This is not solely my idea. I've taken a few ideas and made them work for us. Yes, you have to re fill the chores once a week, but it's what works for us! There are chore charts that are online and you just type it in and print it out once a week, and if that works for you, go for it! :)
For the chore chart, I went to Michael's and bought the bigger card stock. I got three papers of each color, one for each kid. I already had one made for Kotah, Gavin and Skylar, but was waiting to make one for Thad and then was like, well, I'll just wait til we get home with Ella and Keegan and make it all. I WAS going to make it before we left to get them, but life got a wee bit crazy! ;)
I took one paper to make it the chart and the other two to make the pockets. You could get (I think they are called library envelopes??) little envelopes to put sticks in, but I couldn't find them and wasn't going to go in a million stores with my kids (only 4 kids at the time but still) to try and find them. So I got my thinking cap on (yes, there prob was steam coming out of my ears.. Haha) and made my own. What I did was fold the paper, not quite in half, so there was extra paper, but will be used for something! ;) and then I cut 4 "envelopes" with one paper and 3 out of the other paper. I then just took rubber cement, anyone else love that snot glue?, and glued the sides only since my bottom was folded. Does this make any sense? Look at pictures below and I hope it does! ;)
Then I took the rubber snot glue and glued the back of each pocket onto my paper. Once dried I wrote each day of the week. Yes, not all my kids can read, but we've got a few that can and can help them out! ;)
Once dried yet again, I got all my chore sticks out, and placed them where I wanted into each child's chart.
Also, took me a while to think of this, but write the day of the week on the back of each stick! I did this bc Kotah doesn't unload dishwasher everyday of the week, Gavin and Skylar also did it. So this way, once they put it in the bucket, I knew which day to put that stick in instead of trying to make sure that chore was done everyday of the week, AND that I didn't double it up! ;) again, hoping this makes sense! ;)
After that was done, I took 2 nails and then hung them up using the clips.
I also had buckets that I got from Target dollar bin to match each child's color chart. Keegan's paper is orange and his bucket is red, but Michaels didn't have any red paper and I wasn't waiting any longer to make them! ;)
Once they have done their chore, they give me the stick and I make sure they've done their chore and then they put it in their bucket, OR, they hold the stick up and I tell them to put in bucket bc I've seen that they've done that chore.
There is a black bucket that holds "naughty" chores. If they don't obey right away, talk back, etc, they are to pick a chore from the bucket. If they still continue to be bad or throw a fit for having to do a naughty chore, they've got to do another one! Sometimes I'll pick it for them... ;)
The Bible verse is what they will learn. I will change that every week.
(I'm also working on a devo basket and will post pics of that once its completed...)
There is a paper with rules, kinda, and then table wipers... Each child is assigned a day for table wiping and they have to do it for the whole day for each meal. (I need to do that for floors bc right now, it's just after breakfast, I need to make it for each meal)
The calendar, my hubs got for me. I used to have a HUGE calendar but since it was a free school calendar it only lasted til July.. So he got me this last month, and its good til Dec 2013!!
I went through and wrote out menu ideas for the whole month.
What if I don't want that meal for that day, it's ok, I can switch it! No prob! :)
I'm also doing something a little different this month. We had a little extra money for me to buy a little more food than what I usually budget, so I decided to do freezer meals and make double and for the end of the month. All I have to do is dump in crock pot... Once I make those I'll try to post! ;)
I usually shop once a week as well... This week I prob won't have to except to get bread and milk... ;)
I color coded each meal, breakfast, lunch and dinner. Well there is already a spot on calendar for dinner which is light blue. I also color coded what needs to be made ahead. Like soaking oats the night before, etc.
I totally cheated and this whole months menu is from pinterest. :) I'm using crock pot for a lot of meals. Still trying to get in the groove of cooking for everyone! :)
There are a lot of easy meals, I don't have time to get fancy, and I got everything (ALMOST, just a few small items from Giants) at Aldis! I love shopping there! They don't accept coupons but I can't go to different stores to get the right deal.
Now, NOTHING against anyone who does couponing!!! that's AWESOME! But for me, it doesn't work. I usually take my kids with me shopping and I like going to one store! This week Curt went with me, but there's a lot of time where it's just me and the kids, so one store please.
I also still like doing Farmers Market, but won't be doing that for too much longer. I get my honey from there along with fruits and veggies that are in season.
Some chores that the kids have to do:
Clean upstairs bathroom
Clean downstairs bathroom
Clean kitchen baseboards
Wipe down chairs (once a week)
Dust living room
Those are just a few! Many hands make light work!
Do they get a reward for doing all their chores? Nope. Harsh? No I don't think so. We have too many in this house and in order for it to run smoothly, we need help. Their reward is having the satisfaction is knowing they are helping and teaching them to be responsible.
Do they get paid for their chores. Nope. Harsh? Nope. You shouldn't get paid for what needs to be done. They don't have an allowance either. We've talked about it, but we haven't gotten any further! ;)
Ok... I think that's it...? Have any questions feel free to comment, text/call or email! :) have any other ideas, please share! :)
(ps I don't think my pictures are in order and I apologize...)
1 comment:
thanks for sharing..
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