Chores Around Our House

Every year as school nears it end and Summer starts to loom on the horizon, this mom tries to come up with fun creative simple ways to keep our house running smoothly, when everyone would rather be soaking in the sun!
I am finding that all the members of our home seem happier and life flows fairly well, when things stay picked up and clean. Is it always perfect? Hardly!!! We are a normal family with crazy schedules and frequent interruptions. But all the more reason for us to keep things where they belong.

This year is no different. I have tried so many different methods to assign chores, and it is always frustrating for me to find something that works for all the different ages and capabilities of the my children. I think this year will be easier (knock on wood) since the baby of the family is now capable of doing just as much as her older brother and sister. She may need help lugging the vacuum upstairs sometimes, but she can keep up with most everything now.

I saw this idea in a magazine and thought maybe it would be something that would work. It seems to have very little management (on my part) and is simple. At least in my book, it is.

We are going to try a Choose-a-Chore Jar.

There are 18 popsicle sticks with a chore written on each one. Each child will pick six sticks a week, one for each day, except Sunday.




After picking their sticks for the week, they will put them in this bucket, in the space marked with their name.
Then as they do their chore, they will move them to the back spaces.

In addition to these weekly chores, my children have daily chores that are now a habit for them.

If this works...great. If it does not...we can try something different.