Using Pinterest in Homeschooling Part 2 (Home)

Using Pinterest in Homeschooling Part 1 explained how I use Pinterest to plan and organize my homeschooling.  But a huge part of homeschooling is having time to actually spend with the kids and another part is being able to free up some money to put towards supplies, books, or curriculum.  Pinterest helps me free up time, money, and mental energy and devote more of that to homeschooling.

Here’s how Pinterest helps me in managing our home:

1. Organization – I am not a naturally organized person.  In fact, my brain is full of all kinds of ideas all the time, so I start projects, don’t always finish, and just can’t even get my head around how other people manage to keep their house running smoothly.  But I am a visual learner and can take the methods that work for other people and try to apply them.  So I have an Organization pin board that I keep ideas for organizing paperwork, home, vehicle, and homeschooling.  Other people have such clever ideas!

2. Saving Money – The internet is just full of creative, inspiring ideas for saving money.  Pinterest has saved me so much money on everything from free printables to frugal living ideas to cheap meal ideas to frugal homeschooling tips to free family activities.

3. Homemaking – I never learned growing up how to keep a home.  I don’t have knowledge about how to fix things or what to use to clean things or even how to do laundry.  Over the years, I have picked up a few things here and there, but still feel pretty inept, but Pinterest is increasing my confidence.  I keep a pin board For the Home where I store ideas that I find on things like stain removal, how to fold a fitted sheet, cleaning tips, and chore suggestions for kids.

4. Meal Planning – I have found so many new recipes on Pinterest and have tried many of them.  This has helped me branch out with my cooking and helped with meal planning.  I have added some awesome new dishes to our regular line-up.  I have also been able to find many new freezer meal recipes and even printable lists to go along with freezer meal planning.  Gotta love Pinterest!

tip: Once I have made a meal, I add it to another board I created just for recipes I have actually made and I add a comment to it.  In the comment, I include things like any ways that I changed the recipe, what we thought of it, how difficult it was to make, and if it was worth making again.  This is a lifesaver as my memory isn’t what it used to be!

5. Party Planning – Ever since my kids were little, I have planned their parties and done the decorating and cake decorating myself (except for one beautiful cake my sister-in-law made one year).  I used to spend about a week searching the internet for ideas and writing lists and figuring out which activities to do, what food to make, and how to make incorporate the theme.  With Pinterest, I can now pin great ideas I find throughout the year and use them when it’s time for a party.  This has saved me a lot of time and stress.

Of course, with these 5 areas as well as with all the ways that I use Pinterest directly for homeschooling, I need to be very careful to avoid the pitfalls of Pinterest, which I will discuss in my next Pinterest post.

P.S.  The Chaos and The Clutter has been nominated for The Top 25 Homeschool Blogs Award.  There are just three more days to vote and I would love your support.

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