I decided to start with a fresh start. We sat down to a family breakfast before Cool left for work. I don't know how long that will actually keep happening since Cool is NOT a morning person or a breakfast eater so getting up early and eating breakfast just doesn't appeal to him. Me? I could eat breakfast all the time.
After Cool left for work the picklets and I sat at the table and talked chores. I have been doing some "research" on rearing children over the break and I thought instead of assigning chores to the picklets I would let them choose what chores they want to do. So, we made a list of all the chores that need to be done in the house. We then organized them by room. Then came the fun part. The picklets got to choose their own chores. Each picklet is in charge of his or her own room and putting away their clothes and has a list of household chores that need to be done either daily, weekly or monthly.
After picking chores we talked about the pick up of the house. I insisted that there should be no pick up. When a person is done with something it should be put away. They moaned but agreed that would make the house look nicer. I gave them 30 minutes to gather all their loose items and put them away. We then sat down and made a list of "other" chores that could be done in the house like oil soaping, washing the baseboards...etc. If I find items that don't belong where I find them they will be put into a Rubbermaid tub and will have to be earned back by an extra cleaning job. Amazingly enough the picklets agreed to this.
The only problem with them picking up their stuff is I notice all my stuff I haven't put away.
Oh well, it is a start if nothing else. :-)
We talked allowance. I don't know if I like giving an allowance for helping clean up the mess they helped make. But I agreed we would definitely consider it. I am working on a chore chart with an allowance system. When I get the kinks ironed out I will definitly post it.
Gee, I hope I am not the only homeschooler who struggles with the lived in look vs the pig sty look.
1 comment:
I'm just going to say that you are definitely NOT the only homeschooler that struggles with this.
I like the idea of doing an extra chore to earn back an item that was not put away. I'm sure I'd be doing as many extra chores as my kids, though! :-)
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