Well school is officially over!! I think I was about just as excited as my kids! I had grand plans to have a "real" summer -- complete with slow days, no big plans, and lots of going to the library, and playing at the pool. I designed a daily schedule to include chores, academic focus, physical outlets, time as a family, etc. That worked for ONE day -- it was great, but not very realistic for our family. Soooooo, I tried again, thinking we would just schedule the first half of the day, getting everything important done before noon, and then the kids were free to come and go with friends, etc. Well, I didn't factor in football camp, and swim practice, etc. So that schedule was unfortunatley not going to work either. So this is what we are doing now . . . and it's working beautifully!!!!
The kids each have a checklist of ten things that they have to do each day. Most of the list consists of "musts" like, making beds, and doing an assigned job, reading, dinner helps, academic practice, and exercising, etc. But there are a few slots on their lists that are "electives".
Electives include, helping a younger brother or sister with something (Caleb loves to read to Claire, and Liam is planning on helping Luke master the monkey bars, etc.), practicing music, doing an art project, sharing a scripture story, working on Duty to God or Faith in God, or a special job from mom, etc.
I was getting tired of being the one to police the chores around here -- made me feel like I was always yelling (cause no one really listens otherwise) and like my interactions were generally negative with my children. That was not O.K. with me, so as much as Quinn and I really never thought we would do this, we decided to compensate their completed lists with a reward of $$. It's really not much, just $.10 per item, so they can earn a dollar a day.
IF they complete all tasks EVERYDAY, for the entire week, they will get a $2.50 bonus at the week end. Soooo, they will earn either less than $5, or $7.50. Saturday is a day that they can earn extra money by doing extra jobs -- and these will usually be BIG jobs. AND -- one of my favorite parts, the money focus shifts to them!! If there are things they want this summer, the responsibility is now theirs to pay for their own things. For example, Caleb lost his goggles -- so I told him that he could save up to buy another pair (I bet he won't lose them again!). We have a couple of pools in our neighborhood that we go to, but Liam has been going to the public pool with a friend, and it's $2 everytime -- guess who pays the $2? If a friend asks them to go to the movies, my kids pay for themselves. If they want treats when we're at walgreens, I don't have to listen to the begging and whining anymore, or be the bad guy, I just say, "Sure! How much money do you have?" It's awesome!!
Our hope is that they will learn the value of a dollar (Liam already does), have an opportunity to pay tithing, and start to make more responsible choices on what money is spent on, and learn that you can save for things that are important to you, by working hard.
This has been working really well in the midst of a somehow hectic start to summer (what happened to those lazy summer days!!) Since they all have different schedules, the flexibility allows them to complete their tasks when their schedule allows. They still usually get most of their stuff done early -- ( to give themselves the reassurance that they will have a little more money in their pockets by the end of the day. ;) But I LOVE LOVE LOVE that they are motivated to do these things without ANY word from me! I also LOVE that my house is staying clean -- this morning Caleb swept and mopped the kitchen floor, and Liam washed the windows in our kitchen and family room -- inside and out, beds are made, laundry is done and put away, rooms are straightened, ahhhhh -- maybe this is the relaxing part of summer that I was looking for! They are realizing what it takes to have a clean house, and they don't want their efforts to be "messed up" (welcome to my world!). Caleb already took some time to read this morning, and they have all had a fun and active afternoon!! Caleb went to the pool and got icecream with a friend. Liam is spending the day at a friend's house, and I took the little ones to the "beach club" (one of our neighborhood pools is a beach -- with a sandy shore all along the beach entry pool. It's cool. So I relaxed in a beach chair in the water and rubbed my feet in the sand, while the kids made sand castles and swam.) We're home now, and it's only 2:30!! Still lots of day left to fill! (And several slots left on their lists!)
It's Friday today, and we happened to have a pretty open schedule, a big contrast to yesterday. Caleb had football at 9:30, I had a Pres. Mtg. at 10:00, Liam had swim practice at 11:00, Caleb's "awards" for his football camp were at 11:30, and then we had to pick Liam up at 12:30. Then it was home for lunch. At 1:30 I took Caleb to Carden's to play, and Luke, Claire, and I stayed to play as well! Then we had to get Liam to Kumon at 4:30, were there till 5:30, then football team parents meeting at 6:30. We got home close to 8pm, picked Liam up and went to dinner at Chili's so we could watch the Mavs game. Mavs won!!! (Game 5) It was a GREAT game, and a really fun crowd to watch with -- lots of cheering! This is why our new plan works so well for us . . . everyone can complete their tasks on their own time, since our schedules vary so much from person to person and day to day.
I had searched the internet for good ideas, and found LOTS of great ones. This idea with the list of ten things came from Saren Loosli, she does the "Power of Moms" and mom retreats. I got the idea from her family blog. My sister in law, Caroline, also has some AWESOME things that they are doing. Check out the "Once a Month Mom" freezer meals that she put together for her family (http://www.onceamonthmom.com/)! She is amazing!
**I wrote this on Friday, but am barely posting it. And last night, the MAVS won it all!!! The 2011 NBA Champs!! This was such a fun series for us to get into! Awesome job MAVS!!!!!!!!!
p.s. Sorry no pictures . . . that's one of the reasons that I never post . . . it takes too long with pictures. But I'll try to put some up soon.
