Chores, Charts and Order........

Lynn asked in her comment on my last post about some examples of the chores and ages of my children..

I would be happy to share what I do in the hopes it might help another mama! :)

Our chore chart is written on a blank monthly calendar. The days of the week across the top with blank boxes for each day of the month/week.

On the left side I have written the chores and then for each day of the week a child is given a chore(s) that they are responsible for thruout the day. An example or two: Sweeping the kitchen is my son Josiah's (14 in April) chore on Sunday, Monday & Saturday. On Monday Josiah washes dishes and Zeke (13 in June) dries. On Tuesday Zeke washes and Gabby (11) dries. And so on thruout the week with different children doing what needs doing on different days.

My son Micah who is 8 in May dries dishes on Thursday, clears and cleans the table on Thursday, sweeps the stairs on Sunday and cleans the upstairs bathroom on Sunday.

My 9 yr. old son Quentin dries dishes, cleans bathrooms, vacuums and dusts etc.. on various days..

We also have a "Did You..." chart in the girls room and the boys room. This chart consists of 4 different things that they are to do before they leave their bedrooms each morning. Such as did they make their beds, pick up their bedroom floor, put away toys, hang up coats and put away any laundry? This applies to all of the children even down to my youngest dd who is 4 and makes her own bed along with doing as asked on the "Did You..." chart.

We also have a laundry chart and cooking chart.
The laundry chart outlines when the girl's laundry and boys laundry is to be done. My dd's Gabriellia (11) & Morgan-Britney (18) are in charge of getting the girl's laundry done; each having their own day. My son's Josiah(almost 14) & Zeke(almost 13) are in charge of getting the boys laundry done; each having their own day. Two days a week are for girl's laundry and two days a week are for boy's laundry. The rest of the days each week are for our cloth diapers, linens, and mama and daddy's clothes, etc..

The cooking chart outlines who cooks on what day. Such as Morgan-Britney cooks each meal; breakfast, lunch and supper on Mondays. Zeke cooks each meal; breakfast, lunch and supper on Tuesdays. Gabby and Quentin work together for each meal; breakfast, lunch and supper on Wednesday, and so forth... Sat & Sun are the days daddy cooks as he loves to cook! I cook on various days and supervise when needed, etc.. I also have times when I will cook the entire meal as time allows.

My children are up at 7am each morning. Daddy wakes them when he gets up and ready for work. They are required to have breakfast and chores finished by 8:30am so that they can begin schoolwork. Most days this means we can have our afternoons free as our schoolwork is finished by noon.

We do give allowance but in our home we have a different type of currency. :) Our currency is goodies...
Depending on the amount of times they have to be reminded to do something, how well they do it and if they do it at all is the deciding factor on how much goodies they get. Goodies like special fruit we don't get often, maybe some type of sweet something or other...crackers, etc.. They get to pick the goodies they get. Also if they meet the requirements mentioned above as to their chores they get to have a friend over, or something else really special at the end of each month.

I hope this is helpful to another mama..:) I know it certainly helps me to be organized and to train my children to stay on task and to work hard keeping our home in order.