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Last night as I was cleaning up the kitchen after dinner, I spotted this scene through the kitchen window.
A daddy that treasures time with his babes and those same babes who truly treasure their special time with daddy is definitely a finer thing. This post is linked to Finer Things Friday. Ah, chores. It’s such a broad topic. Chores can be any number of things and I’m sure no two families handle them the same way. We have started our children on official chores around the age of 3, but they start out much younger than that with “helping” around the house. As soon as they are able, we start them with things like, helping transfer clothes into the dryer, setting the table with spoons/forks (they really don’t set the table, rather just put a few utensils on the table randomly), putting dirty clothes in their basket at the end of the day and other simple age appropriate tasks. As they get older, we actually start a chore chart for them. I love this chore chart creator because it also has graphics you can add to the top of each chart. Here’s what is currently working for us: * Almost-2-year-old Rachael helps with odds and ends as asked or as she shows interest. * 4 year old Eli’s chart looks like this:
It includes making his bed, brushing his teeth morning and night, setting the table for dinner, taking the recycling outside to the cart, cleaning up toys, vacuuming the kitchen (T, TH & S) and dusting (M) * 6 year old Jacob’s chart looks like this:
It includes making his bed, brushing his teeth morning and night, unloading the dishwasher (he puts away anything he can reach and all other items are stacked neatly on the counter below the cabinet they belong in), taking trash out, cleaning up toys, vacuuming the kitchen (M, W, F) and dusting (TH). Although, I think Jacob will be gaining some new responsibilities soon (bringing the trash carts back up to the house after trash pickup and helping with bathroom cleaning). The boys are both also responsible for helping with baking and vacuuming the carpet, bringing their laundry baskets downstairs on laundry day and with any other tasks they are asked to complete. If you’ve been following along with my posts on our daily homeschool schedule, you’ll notice there are time slots for chores. During these times, the boys are responsible for completing their chores that are applicable to that time of day. We really don’t have any sort of system of rewards, etc. because we haven’t needed it. For the time being, simply marking off their own chores as they complete them has been satisfaction enough for them to complete their daily tasks as scheduled. What about you? What kind of chore system do you use in your household? I would love to learn of any new techniques and hear what your children are responsible for. This post is linked to Works For Me Wednesday. When baking or cooking, do you ever run out of usable counter/work space? Yes. Oh good, I’m not the only one! I frequently cover my entire work space while creating a meal or preparing something to bake. This makes it a problem for me to have my entire recipe binder sitting out, also on that same work space. So, last week I had this bright idea (at least, I think it’s a bright idea!)
Do you see that recipe? It’s hanging on the hood above my stove. I simply took a magnet from the fridge and popped it right up there. Now I have a handy recipe holder at eye level and don’t have to worry about losing my recipe binder in the mess of my counters! Also, I find the best way to prevent splattering, etc. is to make sure you keep the recipe in it’s page protector sleeve. This way it can be wiped with a damp cloth before it’s put away. This post is linked to Kitchen Tip Tuesdays. Yesterday I told you about the new schedules I created for the kids and myself and today I’m going to explain how our school day actually works. The printed schedule is pretty basic, but there’s actually a lot that happens in those “school” periods.
A typical day goes something like this: 5:45 – I try to get up this early each day so I can get myself showered, dressed and ready to face the day (any extra time I have is used for computer time) Obviously, this is a typical day where we are home all day. If we have appointments or other outside activities, I try to schedule them in the afternoon since Jacob focuses better on school work in the morning. There are also other days in which we will be gone all day doing fun things and we scratch formal schooling on those days. We are also not always this rigid in our schedule. Some days we decide to bake cookies (doesn’t that count as HomeEc and math??) in lieu of a subject or we might seize a beautiful day to have a field trip to the zoo or any number of other fun learning experiences. * Chore ideas and how we handle them coming another day! This post is linked to: I’m one of those moms that needs structure. I fall miserably behind in all areas of home life if I do not have a routine or schedule of some sort. In essence, I don’t handle go-with-the-flow very well. When I was doing my homeschool planning for this year, I decided it was time we had a real schedule. Jacob, my first grader, also functions much better with a fairly predictable routine, we do have flexibility, because that’s an essential skill, as well, but for the most part our days are pretty routine now. I created two schedules, in addition to my weekly lesson plans*.
The first is my basic schedule. There’s nothing concrete about the school hours, only that we’re doing most of our formal schooling during those times. The second is the boys’ basic schedule. I created it with clip art from MS Word to help Eli, who isn’t reading yet, understand it, as well as words so Jacob can read the full description on some of the longer items. Here’s what the boys’ full schedule looks like:
Both schedules are posted on the fridge, along with the boys’ chore charts**. We officially started our new school year last week and these charts are working wonderfully for us. It is helping us all to have an idea of how our days will go and it’s definitely helping me with time management!
** Chore charts and how they work for us coming soon! This post is linked to:  Good morning again! (If you’re looking for the weekly menu plan, it’s below this post). I’m guest posting over at Springs Bargains today with a post about my experience consigning with Just Between Friends. If you’re looking to sell baby clothes and gear, kids clothes or maternity items, you’ll want to read this post.  Ah, another hot week is upon us. If you follow me on Twitter, yesterday you might have seen my tweet about this summer weather being a hindrance to my menu planning… it has been awful. I haven’t wanted to cook (inside or out) and have been entirely too lazy. I think part of it has to [...]  In an effort to make the most of the kitchen gadgets and appliances I already have, I tend to put off purchasing something I really want and would use frequently for a long time (like a year or more). It has been no different in figuring out if I would really get enough use [...]  It starts so early… Always watching, listening, waiting for her turn to do the big kid things. And always eager to see him at the end of the day, this is her time with him, her self instituted ritual (that’s Eli looking on). It melts this mama heart to pieces! This post is linked to Wordless Wednesday.  Wow! It’s hard to believe I’ve been shampoo free for a year (14 months, actually)! What started out as a frustrating endeavor has ended up working really well for me. My basic routine has changed a little over the year, but I’ve been using my current routine for several months now and have wonderful results. Every other day: * [...]  |
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