Summer Plan Mini-Series: Kids’ Chores

{The mini-series will continue Friday with Rules and Consequences and wrap up on Monday with Fun Stuff.}

As I mentioned the other day, I’ve been working on a summer schedule.  Not a schedule in the sense that all of our time is accounted for, but in the sense that I’ve got a plan for things that need to be done, and for some things that we want to get done.

Yesterday I worked on the chore plan.  I’ve described our chore wheel before; we’ve been using it for almost three years and it will still be in effect for the summer.  However, summer = more people at home all day = more mess, and since those people also have oodles of free time, I’m going to implement an additional chore plan for the summer.



Here’s what I’ve come up with:

• MON:  kitchen
  
• TUE:  bathrooms/vacuum stairs
  
• WED:  dust/vacuum downstairs
  
• THU:  dust/vacuum upstairs
  
• FRI:  clean up mudroom

I have specific chores for each area.  I’ll write each one on a craft stick and each child will chose one on the designated day.  That makes it random (the chores aren’t visible when they choose).  We used the craft sticks as our main system for a while before the chore wheel was invented; the idea originally came from Family Fun.




Kitchen:

• wash sliding doors
  
• sweep
  
• mop
  
• sort through papers/clean off end of counter

Bathrooms/vacuum stairs:

• vacuum and mop bathrooms
  
• polish all chrome in bathrooms and clean bathtub (cleaning the bathroom is a daily chore on the wheel, but the bathtub never gets the attention it needs)
  
• vacuum stairs (the most hated chore!)

Dust/vacuum downstairs:

• dust living room
  
• dust family room
  
• dust stair railing
  
• vacuum

For vacuum and dust upstairs, each child will do their own room, so no sticks.  Similarly, for clean up mudroom, they will take care of their own belongings.  On days that have more than three chore sticks, I’ll take a stick too.

Tune in tomorrow for the next installment!