I ran in the morning 3 times this week, we made our debut at playgroup, Jared started joy school, we went to the library, and the boys have chores to do. They also have a "chore of the day" and "activity" each day. On their chore chart are things like making the bed, picking up dirty clothes, brushing teeth, picking up toys, their weekly chore (sweep, trash, or set table), and chore of the day. They get to put a sticker on for each completed chore and will earn something like an outing to the zoo with a certain number of stickers. I love having a chore of the day, which they do after Nathan gets home from school in the afternoon. I can see what is needed for that day, like folding clothes, vacumming, cleaning the bathroom, cleaning the van, or whatever, write it on the board, and we work on it together.
I also wanted to have something fun each day, so I'm doing an activity of the day. I think I'll try to keep the same theme for each day of the week, like Mondays - cooking, Tuesdays - craft, Wednesday - game, Thursday - park, Friday - video, Saturday - outing, Sunday - coloring. Monday we have Family Night (lesson, activity, songs, treats), so it would be great for helping make treats. Nathan has an early day on Thursday, so we have about 3.5 hours before dinnertime - it's a good day for an outing. (They get a break from chores on Sunday...)
I don't know if we'll be able to stick with it, but it felt great to be organized for a week. The boys felt good about helping and they had fun. And what did we get from our outings? Sick. Oh well, that's what happens. We'll be better soon.
I would love to hear any ideas that you have about chores or activities - things that have been successful or things that haven't worked. We're also talking about doing a small allowance (not related to chores) so they learn about money, tithing, and saving. Any thoughts?
7 comments:
I think you're awesome! I don't have any ideas to give...I'm just taking yours! :) As far as learning money values, I have heard that Dave Ramsey's kid series is awesome. His adult books are great I know! Anyway...can't wait to see all that gets accomplished! :)
Annie, it's so fun to get purposeful and intentional like that! I used the same kind of thinking when I did a little preschool with my kids and when I homeschooled them - so fun! You will see real results and a lot of cooperation from your kids, I'm sure! The bad news is, you have to reinvent that all the time! ;P It's not failure, it's progress! Have fun!
Now there's the reward from having 4 boys...workers : ) J/K...we found an awesome chore chart by Melissa & Doug. It's magnetic and has about 30 different chores that you can interchange and some free spaces you can write in your own. It's great because we tell Nicholas he can earn his magnets every day. We also have two piggy banks I made at enrichment one night...one for college and one for mission and we give him money every now and then to put in them. He loves wadding up the bills and choosing which one to put it in (he mostly chooses the mission one so we have to sneak money into the college one). I've seen some other ideas where they add other banks for tithing and/or fun stuff. Oh, and here's a cheap craft Nicholas and I did this week (you've probably already done it)...I found some washable paint and we went hiking and picked out some rocks to paint. So I got his activity and craft in all in one day, and he loved painting his "crocodile" rock.
I think what you've started already is great! Don't try to do too many new things at once. But what you are doing goes right along with what I taught about in MiaMaids today about Healthy Habits and having the right balance in something more vigorous and exercising and then something more relaxing and restful and fun every day. I have been doing keeping that balance for 3 weeks now and have seen so much improvement in my moods, attitude, energy, and view of life. Its great! Way to be! Keep it up!
Go SUPERMOM!
Have you checked out FlyLady? I'm a fan. I've taken the principles and adapted it to my house and my style.
I think your ideas are great! I've tried different job charts and we're not very good at them. ;-)
About finances, we love Dave Ramsey too and though we don't have his kids program, I hear it is awesome. Here's what we do: they get allowance, not tied to chores; I went to Michaels or Hobby Lobby, went to their unfinished wood section and got a "jewelry" box that had dividers; we labeled the large center one for savings goal, and then four smaller dividers for tithing, mission, college and taxes (remember, my husband is an auditor). They get their tax return when we get ours. That has worked pretty well(when we remember to give them their allowance). My kids love it and it has helped them to want to save up to purchase things they want. When we were walking to school last week, Elise (my 6 yr old) suggested that we all work together to buy a new trampoline as ours had blown away in a storm and we are sorely missing it. So, I thought that was good because it was the first time she had shown interest to save up for something. Anyway, I wrote an essay, but good luck and all your ideas look great (and remember Alison's advice - and I'll take it too, because I always bite off more than I can chew. So thanks to Alison).
Such a great idea! You most definitely are supermom in my book ;)
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