Chore Chart Idea

A fellow homeschooling parent has been gracious enough to share a chore chart system that is working for her and her family. Below is an explanation of the chore chart system as described by this very organized mom!

We started a chore list some time ago, and now we have a routine. Everyone helps with everything - whether that's housecleaning, dishes, child-minding, food preparation, whatever - each day. And we've found that a clean and tidy house in the morning makes for more together-with-Mommy time the rest of the day! The benefits have been great, and as I was thinking about how I now, for some reason, have more time to spend one-on-one with [my kids] for school work than I did at the beginning of the year, it dawned on me that organization was the key! Even the independent school work is done more cheerfully when Mommy is sitting nearby rather than scurrying about.

I made the chore chart myself. I just used Excel to create a chart with each child's name, the chores they were required to do, and spaces behind each chore for check marks. Then I mac-tacked it [or laminated it] and hung it up with a dry erase pen (which I had to tie to the chart!). By now I just need to say "Please do your morning chores!" and [the kids] know what I mean. The girls do most of their chores first thing [in the morning], before they even come down for breakfast. They are dressed, they have usually prayed, their beds are made, and their room is reasonably tidy. Then after breakfast I send everyone to do their housework chores. I used to be met with resistance at this point (before the chart), but after the children realized there was going to be consistency (it was written down after all) and their chores would not change according to my needs, they got going quickly. Some days they still dawdle, but then they just miss out on some free time.