My Blog Adventure!

Welcome to my blog! It's high time this 48-year-old ventures into blog world and joins the ranks of you intriguing bloggers. First off, you should know I love the Lord Jesus Christ with all my heart. I love His Creation, His Word, His forgiveness, His mercy, and His being the Savior of my life. He is my reason for living! After the Lord, my next love in life is my outdoor-lovin', prankster pullin', hard workin' man I've called my husband for 24 years and counting. My 3 sons - to whom this blog is dedicated - have the next piece of my heart, and they fill my world with laughter, love, and laundry. I am calling this MY BLOG ADVENTURE... so hop into blog world with me... let's get to encouraging one another... this could be fun!

Saturday, March 26, 2011

Habits: Chore Charts

I've tried many chore charts over the years... Motivated Moms... MOH... and countless others.  I've had the best success with just making my own.  I began by jotting down the things that really need to be done to make our house an enjoyable environment to live in.  Then I decided how often we need to have those things done, and who I could train to do each job.  I am shooting for the middle here - I do not need a spotless house, but I do need a clean, organized house.  I also realized I need certain things to be done before we start school for my own peace of mind (i.e. bathroom counters must be clean, there can't be dishes in the sink, trash must be taken out, etc.).

I began small.  I thoroughly trained each child to do one chore at a time.  I showed them carefully what was expected, and I had them practice the chore with me overseeing it.  I then put the chores on a chart for each of our dc.  I tried laminating the charts, but that didn't work.  They needed to check off each chore daily.  I also needed some chores to be done daily, some weekly, and some monthly.  So, I went to making 1 chore chart for each of our dc for each week of each month.  Each first week of the month, our dc do their Chore Chart 1.  Each second week of the month, our dc do their Chore Chart 2, third week... Chore Chart 3, fourth week... Chore Chart 4.  I also broke the chores up into morning, afternoon, and evening.  It takes our dc about 15-20 minutes to do their morning chores.  We turn on some happy praise music, and everyone is singing, whistling, and working.  (I have my chores I am working on then as well, but they are so varied and change so much as needs arise that a specific "chart" has not worked for me.)  For my sons, chores have been added each summer, and we have now done this long enough that my oldest ds's chores became my middle ds's chores, and even some of my middle ds's chores have become my youngest ds's chores.

Just know the chore charts I am sharing here LOOK overwhelming, but they are not.  They are the result of many years of summer training of chores.  They are also the result of some research on my part... really just trying things, jotting down what needs to be done, and seeing what worked for us.  What works for us is daily checkoffs, even if some or most of the chores are the same every day.  I cannot tell you how freeing it is not to have to TALK about what chores our dc should be doing anymore!  Because I have put real time into training our dc to do new chores each summer, they truly can do them happily and successfully.  They also keep the same chores for around 3 years, and add a few new ones each summer, until the younger brother begins to take over the older brother's chores one by one.  Training our dc in these important areas of general cleaning and upkeep of a house little by little helps them learn life skills that will be useful their entire lives.  This is a bit by bit way of me being able to do this, and it helps me out as I am a busy mom just like all of you!


One last thing, as dc get older, their chores can and probably should reflect increased responsibility.  They really like this!  Why have my oldest ds unloading the dishwasher when my middle ds can do it very well?  My oldest ds is an avid outdoorsman, like his father, and so many of his chores this year have been outdoors.  I often look out my kitchen window and see him playing with the dogs, breathing in the morning air, watching a sunrise, and just enjoying God's Creation for a moment before coming in.  The boys enjoy their chores for the most part, and they have learned to be quick with them.  Yes, there are still chores they don't love, but then that is true in all of life - excellent preparation for being a Dad someday!  

In Christ,
Julie














10 comments:

  1. Wow! These are wonderful! Thank you for sharing them. I need to determine what needs to be done around here and get to work on making my own lists! By the way, what is "bring up steps" each night? Just curious! Thanks again for your kindness in sharing these.

    ReplyDelete
  2. What a great tool for your children! I love how you are making chores work so well for your family!
    You have so many great ideas- I love gleaming wisdom from you on the message board, and now through your blog!
    Have a wonderful day!
    Jessica (Mom4Him)

    ReplyDelete
  3. Hi Julie! I found this link form the Heart of Dakota forum. You should add the followers widgit. I'd love to follow your blog.

    ReplyDelete
  4. Momtime -
    "Bring up the steps" brings up memories of my childhood! My mom used to say, "Now girls, remember to bring up your step". We each had a step on our stairs that was ours near the bottom. For my boys, the bottom step is Emmett's (4 yo), the next step up is Riley's (8 yo), the next step up is Wyatt's (11 yo), the next step is mine (age not relevant, right?!), and the next step is my dh's. Rather than continually running things up and down the stairs all day as we find them around the main floor of the house, I put them on whomever's step they belong, and whenever any of us goes up the steps during the day, we take "bring up our step". At the end of the day, everyone's step must be brought up and cleared. It works well! (Though I am sure I could benefit from the aerobic exercise of running those steps multiple times during the days - however - timewise, this is a real time saver for me.)

    ReplyDelete
  5. Abbie - I did it! I have the widget in place, and who knew, I have some followers already?!? Thanks for helping me with this.

    ReplyDelete
  6. Jessica - thanks for your kind words here! I love the HOD Board so much - it is truly a calming, encouraging, uplifting place for me to be - largely because of neat ladies like you being a part of it.

    ReplyDelete
  7. I love how you organized the chores for you kids. Thanks for the ideas!

    ReplyDelete
  8. Dearest Julie,

    I was looking over the charts here and noticed that you had the boys bring down their laundry once or twice a week and that got me wondering about how you do laundry. I'd love to know. Laundry is one of the biggest sources of stress for me right now as it's not getting done on any kind of schedule or getting folded & put away when it does get done. I've loved all your ideas so far so I bet I'll be able to glean something from the way you do laundry.

    Thanks so much for all the things you are putting on your blog! It's been a blessing to me and has already helped me organize some things in my own home.

    Blessings to you!
    Paige

    ReplyDelete
  9. Thanks, creativemommy! I'm glad you liked the ideas!

    Paige - great idea for a post! Off to post about laundry... we just did this today, so it's fresh in my mind.

    ReplyDelete
  10. This comment has been removed by the author.

    ReplyDelete