Chore List

I hope I haven’t kept you hanging too long!

These are the chores that I let my kids choose from for their 3 DAILY Chores.

• Swish and Swipe the Hall Bathroom
• Reboot Laundry AM
• Reboot Laundry PM
• Empty Dishwasher AM
• Make Lunch
• Clear Table PM
• Load Dishwasher 4PM
• Cook Dinner
• Clear Table after dinner
• Run Dishwasher after dinner
• Take out the trash
• Sweep Kitchen tile
• Put away your laundry
• Wash Hand-Wash Dishes
• Walk and feed the dogs
• Daily Mission*

These are the chores that I let my kids choose from for their 5 WEEKLY Home Blessing Chores.*

• Vacuum your room (x4 bedrooms)
• Vacuum Living Room
• Vacuum School Room
• Vacuum Kitchen Tile
• Mop Tile Floors
• Take the Trashcan to the Curb
• Take the Trashcan back to the House
• Wash the dog
• Clean Hall Bath sink & toilet
• Clean Hall Bath shower & floor
• Clean Mstr Bath sink & tub
• Clean Mstr Bath toilet & shower
• Mop Mstr Bath floor
• Fold Laundry
• Clean Kitchen Counters completely
• Change bed sheets
• Dust furniture in 1 room completely
• Gather all trash and add new bags
• Pooper Scooper backyard
• Help with home busines
• Help with Girl Scout Leadership jobs
• Pull weeds in flower bed
• Kid’s Mission*

* Credit given to the Fly Lady for use of these terms. I’ve just tweaked them to work for our family

Do you pay for chores?

We do pay for chores.

Since the children were three years old we’ve paid them a dollar per year . The 3-year old got $3 per payday to blow on anything she wanted. The 5-year old got $5. That worked well for years! 

In the last two years we’ve all joined scouting. John’s in Cub Scouts, the girls are in Girl Scouts, and I’m the Girl Scout leader. Recently, we’ve also noticed some inflation and recession signs in the economy. (tongue in cheek) So we’ve switched to “virtual money.” The kids earn their 20 coins and I credit their account with their age in dollars. We use those dollar credits to pay for our recreation activities: scouting events, joining choir, clothes they need for activities like cheer uniform, movies, etc. It keeps them from blowing their money and still wanting more to go places and do things.

That’s too much to keep track of.

I completely agree, there have been years when all this would have been too much to keep track of. But right now with me as a stay at home mom, homeschooling only two kids, and the kids are older at age 7, 9, and 12, it is working and has been for six months.

20 Chores a week

When I made a list of all the chores that it would take to clean our house, I found about 80 weekly chores.

• Empty the dishwasher every day
• Rotate a load of laundry twice a day
  We do twenty loads of laundry a week for our family of five.
• Vacuum once a week, etc.

When you tell a child to do the laundry, they don’t know what to do. But if you tell the child, “Put a load of dark laundry into the clothes washer.” They can learn that process and repeat it.

Also, children have notoriously short attention spans, so each of the chores on our chore list take 5-10 minutes.

• Vacuum the living room
• Wash the door
• Clean the bathroom sink
• Empty the dishwasher

So to get MOST of the chores done each week we need to each do 3 DAILY chores and 5 WEEKLY chores. Fly Lady has some great articles on her “Home Blessing Hour.” That is where I got most of the “weekly chore” ideas and many of the daily chores.

3 Daily Chores 5 days a week,
plus 5 Home Blessings once a week
is six days of work or 20 chores a week!

We use “I’ve been caught being good” coins to keep up with how many chores each child has done each week. Each child has their own assigned color, so that has eliminated stealing. They do a chore or two and report back to me that it is done and I give them the coin immediately. If I notice that a chore has not been done, they are called back to do it again or to complete it.

Each child has to earn their day’s coins before watching TV, playing video games, playing with friends, or going to after school activities. Yes, I have to be willing to miss a gymnastic class that I’ve paid for to get their work done. I’ve even threatened to let my child be tardy to school if she couldn’t get her one chore done before school. Our motto around here is:

School and chores, then play

 

How do you get them to do their chores?

I sometimes brag about my kids on facebook. Isn’t that what it’s for? I keep hearing this question, “How do you get them to do their chores?”

We have trained the kids to do chores since they could walk. 12 month old toddlers can walk over and put a dirty diaper in the trash can or clothes in the laundry. 24 month olds can start learning colors to sort laundry. Three year olds love to empty the dryer. Four year olds can play in the bubbles to hand wash dishes. I got this information from a fantastic article online called “Stages of Responsibilty.” (I cannot find the article I used online anymore, so I’ve reposted it here.)

Some people will say this is harsh, but it has taken years to teach my kids that I am serious. We’ve had better seasons and worse sesons, but over all we have to do our chores before we get to do anything fun. Proverbs speaks a lot about work and hard work being import for the future of our children when they are adults. My husband has a strong work ethic and he feels it is very important that we teach our children how to work.

When the children were preschoolers we each did ONE chore before each meal. We were home together and we did one chore before breakfast, one chore before lunch, and one chore before dinner.  That is 12 chores a day! That helped us keep up with simple dishes, laundry and picking up toys at least!

Now that my baby is 7 years old, all the children have been cross-trained to do all the chores alone or at least with help. The 7 year old still needs help with loading dishwasher but she can empty it alone. If someone needs “help” I am their helper unless someone else volunteers first.

I found we work best when we work independently but simulataneously. So we all do our chores at the end of the school day or before a meal. We each scurrying different directions. However, I don’t try to do my own chores if they need my help. I had to give up control of that and allow myself to be interrupted.

This is getting long, so I will go through the logistical details of our current chore system in the next post. But I hope this has inspired you to try something. Let your children help you. Teach them to work. It is worth it!

Looking for Girls grades 5th to 7th

Go on a journey of

• Outdoor Adventure to develop character
• Build Confidence in yourself and others, where we will find
• Courage to try new things and
• Make the world a better place.

We will try …

• Kayaking
• Archery
• Hiking
• High Ropes
• Horseback Trail Riding
• Exploration
• Camping
• Cooking
• and having fun together!

You will try new things that you may not have time to do in high school or college. You will improve your leadership skills and discover your community service interest!

No Time?

Once a month or
Once a week

You Choose!

How to Cope with Hot Texas Summers

There is a film at Lowe’s that you can use to cover the high windows. It helps with the sun and so your 2-story next door neighbor doesn’t look down into your window.

MANY people install Sun Screens (DIY at Lowe’s or Home Depot or have it installed by a contractor) on the south and west (someone correct me if I’m wrong).

 

On AC, my BIL is an AC contractor/owner and he recommends cooling the house a little colder than desired in the early AM. Like at 4AM have the thermostat programmed for 73 degrees. Then at 9AM have it programmed for 75 to 78 (however hot you can stand it). DO NOT change it up and down through the day and do not raise it to “save money” when you leave the house. He says, “BTUs are BTUs and it costs MORE to MOVE the BTUs when it’s hot outside. If you just leave the thermostat where you want it, you will be cool and the BTUs will be moved out of the house.”  The furniture stores a lot of heat so do not let the open blinds shine on your furniture or you’ll have a hard time cooling it back down in the afternoon hours.

 

Do your outdoor activities in the early morning between 6 and 11AM. The hottest part of the day is from 5 to 8pm. You do need DAILY sunscreen, even inside. Don’t forget your son’s ears! My dad has had parts of his nose and ears removed for skin cancer. Wear a white or straw hat if you (or children) have thin hair. Put sunscreen on your arms and face faithfully everyday and TRY to train the children to do the same. I am amazed at the sun damage on my fore-arms from incidental exposure with only 14 years in TX.

 

Plan to watch movies, visit AC places like the mall, or drop everything and read through the preschool naptime hours (noon to 3pm).
Do everything you want to do that is an outside activity in May and June, by August it is even too hot to SWIM!

It is still hot in September but the 100 degree heat breaks and you can go outside again.

Many homeschoolers do school all year, or take their summer break in May and June and start back after July 4.

We do lots of VBS and Choir Camps at several churches to avoid the summer sun and summer boredom.

Increase your Bookings using the Dice Game!

YOU NEED—

• 1 pair of dice
• 11 cards (be sure they cannot read the card through the envelope)
• 11 envelopes (Number them “2” to “12”)
• Goodie bag(s) with inexpensive items in them
• 1 Grand Prize

 

Goodie bag prizes should be under a dollar. You can use candy bars, inexpensive samples from the company or little gifts you pick up at the dollar store. Have one “Grand Prize.” This could be a discounted product or something you can get at a bargain. It should have a $20 to $30 perceived value.

 

SET UP—

·        “Grand prize” card is in the envelope marked #2 (The odds of rolling a 2 is the lowest of all the numbers we’re going to use.)

·        “Win a Prize” cards are in envelopes #3, 4, 5, & 12

·        “Book A Show” cards are in envelopes #6, 7, 8, 9, 10, & 11

 

EXPLAIN the “Dice Game” at your shows:
(Dice Game should follow the pretend hostess game or showing the hostess benefits)

“Ok, everyone, it’s time for us to have some fun! My customers always love this game! Denise, will you hold these dice for me?” We’re going to play a really fun game! It’s a game of chance!   (This is important! Putting the dice in their hand makes them more likely to play, and once someone starts, almost everybody plays! Choose someone who is enthusiastic so far in the show.)

 

“This is how it works:

I have 11 envelopes in my hand. Inside each envelope is a card. Some of the cards say, “win a prize,” some say, “book a show,” and one says, “Grand prize!” Tonight the grand prize is … (describe whatever you’ve chosen as a GRAND prize then repeat the sentence above.)

 

If you choose to play, you’ll roll the dice and whatever number you roll, I’ll give you the corresponding envelope!

 

Don’t open it until the end! At the end you’ll open your envelopes together and see what you’ve won, and you’ll all be winners. You’ll either win a prize, or an opportunity to book a show and get everything Kathy, our pretend hostess, had in her arms, or the “grand prize.” Now here’s the rules! If you “win a prize”… you have take the prize. If you win the “grand prize”…you have to take the grand prize.” If you win “book a show”…you have to book a show! So Denise will you start us off?”

 

(You don’t want to say “who wants to play?” You need to say, “So, Denise, will you start us off?” Then after Denise plays, you go to the next person and say, “Stacy, do you want to play,” then after she plays or doesn’t, you ask the next person. Ask every person in the room!

Then after everyone has played, (this is optional), you say, “Don’t open your envelopes yet. I have another chance for you! If you choose to book a show before you open your envelope, you win the grand prize for sure. I’ll bring it to your show. Plus you take home tonight whatever is in your envelope!” Then you go around the room and ask each individual again, “Would you like to pick a date and get the grand prize?”

 

Please POST COMMENTS below with questions or comments of how works with your gatherings!

 

You can Reactivate Now

10 Famous Homeschoolers

1. Agatha Christie. Agatha was a painfully shy girl, so her mom homeschooled her even though her two older siblings attended private school.

2. Pearl S. Buck was born in West Virginia, but her family moved to China when she was just three months old. She was homeschooled by a Confucian scholar and learned English as a second language from her mom.

3. Alexander Graham Bell was homeschooled by his mother until he was about 10. It was at this point that she started to go deaf and didn’t feel she could properly educate him any more. Her deafness inspired Bell to study acoustics and sound later in life.

4. If Thomas Edison was around today, he would probably be diagnosed with ADD – he left public school after only three months because his mind wouldn’t stop wandering. His mom homeschooled him after that, and he credited her with the success of his education: “My mother was the making of me. She was so true, so sure of me; and I felt I had something to live for, someone I must not disappoint.”

5. Ansel Adams was homeschooled at the age of 12 after his “wild laughter and undisguised contempt for the inept ramblings of his teachers” disrupted the classroom. His father took on his education from that point forward.

6. Robert Frost hated school so much he would get physically ill at the thought of going. He was homeschooled until his high school years.

7. Woodrow Wilson studied under his dad, one of the founders of the Southern Presbyterian Church in the United States (PCUS). He didn’t learn to read until he was about 12. He took a few classes at a school in Augusta, Georgia, to supplement his father’s teachings, and ended up spending a year at Davidson College before transferring to Princeton.

8. Mozart was educated by his dad as the Mozart family toured Europe from 1763-1766.

9. Laura Ingalls Wilder was homeschooled until her parents finally settled in De Smet in what was then Dakota Territory. She started teaching school herself when she was only 15 years old.

10. Louisa May Alcott studied mostly with her dad, but had a few lessons from family friends Henry David Thoreau, Ralph Waldo Emerson and Nathaniel Hawthorne. Can you imagine?

 

author unknown

Meal Choices

This is also how I do meal planning. I shop for specials in bulk and I put meals in the freezer as “Meal Choices.” So one week I may put 12 chicken meals in the freezer. Another week I may put 3 roast meals and 4 pork loin meals in the freezer.

I use sales to buy the meat on sale and I buy as much as I can afford. I usually put more meat into the freezer than I use. But I stock up for when my husband, who is hourly, gets a small paycheck. Then we just eat out of the freezer for a month or several weeks.

What’s in your freezer?

See what’s in The Happy Housewife’s Freezer!

Find more Freezer ideas at Freezer Food Friday.