rhythmn

Sylvie, a reader asked:

I would like to ask you two questions if you don’t mind:
1. Do you have a written daily or weekly routine that you could share with me (including chores, bedtimes, individual time you spend with each of your children, meal preparation, etc…)?
2. How do you train your children to remember doing their chores? My 8 year old is perfect in this area, but my 5 year old and my 3 year old still need to be reminded to brush their teeth! I feel I should probably don’t need to wait until they turn 7 for them to remember on their own. How can I enforce chores without having to remind them? I tried chore cards, but I had to remind them to do their chore cards, so that was useless!

Here is my answer:

I don’t have it written down, but we all know the routine. At one time I had it written down, and on the fridge for all to see (no one ever looked at it).  I  think it fell on the floor and some one threw it away when they swept the floor.

I get up at 7:00 (I know, I know… if I would go to bed I could get up earlier then I could get up earlier.  I could say “working on that” but then I would have to say “working on that”  for the whole entire post, and I don’t want to do that. So there you have it.)

8:00 get family up

8:00 start breakfast

everyone gets ready for the day (get dressed, brush teeth, comb hair,  make bed and straighten room) Bub helps cook, Runty sets the table…We all eat breakfast

8:30 clean up breakfast

I do the dishes, Runty (11 yr boy) drys and puts away, Mr. Bones (13 yr boy)  picks up pergo and sweeps and mops it (this is most of the top floor of our house, so it is a pretty big job, and always needs to be done), Bub (15 yr boy) cleans counter, and picks up, sweeps and mops kitchen tile, Princess (9 yr girl) cleans front room, Queenie (7 yr girl) cleans library area (this is just off of the kitchen, a very small great room of sorts) one of the girls vacuums the front room and one vacuums the bedroom the girls share.  I vacuum the library area when I am done with the dishes. This system works really well because no one has to wait for a sibling to get their job done before they can do theirs.  I tried that before, and that doesn’t work. I like to keep an empty  laundry basket near by for quick pick ups.  We can just throw everything in the basket and put it away later.  This is especially good for the after lunch clean up.

Start school 9:00 with devotional (each person has a turn to conduct, they are in charge for one week,  we rotate from the top and work down) Devotional consist of song, prayer, thought, talk, scripture that we all memorize together, and thought, talk or story by me and closing song

9:30 circle time

10:00 start lessons – I start with the 4 year old, I do about 20 minutes with her, I then move up the line to the 7 yr.  I spend about 30 minutes with her, I then go to 9 yr, also 30 minutes, then 11 yr 40 minutes, 13 yr 30 minutes, 15 yr 30 minutes.  All times are approximate, if something is not clicking I will try to work with them more, if they are still enjoying the lesson and I can see that they need a little more of my time, I will stay with them.  If they are not in a learning frame of mind, I close up shop in a hurry.  There is always tomorrow.

12:00 lunch Bub is helper for cooking, Runty sets the table, Princess and Queenie clear, Queenie wipes, Bub does Counter and tile, I do dishes, Runty rinses, Mr.Bones sweeps pergo, and then everyone runs outside to play until 1:00

1:00 out loud reading time (usually everyone joins, they don’t have to, but they want to.  It depends on what I am reading whether the 16 will join or not)

2:00-4:00 finish up school, clean up- same as morning jobs

5:00 Bub helps with dinner, Runty sets the table, Dinner clean up is exactly the same as breakfast and lunch clean up. Keeps fighting to a minimum. Everyone knows their job, so if it isn’t done, I know who didn’t do it.

(This picture is not intentionally here, really!! )

7:00 Family time (we usually read)

8:00 Everyone does their areas again.  I scour the sink.  We vacuum again.  I like to clean before we go to bed so we can wake up to it clean.

8:00 bed time (I shoot for 8:00 and typing this schedule has made me realize why we never get to bed at 8:00… I have got to start the clean up earlier!!)  from 11 yr and younger, in bed (I would love to write 8:05 kids asleep, but that would not be true!!! Maybe if I made them work longer and harder.)

9:00 bigger kids to bed (they don’t have to go to sleep, but they have to go to their room and be quiet.

That is the answer to question #1, the answer to question #2 is really easy: family work!

We all work together until it is done, if someone is working slow, then they can finish up by themselves while the others go out and play. I like to work together.  I think it builds unity.  The idea behind family work is that we are learning to work as a team.  I can see who really is working and who is not. We don’t have a welfare house, the idlers don’t eat the bread of the laborer here!  The idler gets to work one on one with me, and practice good habits.  That being said, I try to train my children in their jobs.  They know what is expected.  They know how to do them.

I don’t think kids can work by themselves well until after 8. And your comment says the same thing.

I don’t do chore cards either.  I use the power of the GROUP .  We brush our teeth together.  Well, the girls and then the boys.  We get dressed at the same time, we comb hair at the same time, we put away clothes at the same time.  I believe that good habits should be made.  I think it is easiest to make good habits when people know the routine.

And that is my day in a very large nutshell.

(And I have just realized that I must really like parenthesis because I seem to use them a lot and I feel they are completely under rated and under used, just like run-on sentences are not very often used, really when was the last time you saw one of those; I haven’t seen one for a very long time, not since I read the Declaration of Independence, I mean, there are a ton of run on sentence in  that thing (!!!), but I don’t think there are any parenthesis in it, and if I am wrong , you be sure to let me know.)

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