Chore Chart

My aunt gave me this chore chart recently. Giving the kids chores is something I've been tossing around in my head for a while. Of course, you want to wait until they're old enough so that they understand what's going on. I never had chores when I was a kid, and I never had an allowance. Not having chores is the one thing that my mom always goes back to and says she wishes she would have done differently. "You don't make your bed now because I didn't make you do it when you were little." "Having chores builds self-confidence.", etc., etc. And I have to say that I do agree with her. I really feel like having chores, some things that a child can do on their own, really helps build confidence in oneself. And, obviously, unless your child lives in a pigsty one day (or marries a slave), they're going to eventually have to learn how to do certain things around the house. So, why not teach them the proper way now? Sorry, these are just rambling thoughts, really I should delete everything all the way back to the sentence about confidence. Why are you still reading?? Thanks.

This is our first week. It's a bit of a work in progress, as I see what chores are right for the kids, and which ones might be too hard. So far, so good, though. They love to set aside a time during the day and "do chores." They practically fight over taking the trash out since they have to take turns with that one. They like to make each others beds. They love watering the plants. As you can see, the getting along part hasn't really happened yet. And by that I mean not having a fight all day. I might need to rework that one. I'm thinking that as they grow, the chores will grow and change with them. They love talking about what they'll get if they get so many stickers.

I've seen lots of cute ideas for chore charts. They have the basic ones like mine that you can buy ready made where you just write in the chores. I'm sure you've seen the even more advanced ones at Target, with all these different chore ideas on magnets and such. A cute idea one of my aunts did was making the chart out of poster board. Then she put velcro in each square, and the other side of the velcro on a bunch of pennies. Each time a chore was done, a penny got put in that spot. I think at the end of the week or something, however many pennies were on the board, that's how many pennies her son got. Lots of cute ideas!

Sorry, no pics. I haven't been posting lately because I've been waiting for pictures to add to my posts. I still haven't gotten any pictures put on my computer yet, but I was tired of waiting (and of seeing that picture of the worm from "The Labyrinth". Will add pics soon.

Getting the Garden Ready

I just saw this movie this weekend, and it was great. And this was one of the first pictures that google came up with when I typed in worm.

Today, the kids and I got out and attempted to dig up the garden, weeding the dirt and such. This turned into a balance beam contest and then quickly became a worm hunting party. One of the most fun things about kids is how they just run with their imaginations and do whatever they feel like next. Ok, sometimes it's fun, but other times it can be annoying. But let's focus on those fun times, shall we?

I think gardening and just generally playing in the dirt is a great earthy learning experience for kids. And it's fun for them because it's dirt. So, as it gets warmer, hopefully we will get to do this more.

Having a garden and letting kids participate is a great idea. They get to see a tiny seed, planted by them, turn into food that they can eat. I grew pumpkins last year, and it was amazing to me to watch dozens of pumpkins grow from just 5 tiny seeds.