I thought I would die...summer. All the kids are home all the time. AHHHHHHH!!!! So, Sunday night, I came up with a list of jobs that I want done before there is any playing. Each kid has their own chart that they get to check off (side note...except for Malia who came down tonight and said, Mom, I need to do my job. I asked her what her job was and she replied, "eating blueberries." Anyhow, the jobs vary but each child has to do two pages from their workbooks, practice their speech (Jake, Carter, and Bella are all in speech for "r's", read for 20 minutes, clean one room of the house which rotates weekly, clean their room, bruth their teeth, etc. etc. Then, when they're done, they are allowed 45 minutes of the Wii every day. When I was deciding how to enforce this, I decided there would have to be a bribe that would matter to them. For my kids, it's MONEY. They like to have their own money to spend and since we don't live by grandparents any more, they don't get any very often. So, they all get an allowance. The list that I posted a picture of is things that cost them money. They are fined a quarter for each infraction. Surprisingly, IT'S WORKING!!!!!! They are doing great. Jake always has everything done by the time I'm finished with the treadmill in the morning. I also planned some sort of activity for each day so that we're not just sitting around. In the afternoon I always take them swimming at somebody's house so they can burn off any excess energy they might have. We don't have community pools here, but lucky for us, we have plenty of friends who do have pools that are nice enough to share.
Anyway, I learned by day 2 that running errands with all four children is a LESS THAN PRODUCTIVE USE OF TIME. So, I give up. No errands during the day. That saves me gas money and the headache of driving the munchkins around. So, that's my summer schedule. What are the rest of you doing?
9 comments:
this sounds great. i think that I might have to implement some of these. Esp, since my summer with the kids will be spent in a 2 bedroom apt and we won't have a tv. I bough summer bridge workbooks and thought I would make them do that, then make Jake read at least 15 min/day. Right now, I'm just happy they are outside so I can get things done...like blogging. (important stuff)
I have been charging James a quarter for certain misdeeds. Unfortunately he is out of quarters. So now he has to clean the bathrooms. :)
This post makes me want to go home and ask my mom what she did - since there were many years of homeschooling with all the kids home, it was almost the same all year round (except not as much school in the Summer). I don't remember having set activities, but I also don't remember having too much "free" time....this will be a good family discussion..."How did you handle us?"
You are such a champ. Will you seriously just write a manual on how to be a mom and then publish it for all of the rest of us who face years of cluelessness as we raise kids?
Either that or I'll show up at your house with the kiddos every summer for 3 months and make you entertain them till its over.
I'm fighting for sanity too. We had two great days this week, Monday they helped me all day and we organized the kids closets one by one, then I took them out for ice cream. Another day they went with me and I got some errands done, and both those nights I also made dinner. Just when I was feeling I had everything in hand we had a bad day and Bash and Camille fought and screamed all day, woke Nate up from his naps, and drove me crazy. Emma doesn't participate in disruptive activities, but they I don't have time or energy to keep her going with constructive things so she just stays right by my side whining and complaining and asking to do things I don't have time to do.
How much allowance do you give them? My kids like money too!
Ooohh I can't wait til Aurora can do real chores! Am I a bad mom?
I think its great that you have scheduled activities, etc... scheduling doesn't come easy to me and with three kids it makes things real hard sometimes. I try, but even when I try to be somewhat organized the way a mom should be, it's still hopeless. Seriously, that's a talent! Be glad you're not like me!
Way to go ---more comments to follow after I get Dad to look at the tribute Matt posted to him
i'm going to discuss with jeremy the "allowance/infraction list" idea. that would save so many headaches around here!
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