Job Charts

This is our plan for keeping away Summer-Boredom as well as Stressed-Out-Kayleen. So far (day 3), it's going well. :) The kids all have specific jobs they need to do in the morning. When all are complete they get stickers on their chart, and they have free time until lunch... as long as they clean up after themselves. If they don't, out comes the Monster Bag (thanks, Midwife Melissa for the idea!). Any toys that I see left anywhere go in the bag. Then the offender has to do a chore to get it back. If the item stays in the bag for more than a week (ie, the child doesn't miss that particular toy), then it will go to the DI.

If they do all their chores for the week, they will get a full allowance. They each get half of what their age is, depending on how well they do their charts. They can lose money for not following directions, fighting with each other, or not doing their jobs. They can earn extra money by doing extra chores, if they don't have toys in the Monster Bag. One of the things we've had a big problem with is clothes being put where they don't belong. Clean or dirty, I've been finding them on the floor, under the bed, clean in the basket instead of drawers, etc. And I'm tired of doing extra laundry because they chose not to put the clothes away! Or, because they wore them for two hours and then decided to change. So our new rule is, if I find it in a place it doesn't belong, we deduct 10 cents from their weekly total. So far they're doing really well with that.

After lunch, we have Reading Time... Yesterday we started "Castle in the Attic". It was one of my favorites when I was younger. I let Kaleb and Elise each read a page or two and I read a couple of chapters. After that, they get to do Educational Activities (like puzzles, playdoh, workbooks, art projects) until 3:00. Then they have free time until dinner. If I'm teaching at any of these times, they have free time to play quietly in their rooms or downstairs.

Dinner time cleanup is shared, and then they have free time until 7:45, when we read scriptures. Macy and Isaak go to bed at about 8:00, and Kaleb and Elise stay up and read until 8:30. That way we cut down on goofing around when we send the kids to bed. Plus, K & E get to stay up a little later cause they're older.