photo credit: Pink Sherbet Photography

This seems to be the question everyone wants to know first. Two comments and two emails asked me how I work homeschooling into being a single parent.

Short answer: I don’t.

Being the single parent and homeschooling honestly is not that hard. I guess because even when Michael and I were together, that was solely on my shoulders. He had his own baggage, fears of not being smart enough, of failing, of messing up. So that task was left to me, entirely. He didn’t think he could do the little day to day tasks, and I thought they were too big not to do.

No, what hurts is being the single bread earner and homeschooling. My days are no longer secure in that all I really have to do is teach the kids. There is no husband coming home with a paycheck to help. It’s me. So I have to find a balance between writing and teaching, between what I need to do for them and with them.

It ain’t easy.

Some days I have to get online as soon as I feed them to email clients and get things written. Other days we have time to read a book or do a few pages in the morning. Homeschooling comes in starts and stops, sporadic bits during the day where I try to fit in everything. And, sadly, some things have had to go. We no longer have time or energy for the big Spanish pages he used to love, or the art study lapbook I planned, or many of the crafts we want to do.

But we still have books to read, and stolen minutes after dinner or on long car rides. Homeschooling looks a bit more chaotic than it used to, but we make it work. Because we have to.

And because we love it.

If you just got here, be sure to read part 1- your stuff and part 2 – personal space first.

photo credit: bancroft&ivy

Moving into an RV means purging a lot of your stuff. However, that is not the end of it. You and your kids will need to find a way to keep all that stuff organized.

Most RVs are made with cabinets and storage where you least expect it. The one we are in have a raised bed with a great place to stash stuff, like out of season clothes, underneath. There are also cabinets built into the walls in the bedroom, and a small counter with cabinets against the wall in the living room. Unfortunately, just shoving stuff in any cabinet you can find does not help you much. Sooner or later, you are going to need to find those things again. And the mess begins anew.

Start by creating a plan for you and your children where you will stick things. Try to keep this as logical as possible. All clothes go in the bedroom shelves, pots and pans can go in the spaces under the stove and the fridge. Books belong in the cabinet nearest the couch, toys in the one the furthest. Go through your RV and make a plan of action based on what will fit where, what feels the most logical there, and what you will be using the most often verses the least.

Do not be afraid to change things up to get the best use of your space. I have a small closet in the kitchen where a washer and dryer go, and a large closet in the bedroom for clothes. With a toddler, it makes sense to use the washer closet for clothes, then take the doors off the bedroom closet and build a crib there for the toddler. It changes the space that we have to make things more organized for us. There is no rule that says you have to use your RV storage exactly as it was built.

If you love to make things beautiful inside your home, invest in a set of vintage hat boxes or suitcases. You can use these to store important papers, books, electronics, and anything else. Stack them on a shelf and you have a organization tool that is decorative as well as functional. Try this with other items, such as a vase filled with colored rocks that your keys and phones can rest in. Or use a beautiful old chest as a storage space/coffee table. When you begin to look around there are many options available for organizing in style.

Adding more storage space in an RV can also help keep things organized. I keep a small shelf with buckets in the living room for toys. Kids can take a single bucket off the shelf as they need, and it gives them a quick place to toss toys they are no longer playing with. Simple shelves can be built in between two cabinets, or hang a small net from one corner of the ceiling to toss things such as blankets, dirty clothes, or toys. Buy small hooks to attach to the walls for jackets and umbrellas, and invest in shoe racks that hang on the back of doors. There are many creative ways to organize your stuff neatly and out of the way.

Kids can become easily disorganized if left to their own devices. It is crucial that you walk them through the plan step by step to help them learn where everything goes. A pair of shoes left in the middle of the floor in a house is much less a problem than left in the middle of a room in an RV. Expect to make frequent reminders until your children get the hang of the new routine. We do “5 minute cleanup” races throughout the day. The kids have 5 minutes to race around and put as many things back where they go as they can find. It helps to keep the space clear and things organized.

If you haven’t already, be sure to read part 1 of this series: dealing with your stuff.

photo credit: popofatticus

Once you have purged most of your stuff, and some how managed to purge your kids stuff as well, you will realize that there still is not a lot of room in an RV. It seems obvious. Such a tiny place could not leave a family with much leg room. But once you begin living there full time you realize that it feels even more cramped than you imagined.

Some families can thrive with little to no space. They don’t mind being cooped up together, and there is always the wide open world outside the RV when you need a breather. Unfortunately, not all kids can handle this amount of closeness. Siblings are especially good at feeding off each others bad moods and escalating it to the next level. When you have two or more siblings confined together in a tight space, expect some fighting and acting out.

However, there are ways to develop personal space when living in an RV. The easiest is to open the door and step outside. After spending time inside your home, you come to see just how large the outside world can be. A short walk can do wonders for relieving the feeling of confinement. When kids begin fighting and fussing, sending one outside or both in opposite directions can easily give them both breathing room.

Unfortunately, outside is not always an option. If the weather has turned bad where you are, or you are in the middle of driving on the road, kids cannot just step outside to clear their heads. This is when parents need to get creative.

Simple dividers can be a cheap and effective way to create persona space. Hang a curtain up across a doorway or through a room to magically create a closed space. This is a great way to close off a child who really needs to be alone. Parents can use large, curved shower rods* against a wall to make a small room inside a room. Throw in a couple pillows and a book and you have the perfect nook for a teenager who is craving alone time.

When you first make the transition into RV living, the personal space issue will be one of the most frequent issues. This is because families in typical homes are used to more space of their own. Many children have their own bedrooms, adults have dens or home offices, and there is often a garage or basement that anyone can go into when they need to be alone. Suddenly finding yourself without these can be a shock to the system.

Rather than jump straight into creating space for everyone, it can be a good opportunity to help your children learn how to be together. Play games that require partners in order to win, such as Spades and the board game Partners. Activities that require kids to work together will help them move into their new life where they will be together often.

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