Friday, October 8, 2010

Scheduling Our Days~ Part Five

Here we go!

6:00~ Wake up! , morning routine .
6:30~ Exercise/ shower
6:45~ Girls wake up, make beds, get dressed, have hair done
7:00~ Breakfast

7:30~ Breakfast clean-up, morning chores

Meal clean-up  is very simple.  The girls rotate meals weekly. This week Lydia is breakfast, Havilah is lunch and Bethany is dinner.  At this point the helper simply clears the dishes after the meal and washes the table.  After breakfast however, the lunch helper puts away the top of the dishwasher and the dinner helper puts away the bottom.  ( We keep all of our eat on dishes in a bottom cupboard so the girls are able to empty the dishwasher and set the table at a young age.)  During this time I am doing what very little breakfast clean-up there is.

Next come the morning chores.  When I sat down to organize our cleaning schedule, the first thing I did was right down ALL of our household chores. Then I divided them into daily, weekly and monthly chores.  The daily chores are our morning chores.

There conveniently are 12 daily chores (not counting make beds, laundry, pick up bedrooms etc., that are done at other times) that are easily divided into four groups for the four of us girls to accomplish.

We color code the four groups. They are~

Pick up living room floor, pick up upstairs hallway, pick up downstairs hallway

Pick up stairs and landing, pick up dining room floor, pick up office floor

Feather dust living room, wipe off bathroom counter, swish toilet

Sweep kitchen, sweep bathroom, vacuum living room/ dining room

Now Havilah can only do pink and green and Lydia is the only one who can do yellow, so it's not an equal rotation.  I'm sure there is a simpler way to keep track of it all, but I just print off blank calender sheets for each girl and write in which color they are doing each week.  We switch weekly. 

Morning chores run very smoothly. None of these are more than each girl can handle and accomplish in a very short amount of time.  The key to this part of the day is inspecting!  It takes an incredibly minuscule amount of time per chore, but it assures that a job is being done correctly and whole-heartedly. 

Havilah picking up the living room

Bethany gets the dining room looking ship-shape

Lydia wipes that counter 'til it shines!

Now I know that people have many different opinions about "making children work".  Let me assure you, our children are not our slaves.  We are in no way interested in "getting what we can" from our children.  Children thrive from responsibility.  Chores are fabulous for teaching diligence, patience and a good work ethic.  We believe strongly in work and play.  Both have a place and a right and wrong way to do it.

Do be careful when inspecting their chores to always be an encouragement.  They are young.  They won't do it like you.  They need to be gently trained how to do things to the best of their abilities. 

Our morning chores get us off to a flying start.  The house starts out looking ready for company, which has been a pretty foreign thing around here!

If something doesn't make sense to you, please feel free to ask about it!

7 comments:

Theresa said...

Grace ~ I am LOVING reading your scheduling posts! I feel like I am finally reaching a stage in life with our oldest being 3 1/2 that we can begin a little semblance of a schedule...and actually have it HAPPEN without taking 150% of my complete involvement.

Our "schedule" isn't clocked yet, but at least the girls know "what happens next". The only thing that stumps me on your schedule is how in the world you can shower and dress and or exercise in just 15 minutes!!! That is a super duper short amount of time...especially if someone requires any extra attention during that segment. =) I confess to a little "highplace" of my own...and that is a SHOWER/MAKEUP every day...and as early as possible! Life does not begin til mom gets her shower. My hubby is a farmer and is in and out of the house all day long...so I like to not look like a complete slob when he pops in for lunch, coffee, or to do some office work!

How I truly would enjoy spending an afternoon with you over a cup of coffee and having our girls play together. Any chance of you coming to see John n Clara anytime soon!? =) We'd be more than happy to provide a place for you to stay! =)

Congratulations on your scheduling. It is inspiring an motivational....and I always need both. Would you be able to take a picture of your little chore charts?

I am working on one for us...but am taking my time and making it almost a decoration piece...since I know I will be looking at it every day....prob for a few years! (So far I've modge-podged paper to a board and am working on collecting vintage pics of children doing chores that they will pin up once they've completed the specific chore. Maybe I'll have to take a pic for you once it's finished! (Hmm...and I have no idea how long that will take!)

Keep writing....'cause I'll def keep reading! =)

Gretchen Louise said...

I've been thinking it was time for a chore list. :) But my oldest is not quite 3 and her sister just turned 1...so picking up is still about the only chore she can handle, as clearing the table would probably mean broken dishes with our concrete floor. :) My question is how to do it "all" with little people who are too young to help with anything except picking up! ;)

Grace said...

On the exercise/shower issue, as I mentioned earlier, it really isn't working! I either exercise, then shower during breakfast, or exercise later in the day (during naps). Considering getting up earlier, but I'm going to let my body completely adjust to this first! So far my chore charts are BORING!!! Hopefully when I get them fine tuned I take some pictures! I so wish we could come down for a visit too Theresa! Hopefully someday!

It's really difficult with all "littles", but it is also an irreplacable time to start building good habits. Half of our morning chores are just picking up, so that is a great way for them to pitch in. As far as dishes go, it is really difficult when they can't even reach the table! We practice by having Daddy hand ONE dish at a time to the child, encourage/remind/plead them to carry it with TWO hands and bring it to Mommy who them sets it on the counter. Yes, it takes time. But time passes like crazy and pretty soon you will be reaping the fruit of it! Laundry is also a fabulous way to bring small children into help. Wash clothes, dish towels etc. are super easy to fold and they'll be picking up other things before you know it.

The time with all "littles" can be challenging. I never really conquered how to do it ALL. Many of the "daily" chores could really be doen every other day. Or half could be dome in the mornings and half during naps etc.. The great thing about these chores are when they are done daily, they are a piece of cake!

Grace said...

Wow! Sorry about my spelling! I really know how to spell "done"!

Season said...

This is wonderful! Thanks for sharing your life. You are blessing so many!

amandavital said...

Thank you so much Grace for taking the time to write your schedule! It is so encouraging! I am in the same place as far as not having enough time in the morning to exercise AND shower in the morning yet DREADING waking up any earlier than 6am... let me know what happens.

Please keep writing your schedule :)
thanks

Anonymous said...

Great job, Grace! I always liked reminding my kids that chores were part of being a family and that's how family took care of each other!

Love, Betsy