy and accomplishing nothing. Quite a talent!

We are stewards of the time God gave us, and we ought to be thoughtful in how we use it. I shudder to think how many opportunities I have missed by “clocking out” when I felt overwhelmed. Just how many chances have I missed to honor Him, share the gospel, demonstrate the behavior of a godly wife and mother, or simply be an encouragement to someone because I was taking some “me time” again…for the 12^th day in a row…the whole day?

2. Titus 2:4-5 – “That they may teach the young women to be sober, to love their husbands, to love their children, To be discreet, chaste, keepers at home, good, obedient to their own husbands, that the word of God be not blasphemed.”

With regard to the topic at hand, I have felt convicted about loving my husband and children when reading these verses. Older women are Biblically commanded to teach younger women to love their husbands and children. What will that look like? Well, women display love in a number of ways, and how they care for their families is definitely one of them.

I am a housewife, therefore, a large part of my daily tasks include cooking, cleaning, and other home-related jobs. I agreed to this, and I am happy to do it. After I get into my common summer pattern of putting things off and feeling like I’m in survival mode, though, I stop doing my regular chores and duties. Our house gets dustier and filled with random clutter. Additionally, dinner becomes my husband’s job, and breakfast is cold cereal more often than not. For my household, these changes reflect my laziness and lack of care and attention to my family.

Verse 5 reminds us that we are to be “keepers of the home.” This doesn’t mean you can’t have a job or hobbies and interests. It does mean, however, that your first priority should be your home. If the other things in your life pull you away from home so much that the state of your home declines, then you might need to reprioritize some things. As for me, I tend to downgrade my role as a housewife because school is over. Like, somehow a break from school indicates I no longer have other work to do around the house, and my children don’t require any training from me for months.

3. Proverbs 31:15-30 – “She riseth also while it is yet night, and giveth meat to her household, and a portion to her maidens. She considereth a field, and buyeth it: with the fruit of her hands she planteth a vineyard. She girdeth her loins with strength, and strengtheneth her arms. She perceiveth that her merchandise is good: her candle goeth not out by night. She layeth her hands to the spindle, and her hands hold the distaff. She stretcheth out her hand to the poor; yea, she reacheth forth her hands to the needy. She is not afraid of the snow for her household: for all her household are clothed with scarlet. She maketh herself coverings of tapestry; her clothing is silk and purple. Her husband is known in the gates, when he sitteth among the elders of the land. She maketh fine linen, and selleth it; and delivereth girdles unto the merchant. Strength and honour are her clothing; and she shall rejoice in time to come. She openeth her mouth with wisdom; and in her tongue is the law of kindness. She looketh well to the ways of her household, and eateth not the bread of idleness. Her children arise up, and call her blessed; her husband also, and he praiseth her. Many daughters have done virtuously, but thou excellest them all. Favour is deceitful, and beauty is vain: but a woman that feareth the Lord, she shall be praised.” (emphasis mine)

The Proverbs 31 woman is one of those ultimate goal type females. Christian women are striving to be her, but I would rather tackle the challenge a little at a time. The first aspect of this woman that currently convicts me is in verse 15. She is an early riser. I want to stay up all night watching funny YouTube videos and sleep until nine in the morning, but that never plays out well for me or my household.

We also see that the Proverbs 31 woman has prepared the food for her household. I do that, but I can be quite lazy about it in the summer. Sometimes I even rely on prepared foods with no nutritional value just so I don’t have to “deal with it.”

Verse 27 informs us that the Proverbs 31 woman is not idle. She is a woman who labors throughout the day. I suspect, if she were a 21^st century woman, that she would not spend as much time as me scrolling on her phone and looking for distractions. It’s just a guess. My body is practically imprinted into our couch by the end of summer. Would it be if I worked at home like it was, in fact, a job and a way to serve the Lord?

Finally, verse 30 refers to this woman’s praiseworthy fear of the Lord. Everything she does is based on her relationship with and understanding of God. I have to look at my behavior and pattern of living in the summer break months and wonder how much does God come into play? What am I showing my children? The academic school year may be taking a break, but our education concerning God should never take one.

Practical Application

I have to be realistic about my strengths and weaknesses, and I have to admit to myself that there are some things I cannot do. On the other hand, the Bible gives clear instructions to me as a woman, and God would not instruct me to do something impossible. Hard? Yes. Impossible? No.

This summer I plan to make some changes to my approach to the school break based on the previous Scriptures. Hold me accountable, OK?

1. Be an Early Riser

This is the hardest one for me. I am wired to be a 2^nd shifter. The morning and I have never been great friends, but in my home, this is the only time I have available to be alone (introverts, you get me), have some quiet, and get a head start on things for the day. It is also the time I prefer to write these posts because they are an extra thing in my life that I enjoy, but they do not need to take me away from my responsibilities at home.

Maybe being an early riser is not possible for you. I think that is all right because it’s more about the purpose of the early rising than the actual early part. Some families accommodate for the father’s untraditional work schedule in order to maximize time together. In these cases, moms might stay up later than their kids to accomplish things and stay on task. Each family is different, and unfortunately early mornings work better in mine.

2. Breakfast…Make It Early and Often

My children thrive with a schedule or routine. Summers, however, become kind of hit or miss with breakfast. Some mornings I need them up at 6:45 in the morning. Other mornings they are wondering if I’m ever going to feed them, and we sit down closer to 9 A.M. This summer I am going to strive for breakfast around 7:30 in the morning on a consistent and predictable basis.

Food will hopefully be food. You know what I mean? It is so easy to just give them junk in the morning because that kind of breakfast is easy, very accessible, and fast. Seriously, though, how many bowls of Cheerios does a kid need? I’m not throwing all the cereal out, but I’m moving toward more cooked breakfasts. I think this is where freezer cooking really comes into play. Premade food that is ready to heat up is probably the only way I’ll be able to pull this off.

3. Increase The Chores

My kids do chores, but my “particular nature” has prevented me from teaching them to do more. I mean, they won’t do it as well as me, and apparently the method used to fold towels is oh so important to me. This isn’t helping them or me, though. I won’t be so stressed if I don’t have to do everything, and they will learn more useful skills and be less bored when they do more to help out around the house.

Not to mention, summer is actually a wonderful time to take advantage of less school responsibilities to teach them some home management skills I skipped over throughout the year. They all love to help out in the kitchen, and now we have the opportunity to have cooking lessons and some fun with food. And wait until they check out folding their own laundry!

4. Summer School

“What?! You said this was break, Julie!”

In my experience, taking an entire summer off from school never made an easy transition back in the fall. This is probably why so many curricula spend awhile reviewing basic concepts in the beginning of the new school year. There’s an assumption that the student forgot a lot, and that assumption is usually correct. So, I want to keep up with our more difficult skills, like math drills. Who doesn’t love drilling math facts?

Also, I skipped a lot of “fun” stuff. We did minimal art because I am not an artsy gal. I kind of hate doing it. There are also some music and food projects we saved for summer. Who knows? I might even toss in some science experiments. Maybe. Possibly. Well, my husband might want to do that.

5. Keep Church High On Our List

Our family has a lot of fun things planned this summer. We have a camping trip planned, too. (So. Fun. HELP ME!) It will be easy to deprioritize ministry things. Of course, my husband being a pastor makes church a priority, but our two-week vacation, for example, can easily lead us to skipping. I want to make sure we purpose to either watch an online service (see my thoughts on that HERE) or attend a local one at a Bible preaching church.

Summer also makes it easy to skip out on the extra things our church may be doing, even if we would normally participate. Sure, a fellowship meal or game night might not be a huge deal, but I want to impress upon our children that church life is not a thing we do when it is most convenient or when there is not something better to do. We are active members of our local church because we love Jesus and want to serve the church family to which we belong. That might mean we miss something fun occasionally, but our church family comes before recreation. Plus, our church folk are actually a lot of fun!

Final Thought

Summer is a tempting time for me to put my responsibilities aside because:

“I earned it.”

“I’m tired.”

“The kids need the break.”

“Everyone else is taking it easy.”

“I already worked so hard for nine months.”

But we all know there is a difference between a vacation and taking an entire season “off.” The popular GIFS and memes about moms not having a day off are funny but sort of true. We, as wives and mothers, are to be keepers of the home, and that is a full-time gig.

God didn’t create us to be self-indulgent, and we are not reflecting Christ to others in our lazy homemaking, disengaged parenting, and months of self-involved efforts. Yes, take breaks, recharge, and work around the needs of your own family. However, don’t lose sight of the woman, wife, and mother God has called you to be. Being a homemaker and godly woman should not be put on summer break.

Is this just me? Do you lose motivation once the kids are done with school?

Image courtesy of Vitolda Klein via Unsplash.