I found Carlie's two blogs - "So You Call Yourself a Homeschooler" and "So You Call Yourself a Christian," while browsing The Homeschool Lounge. I enjoy her style and her strength. Her husband is on his 5th deployment to the middle east and she shares her family life, homeschooling, and faith on these two sites.
She agreed to let me repost "Managing Chores - A Blessing To Any Homeschool," but I encourage you to check out her blogs.
It's been a little bit since my last blog post as my husband is officially on deployment #5. The last week was very intense for us and we are grateful that he has safely made it to his destination :) We love and miss him dearly and are already counting down the days until his return! Now on to today's post.
You may remember recently I had blogged about scheduling and how in our current state it was driving me crazy :) Since then, we purchased Managers Of Their Chores AND Managers Of Their Homes. After reading Managers Of Their Chores, we were able to successfully create and implement our Master Chore List. Last week was our first "trial run" using our chore packs. Chore packs, are simply "packs" made for each child with their expected chores inside of them. This gives the child clear expectations of what they have to do that day, and also gives the parents a tangible way to keep track of everything. I have used the "keep-track-of-everything-in-your-head" method; and believe me, it's not all it's cracked up to be!
Here is what our chore packs look like:
These are the cards that will be inserted into the chore pack (clear plastic holder on left).
I was able to get a subscription to the Choreware software on titus2.com for only $12/yr.
This allows me to streamline the chores into templates designed for the pack.
Worth the investment of $1/month!
These are Hannah's chore packs.
White = daily chores
Yellow = weekly chores
Orange = bi-weekly and monthly chores
This is what her chore pack looks like first thing in the morning.
We opted to tie a piece of yarn to these to make them
into necklaces rather than clipping them on.
Here is the completed chore pack for all 3 children.
Every morning I take these out and slip them into
their chore "necklaces" and we're all set!
I am a HUGE fan of the chore pack and am so grateful to have stumbled upon this wonderful system! I would highly recommend reading the book and putting this system into place. It has only been 2 weeks since we started and I can see a major difference in the way our household is functioning. And the added bonus we've received implementing this system is the fact the the children are excited to do their chores! All 3 of them. NO KIDDING!
Just an FYI - this book is not only for those who need help in managing the housekeeping portion of their homes. For those of you who don't know me, I am a very organized and serious business housekeeper. So my reason for purchasing this book was not because of an issue keeping the house clean and organized; rather it was to give my children the opportunity to serve while teaching them responsibility, time management, and so on.
So if you are wanting to change the way chores are done in your house - this system is worth a try! I'd love to hear what you think of chore packs if you have used them. I'd also love to answer any questions you might have if you have not used them but are considering it!
Blessings,
Carlie K.
Check out Carlie's blog here.
