For those of you whom I have been talking to about chore charts, I thought I'd post a picture of what I ended up doing! I had previously seen a chore chart called "I Can Do It" or something like that by DeeAnne Gist. I like the fact that her idea was a less 'over the shoulder' kind of tactic. You simply put up the chores the child is to do, then when they are done the child puts the chore in the "I Did It" spot.
Though I liked her idea, I wasn't liking the idea of paying $15 for a board for each child. So I decided to make my own. My original thought was to make a poster board with little pockets and slips of paper with each chore on it. I tried this with Abi for a while but it just didn't fit us. Too much paper work back and forth!
So my next idea was to put up the individual chores with a slip that could be put in the 'all done' slot when the chore was done. I wasn't overly fond of this because then if a chore needed to be changed, I'd have to remake the board again...however, when I found a hanging photo sleeve, I came up with this:
Each slot has a chore listed that can easily be replaced by printing a new card. The brown cards are daily chores, the blue cards are Saturday chores, and the really dark one is 'as needed'. Then the bottom one is the all done spot. I put pink and blue slips of notecards to indicate whether it is Abi's chore or Nate's and can rotate them if it is something they both can do! When Jonny gets old enough we can add in green ones.
I have four slots at the top that are empty because they are too high for the kids to reach. I might change things around and put the Saturday chores up there since they won't need to get to them each day. I"m still working on perfecting it, but so far it is pretty nice. I simply tell the kids that it is chore time, they have till 9 am to get them done, go pick your chore and get started! (Nate still needs some help as he can't read them, but he knows his chores anyway so it is just a matter of him learning where I have put each chore so he can move his slip.)
For those of you who have been struggling with this same topic, I hope this gives you some ideas.
Oh...and the laundry basket idea from my Aunt Patti is working GREAT! We no longer have piles of clothes on the floor that we trip over and that they kids mix as they run through the kitchen. I am able to stack the baskets next to the washer and it keeps them out of the way until I get them in the wash! AND, it is nice to have a basket for the clothes to 'rest' in while waiting to be folded instead of laying on the table and getting tossed around too!
I'm feeling so organized! :0)
