However, there is another part--a very important other part--of our schedule. That is our homemaking tasks. This year, with all our curriculum and grade level changes, I was really concerned I wouldn't have time to keep up with the house. This is the first year we will assuredly NOT be done by lunch time. So, I'm going to need some help!
Enter: my children, aka the Junior Homemakers!
SWEETHEART (turning 12 in a few weeks):
Her jobs
1. Wash own breakfast/lunch dishes.
2. Wash "darks" laundry when basket is full. (Wash, dry, fold and deliver to correct rooms.)
3. Take turns setting/clearing table at suppertime.
4. Keep room clean and picked up.
5. Help tidy house before Daddy gets home.
LITTLE BIT (7 1/2 years old):
1. Wash own breakfast/lunch dishes.
2. Wash towels when basket is full. (Wash, dry, and fold small towels and washcloths-Mom will help with the others.)
3. Take turns setting/clearing the table at suppertime.
4. Keep room clean/picked up.
5. Help tidy house before Daddy gets home.
They are capable of doing much more, but here at the start of the school year these chores will suffice. Once we hit on a good routine and we see how much of their day is spent on schoolwork, I can adjust the chores. I want them to have time to play.
Oh, my chores are meal planning and prep, washing the "lights" laundry (there is more of that than anything which is why I took it), general keeping up with things around here, and assigning random jobs. For all of us. I work alongside them.
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| No pictures of me cooking, but look! Yummy food I made! |
I began slowly implementing the laundry and dish-washing chores a few weeks ago and I have already noticed two things.
1. No more clean clothes are being thrown back into the laundry room by lazy children who don't feel like putting them away. Read: shooting yourself in the foot.
2. Little Bit figured out right quick that many things we eat for breakfast can be eaten on a paper towel thereby leaving her no dishes to wash. She's smart, that one.
So that's my plan for keeping our house from looking like an episode of Hoarders or How Clean Is Your House during the school year. Do your children's chores change during the school year?
I am linking up with A Wise Woman Builds Her House Link up today! Go check out the other links for homemaking encouragement!
Great ideas Brenda! We have a similar plan going in to our school year. I am making "homemaking" a bigger priority this year (housework before school work twice a week). You have been an influence (a good one) in that area.
ReplyDeleteThanks, Tess
These are some great ideas! I am very guilty of being too easy on my girls and not assigning enough (or hard enough) tasks. You have inspired me!
ReplyDeleteI tend to be more relaxed in the summer about chores, but we do have a chore schedule that we try to follow. My two older boys (ages 8 and 6) each have a list of chores that they are supposed to complete every morning before they can go play. These include reading their Bibles and praying, making their beds, getting dressed and putting their pajamas away (they must wear them 3 times before they are considered dirty...although this has been challenging to enforce), personal grooming, carrying their dirty clothes to the laundry, and unloading the dishwasher (they each do half). Then in the afternoon, they help out tidying up the house before dad gets home from work ("10 minute tidy"). They are also responsible for setting/clearing the dinner table (on alternating nights) and taking out the trash and recycling.
ReplyDeleteI'd like to start training them to help with the laundry because that's an area that gets out of control quickly. My 8 year old is perfectly capable of putting a load in and my 6 year old could easily transfer clothes from the washer to dryer. They defintely need more folding practice though!
My 3 year old doesn't have any scheduled chores yet, but I hope to change that soon. He could carry his dirty clothes to the laundry and help set the table at least.
Jenae, that's exactly how mine started helping with laundry a few years ago. And yes, their chores were chosen based on what sucks the most of my time: kitchen and clothes! A few years ago their chores were all about their own things but now they have a better balance between personal responsibility and helping the family out! :)
ReplyDelete