Laundry

About a month ago I put the picklets in charge of their own laundry. I assigned them a day of the week that they would get the washer and dryer exclusively. You see, I got very tired of washing folded clothing.

Along with their laundry responsibiltyI gave them two towels each and told them they would be in charge of their own towels. They need to be hung up after each use and washed on their wash day. I got tired of washing towels all the time too.

So far it has been a success. My laundry day is much less stressful and the picklets are seeing what it takes to keep their clothes clean. And I am not nearly as upset when they don't put their clothes away. Took a lot of stress away. :-)

I was using the facilities when I looked over and saw Sweets towel hanging all alone on the hooks.


I noticed on the tag there was black writing. I looked closer and saw Sweet personalized her towel. How precious.


(c) 2008-2010 Wicked Pickles

Chore is Definately a Four Letter Word

This is the time where I get antsy and need to have my house spotless. Well at least clean.

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.

"So it shall be written, so it shall be done."

The "Cleanie Meanie" tied her bandanna around her head and declared: "Today,Friday, September 25, 2009 is Life Skills Day." The picklets cheered. Or was it jeered? We had a plan. OK, I had a plan. It was written down. That plan included the picklets. They were thrilled. They especially liked the part at the end where it said, "So it shall be written, so it shall be done." They called me Ramses. I told them to bow. They snorted instead.

Each of their "boxes" contained chores. Some of the "boxes" contained lettered envelopes that contained specifics related to their chores. The picklets cried out in joy. Well, maybe not in joy. And since I considered this a full day of school, each box needed to be signed off by me before moving onto the next. They were psyched, ecstatic, worshipping the ground I walked on. Maybe not.

Below is what was accomplished.

Chip

1. Help as needed
2. Change cat litter
3. Take cans to garage and replace can-can bag
4. Help me sort stuff on porch, take stuff to garage and van (this was a much overdue project)
5. Clean off upstairs steps and vacuum
6. Clean bathroom: (7 inside envelopes contained the following: clean off and scrub bathroom counter, clean bathroom mirror, scrub bathroom sink, scrub toilet, scrub shower, sweep bathroom floor, mop bathroom floor) (this really looks like a lot but honestly it doesn't take that long...the porch took forever)
7. Dust dresser, filing cabinet and pictures in hallway
8. Vacuum hallway
9. Re-sweep bathroom, spray Lysol around shower, toilet and sink
10. Put clean clothes away
11. Clean bedroom: (3 inside envelopes: clean off and dust your dresser, make bed, pick up and put your stuff away off tables in room) (since the boys share a room (for now) I try to be as fair as possible when it comes to cleaning)
12. vacuum upstairs hallway

Dill:

1. Help as needed
2. gather laundry from upstairs and put in laundry room
3. change garbages and replace bags in ALL rooms (because he would only do the kitchen if I didn't specify ALL rooms)
4. take garbage out to cans, bring cans up from curb (because he would leave the bags sit on the porch and the cans at the curb until next Friday if I didn't insist he do it)
5. Take mattress upstairs (in #11 up above you will notice the (for now) about the boys sharing a room...to separate them so they won't stay up all night talking one of the boys sleeps on a mattress in the living room each night...they rotate...they think it's fun...go figure)
6. Clean kitchen: (8 inside envelopes in order: clean off kitchen table, stack and organize dirty dishes, fill sink with hot soapy water and soak silverware and glasses, put dishes in dishwasher away, wash and rinse dirty dishes, spray and wash counters, dry clean dishes and put away
7. Scrub out kitchen garbage can (see #8)
8. Clean out, organize and wash out underneath sink (Dill's regular chore is to take the garbage out daily. Many times he "forgets". The garbage is under the sink and some garbage falls on my cleaning supplies and is truly nasty. I usually clean this myself but it is high time Dill takes responsibility for his "forgetfulness".)
9. Put clean clothes away
10. Clean bedroom: (4 inside envelopes in order: clean off and dust dresser, make your bed, pick up and put away your stuff from tables upstairs
11. Vacuum room

Sweet:

1. Help as needed
2. gather laundry from bottom floor and put in laundry room
3. take recycling to garage and bring in new bin (even though this has been her very own chore for months I still have to remind her to bring in the new bin..sickening ain't it?)
4. clean dining room: (3 envelopes in order: clean off dining room table and replace table cloth, clean off buffet, clean off piano)
5. Clean living room (3 envelopes in order: clean off side tables, clean off TV screen, straighten bookshelves,)
6. dust both living room and dining room
7. Vacuum couch, febrese, put new couch cover on (she got out of this one since I had the boys take it outside for a dump run next week)
8. Clean out homeschool closet (Sweet is notorious for getting things out of the closet and not putting them back where they belong...or even close to where they belong. I normally do it when I get in the closet but thought she should take responsibility for this.)
9. Vacuum living room and dining room making sure to move chairs, piano benches and other objects and to use the wand around the walls and big things that can't be moved.
10. Put clean clothes away
11. Clean bedroom: (4 envelopes in order: clean off and dust dresser, make bed, pick up and put away things out of place, sweep and vacuum)

I know this seems like a lot of work BUT we took time at lunch (egg salad sandwiches, raw green beans, strawberries) to watch two episodes of The Book of Virtues (from Netflix), took a snack break (Boston Creme Pie) and watched the third episode of The Book of Virtues and were done by 6 in time for supper (homemade tomatoe soup and grilled cheese sandwiches). Oh yeah...we didn't start till 11. Really it didn't take too long at all. Life skills were learned and/or practiced, the house got cleaned and mama is happy. And that is a good thing cause if mama ain't happy ain't nobody happy.

© 2008-2009 Wicked Pickles-Homefront Lines

The Fire That Sweet Built

This is the fire that Sweet built.


This is Sweet posing by the fire that Sweet built.


This is Millie the Wonder Dog coveting the almighty pork chops that cooked over the fire that Sweet built.

One thing I have noticed during my camping excursions through the years is that people do not know how to start a campfire. I have seen people squirt lighter fluid that created a whoosh and a 6 foot flame only to have it die down to nothing. I watched a guy a couple years ago tear strips of paper off sheets and throw them, one by one, into the fire ring, light them and not have anything else to lay atop it to actually keep a fire going. This past weekend I watched a guy bring a fan out of his camper and use that as a bellows to start his fire. I wish you could see me shaking my head right now. My dad taught me to build a campfire when I was pretty young. It has been a skill, though not used alot, that has come in handy through the years. This year was the year Sweet was taught how to light a campfire. We talked about renting her fire lighting services out to the other campers this past weekend.

Good job Sweet! Keep up the good work!


(c) 2008-2009 Wicked Pickles-Homefront Lines

June 22-28 In Pictures

(c) 2008-2009 Wicked Pickles-Homefront Lines
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