I have written many a blog post on chores, age appropriate chores and more, because I think it is an important part of raising our families. I want our kids to grow to be responsible, tidy, hard-working adults. If you missed our chore posts, and the variety of methods we have tried over the years, check these out. We go over age appropriate chores, how to clean house with 4 kids, and using the computer to track chores done during the week.
Chores
Cleaning House With Lots of Help
Taking Chores to the Dot.Com World
We have started something new at our house called, Magnet Chores. I got the idea from a family friend, and fellow homeschooling mom, Renita.
She uses it for her boys to earn screen time, it’s a really great system!
With 4 kids in our house, we all use screen time, or none of us use screen time. In fact, we have just made it a rule, that there isn’t time for Screen time on school days. Occasionally we watch America’s Got Talent in the evening, that last half an hour before bed, but mostly, we just save it for family movie nights on the weekend. And once in a while, if they get their school done early, I let them play ABC Mouse or something.
I just found it to be too hard for let’s say, 2 of the kids to have earned TV or computer, and 2 to not have earned it. It would take all my energy to keep those non screen time kids, outt of the screens view! I knew Renita was on to something though, so I took some time to rework her awesome system to fit the needs of our family.
I was searching for something that would cut these words from my vocabulary, because let’s be real for a minute, I have already used my lifetime quota of the following questions:
Did you make your bed?
Did you brush your teeth?
Is your room tidy?
Did you do morning chores?
Do that times 4 kids, every stinking morning, while running around trying to make breakfast, get a shower, and try to start the day on the right foot…not happening. I am OVER it and I hated how I was hollering at them.
Now I just say,
Did you do your Magnet Chores?
Here is an example of our Magnet Chore list. The circles say Not Done, Almost Done and Completed. You simply slide your magnet over as you check your list, and move to complete your tasks.
This is also a great visual for mom, to know who needs to still do what.
Section 1, which is done first thing in the Morning:
Make bed
Get dressed
Eat Breakfast
Brush teeth
Pack Snack/Drink for school
Daily Job #1
This is the cool part, the daily jobs change per day, so each child, or in our case, each set of children, has a chance to do a different daily chore.
For example, if it was Monday, Avery and Destiny would unload/reload the dishwasher for Daily Job #1. If it was Tuesday, they would let out and feed the chickens & care for the cats.
Tylan and Paxton work the opposite schedule from the girls.
Section 2, for the end of Nap/Quiet Resting Time:
Read 1 Hour
Finish School {If necessary}
Daily Job #2
For Destiny and Avery, this would be Gather & Wipe Eggs on Monday, Snack Helper on Tuesday, and every other day, continuing through Friday.
Snack helper picks and prepares the afternoon snack for all the children, and makes sure the kitchen is tidy afterwards. Boys have the opposite days the girls do.
Section 3, for after Snack time:
Snack
Daily Job #3
Playtime
For the girls, Daily Job #3, breaks down like this:
Monday is their Laundry Day. They must sort and start, their load before going for playtime. They come in to transfer to the dryer, then fold and stack neatly in their baskets.
Tuesday, the must put away the clean clothes.
Wednesday is church so no daily chore #3.
Thursday they help choose and prepare supper.
Friday, they must tidy their bathroom, cleaning counters, mirrors and toilet.
That means the boys charts say:
Supper helping on Monday
Clean the kids bathroom on Tuesday
All duties for Laundry Th and Friday.
We all clean house together on Saturdays, which works best for us.
I tried to divide the dusting and vacuuming, other bathrooms and showers into Daily Job #3, but there is just not the motivation to clean that late in the day. I really like first thing Saturday morning so much better. Plus, then its all clean at once.
Our Magnet Chore Charts live in the Mud room, on the children’s lockers. You could also do the fridge if you liked the central location better.
To make this system work, we really encourage the “bigs” to help the “littles”. Each older child has been assigned the same tasks, the same days, as a younger child. {I/e Destiny with Avery, Tylan with Paxton} That way they can help instruct, and be accountable to each other.
It also allows them the pride of teaching and instructing, praising or being frustrated. It’s helped the older children understand my frustrations of the past, when chores were not completed, or best efforts were not given, and it has made them better, more efficient, workers.
The kids are really loving this system! They run out to check the list and love moving their magnets!
The beauty of this system, is it can literally be anything you want it to be for your family. Every section is customizable. I will link both sets, mine and Renita’s, into a Google Doc, so you can download and change to your heart’s content.
Screen Time Chart
Magnet Chore Chart
UPDATE: Apparently Google Drive it not allowing any more people to download this file due to high traffic. Well, that is silliness! SO, if you want either of these charts in Microsoft Word, please leave a comment containing your email address, and which of the two charts you are wanting for your family. I will see if I can do a mass email to get it to you. Sorry about that!
Anyone techie out there that could tell me a better way to accomplish this in blog form? Note: WordPress won’t let me link anything that’s not a jpg, which is why I thought Google Drive would be the solution.
I hope this motivates you to help your kids successfully execute daily tasks and chores, without you having to micro-manage their every move. It is our job to train and instruct our children in life, that includes chores. So, to slack off, or just do these tasks ourselves, is doing them a GREAT injustice in the long run.
Hugs, T