Schedules, Chore Charts, and Other Summertime Fun!

I'm not anal, I promise. Not a control freak, not born organized. And it is because I am none of those things that I need something like this:

It's our Summer Schedule!! Yay!! Here's the normal daily schedule and our Scripture of the Week (trying to get us to memorize 1 each week this summer):

I sat down with my kids and we made a list of all the things we needed/wanted to get done in a day, including chores, mealtimes, and daily activities. You can see we also have some quiet time and some one-on-one time with Mom as well (30 minutes for each older child while Little Boo is napping). This schedule is verrrrry flexible. Just a suggestion, really. I will be shocked if we get home before noon most days!! But it's a framework to work from so I don't have kids constantly saying, "What should we do noooow Mooooom???" (that's them whining)

We are already in the habit of sitting down together each morning for our morning devotional, so I've just expanded on that and now we'll have a morning meeting in which we'll go over the day's/week's activities, review Starlet's sight words to help her prepare for kindergarten, and work on our scripture memorization.

Here's the weekly schedule:

This way we can plan fun things for our week and I don't have them saying, "But you SAID we could go to the SCIENCE MUSEUM this week!!! Let's GOOO!!!" Now I can point to the weekly schedule and show them when we're going. I can also find out what kinds of things they want to do and put them on the schedule so I don't forget ("Building a robot out of boxes sounds like lots of fun! We don't have time today, but how does Friday sound?")

And then there's this (insert screeching violins here):

Yes, that is the Tross Family Summer Chore Chart!!! With leeeeetle tiny numbers:

Basically what I did is to make a chart that is me-proof. Let me explain. Every time I try to do some kind of a chore chart with my kids, they are totally into it and do great- it's ME who always screws it up!! So this is why I made this one this way:

1. It covers the ENTIRE summer- only 1 chart needed! That way, I won't forget to print them up week by week or month by month.

2. It has numbers for the dates (starts with the 23rd, which is tomorrow) so that I can't just forget about it for a few days and pretend like I didn't (yes, I do that).

3. Its squares are for coloring in, not for stickers. That way I can't run out of stickers and put the whole chore chart on hold until I remember to buy more.

4. It has a whole section for my chores too!! I need accountability also, and kids are really good at keeping parents accountable.

Here are the kids' chores, divided up by morning, afternoon, and evening:

It may seem like a lot, but some of them are kind of no-brainers. Like putting their shoes on. Kinda hard to leave the house without them, right? Where it says "dishes" it just means that they need to put their dishes in the sink.

I have chore time set apart on our daily schedule for all these to get done so we don't forget. We're also starting up with allowances again: each child will get $1.50/week for completing all of their chores. For any day that they miss 1 or more chores, they will lose $0.25.

You may be wondering what that last thing, "Blue??" means...

This is our behavior chart! I am adopting the system they use in our schools here- each child starts the day on blue, and if they have behavior issues then they move to green, yellow, and so on (no idea how they figured out that color configuration, but whatever). Starlet will be starting kindergarten so I thought she could benefit from getting used to this system. Monkey already snaps to attention the second he hears "Color change!" so it's great for him as well. For ours I just colored on a piece of card stock and we have it attached to the fridge. Each child has their own magnet that they move if they need to.

If the child stays on blue, they get to color in a space on their chart for that day and get a small treat (like an M&M), and if not then they face consequences:

Green = No coloring in, no treat

Yellow = Lose 15 minutes TV time

Orange = Lose 30 minutes TV time

Red = NO TV and time-out in room

As an added incentive for staying on blue, after they have colored in 10 squares, they get to go to the treasure box which has coupons like these:

I am also planning on putting in a few dollar bills and maybe some special treats or small toys.

After the kids reach 25 days of blue then they get a special reward, like a trip to Sweet Frog, our favorite build-your-own-sundae frozen yogurt shop, or a dinner picnic in the living room & movie.

So, that's what we'll be doing this summer!

How about you? Chore Charts? Schedules? Come on, please tell me I'm not nuts...