May. 3, 2007 - Make Chore Time a Breeze
Seriously! I am not exaggerating. At least in our house, chore time has been a breeze for close to 2 years now.
Ok, so if you read my last post, you know I am not a very good homemaker. I have had to learn the hard way the past 12 years of marriage. So I have determined that I will better prepare my children to be ready to take care of their daily duties.
I have tried many things, including the check off sheets with the boxes and such. They worked well for a little while, but honestly, it was too much Mom follow-up. Several years ago, the Lord laid on my heart an idea for creating a chore organizer with index cards. This was before Homeschool With Index Cards was even a thought. Each child has a chore organizer with pockets made from envelope halves and index cards with chores listed on each one.
If you want to make your own, here's what you need: envelopes, tape, card stock or construction paper or half a file folder, markers, index cards.
Cut the envelopes in half so they are more like squares. Theses will be your pockets. You can also use those old pockets from the back of library books. I asked for a handful at my local library and they were happy to give them to me. (I also use those for something else--more another time.) Tape the pockets on the paper. Label the pockets--Morning, Afternoon, and Done. Now comes the fun part! :O) Labeling those index cards. You will want to think through all of the chores your kids need to do. These chores should be daily, weekly, monthly, etc. Make up your cards, these will be stored in the Done pocket. Each night before you go to bed, sort through the set of cards and put them in order for the next day. Any leftovers stay in the Done pocket.
When the kiddos wake up, they know to go right to the chore organizers. Ours hang on the fridge, but you can put them in any convenient location. Of course, at first this wasn't a breeze, but it became a routine quite quickly.
I hope you enjoy this tip. It has really revolutionized our chore times around here.
Also, if you want to make quick work of those chore cards, you can find a set available for purchase on my website for $2.50. Rather than writing all those cards out by hand, you can just print the ones you need. http://homeschoolwithindexcards.com
Comments
May. 4, 2007 - Untitled Comment
Posted by Michelle32
Thanks for sharing! We love index cards for just about everything learning! Now we have another great use for them.
Michelle
May. 10, 2007 - Great idea!
Posted by helff
I was just thinking of a way to get my five year old involved in family chores! I am going to use your idea! Thanks!
