organization – Humbled by the Honor

Our Homeschool Day (and Checklists!)

This year I have kiddos in 7th, 5th, 2nd, K, a 3 year old, and a baby. Caring for the new baby and at the same time having another child reach school age (my K boy) seemed daunting this year. I feel like things have mostly gone well and at this point we’ve got a good rhythm to our days. We definitely had to make some adjustments to our schedules and chores and figure out what works and what doesn’t. Lots of planning and organization has helped, along with lots of flexibility too. Here is what our day looks like currently:

wake up, kids each complete a morning chore, eat breakfast
9am we say prayers together and start school
everyone does history together at the kitchen table
older girls move on to independent work such as piano practice, math on computer
while K and 2nd grader work at the table with mom
12:00 lunch (K and 2nd grader are done for the day by this point)
mom nurses baby to sleep – kids have reading time or Spanish on the ipad/ quiet play
big girls work with mom
3pm done with school, snack time
play time
5:30 or 6:00 dinner, several nights a week we take Lucy to ballet
everyone works together to clean up kitchen, clear table, pick up toys (see chart)
7:30 prayers
Dad reads out loud
8:30 head upstairs for brushing teeth, bed time

Each child has one morning chore – empty dishwasher, feed and let out the dog, take laundry to the basement and sort, or change hand towels. We used to have a checklist for these, but at this point the kids are good about getting them done without checking them off. This chart is laminated and hangs on our refrigerator. I write names on the lines with dry-erase marker and switch them weekly. The second row is where I assign meal time chores which also rotate weekly. My three year old doesn’t get put on the chore chart yet but sometimes he helps someone with their chore.

The school age kids each have checklists for the day. I print these off weekly, but they stay the same. It’s a list of subjects that they check off as they complete each one. Assignments within subjects usually stay the same so they know what to do (math = 2 pages, reading = 20 minutes, etc). I prefer using pencil instead of dry erase on these because I sometimes write in special assignments they need to remember or other notes.

For other chores we’ve switched to doing a family cleaning time on Sat mornings instead of doing them daily throughout the week. I have a checklist for that too! Some of these chores are easy enough for the smaller kids to do on their own, other times a child works with Dad or pairs up with an older sibling. We usually work for a couple of hours and get as much of this done as we can and then call it good. 😉

A few other things that help us function well… I keep a one week dry erase calendar on the fridge where we write in appointments, classes, etc. I also fill out and use a meal plan. Any thoughts or questions? What helps your family function well?

Gift Giving

Lets talk about how I keep track of gift giving for my kids’ birthdays and Christmas. We have birthdays spread out all across the year. Add in Easter, Christmas, all the special holidays, and we are always celebrating something! We try to keep gifts to a minimum for reasons of space and not overspending, but I do enjoy shopping for my kids and selecting just the right things. How do I keep track of it all?

1) Amazon wishlists – I keep a separate running wishlist on Amazon for each person in our household. When I hear a child mention something he or she is interested in, I add it to the Amazon list in their name. When Grandma asks for gift ideas I can quickly reference the child’s list and make some suggestions. I also take a look at the lists every now and then and check for price drops. Occasionally I am able to snag something special at a lower price. Putting things on the wishlist also gives me time to knock them off the list if the child decides she is no longer interested in that item or I realize it’s something we should really do without.

2) Storage – I have medium size plastic boxes in storage with each child’s name on them. Whenever I make a purchase I immediately put it into the box for that child. This helps me easily see what I have. I also keep a running list on my phone so that I can check my purchases without going into the storage room. I keep track of what each gift costs so that I can stay within budget. The larger box in the photo contains items for giving others outside of our family whenever the need arises – new baby gifts, birthday gifts, etc. Sometimes I will put a sticky note with a name on a gift if it is for my niece or nephews.

3) Smart Shopping – I will often buy things ahead of time when I see them on sale, an Amazon price drop, or if I need to purchase a certain amount to get free shipping I will go ahead and get something I know one of the kids wants and stash it away. In March I was ordering an astronaut costume for Isaac’s birthday and saw this adorable dinosaur cape but I didn’t have any more money left to spend for him. They only had a few in stock and we needed more boy dress up stuff and it was adorable so I went ahead and bought it for Colin’s birthday (which is in October, yes I am that crazy). Other times I will maximize my spending and make a large order. For example, hosting an Usborne party, the more you buy at once the more free books you get. Buying ahead like this saves money, but thats also why I need to keep track carefully of what I already have.

4) Minimizing – At Christmas we have been giving each child three gifts (reminiscent of the three gifts mentioned in the Bible that the wise men gave Jesus). We also do stockings and we celebrate the twelve days after Christmas with fun outings as a family, special desserts, and so on. The three gifts are not always toys. We gift books, new pajamas, religious items, etc. Grandparents also spoil the kids with plenty of gifts and toys. Last year it all seemed like too much so we may cut it down even more. Siblings draw names and have one sister or brother to shop and wrap up a gift for. (Last year I assigned names and secretly gave the children each the sibling that I felt they needed to work on loving the most!)

5) Streamline – For holidays aside from birthdays where the children are all getting gifts I make them fairly similar. For Easter they all got a nice coloring book, the girls got flip flops, and the boys got small toy boats. Last Christmas each child got some books, a Playmobil toy, and the icon of their patron saint. Their gifts are not always exactly the same but it helps me to think in categories like that and get each child one toy, one book, and so on.

When a birthday rolls around all I have to do is check the list of things I have, show Grandparents the Amazon wishlist, and then pull out my box of stored gifts and wrap them up. Phew! That seems like a lot while I am trying to explain it, but it works for me! Any other gift giving tips or tricks you would like to add?

Chore Charts

This is the chore system we’ve been using for the past year with good results. Each child has 1) a helper chore – they do this throughout the day whenever it needs to be done, 2) a morning chore, and 3) an afternoon chore. My 12 and 10 year olds switch chore charts weekly and my 7 and 5 year olds switch weekly as well. This way they get different chores but they are still age appropriate.

Chore charts are laminated and posted on the bottom half of the refrigerator where the kids can reach them. They use a dry erase marker to check off the chores as they are done. Everything wipes off with a kleenex easily. I love having it all together like this so I can quickly see who has done what and give reminders.

Across the top are the helpers for the week – emptying the dishwasher, setting the table, and clearing the table. My “set table” helper is also who I call on for meal prep help when I need it. We have a prayer helper who gets to read the list of names we pray for and help Daddy with the incense during evening prayers. My girls (ages 12, 10, 7) rotate through the helper jobs. We include Isaac (5) in the prayer helper rotation. I could probably add him back in to the other helper jobs now too but we tried it earlier last year and he was struggling with the jobs. I switch the names on Monday morning.

My big girls (12, 10) morning chores are feeding and letting out the dog or sorting laundry (gathering all the dirty laundry and taking it downstairs and sorting it into baskets by color). Their afternoon chores include cleaning a bathroom sink and mirror (we have two bathrooms to clean), folding a load of laundry and putting it away, cleaning a bathroom toilet and floor, tidying and vacuuming the mud room, or refilling bird feeders and sweeping the porch. On Fridays everyone picks up one room of the house so that I can vacuum everywhere. On Mondays when I switch things for the week Lucy and Julia will switch charts.

My 7 and 5 year olds either feed the fish or go through the house putting fresh hand towels in the bathrooms and kitchen. With so many people in the house we change the towels daily. In the afternoons they swiffer the kitchen/ dining room area, empty small trash cans on trash day, wipe light switches and door handles with a disinfecting wipe, fold laundry, tidy rooms, and add more toilet paper to the bathroom cabinets. Not all in one day of course! Esther and Isaac switch charts on Mondays too.

I have the chart set up so that I have a laundry helper to fold and put away a load nearly every day. When it is Isaac’s turn (5) I usually put in a load of washcloths and kitchen towels so that they are easy for him to fold.

There are a few things we need to work on. As you can see, the younger two often skip a few of their chores throughout the week. I offer a choice of a small candy or 50 cents for a completed chore chart at the end of the week. My bigger girls usually get everything done and choose 50 cents. I may increase this a bit so that they have more to divide up between save/give/spend and because they have been doing a great job helping out with things.

Our kiddos know that everyone working together helps our house run smoothly. If we are struggling with chores I will sometimes tag something fun on the end: “Lets finish up our chores and then we can all go for a walk.”, or “Once we get this living room picked up we can get out a big puzzle.” and so on. Of course sometimes its: “Get your chores done now or else!”. We have a quick general clean up time before bed where everyone picks up toys and things that get scattered around the house. On Saturdays we will sometimes work together on extra chores – picking up sticks outside so Daddy can mow, helping mom put away groceries, etc. Sundays we try to keep for church and relaxing/ doing fun things together. I remind the kids often that “many hands make light work”.

“How long do you think it would take Daddy to pick up all these sticks by himself? If we all pick up 10 sticks, how many is that? Wow! How nice it is that we have so many people here to help! How many hands are working right now? 6×2=12 thats so much more than just one person with two hands!” and so on. Teamwork!