This is our last full week before school starts. I am very excited about getting started. Sometimes I wonder how in the world I ever started on this path. I never once thought about home schooling my kids before I had kids. Then, once we had kids and they started growing up, it seems that Josh and I both just knew this was what we were going to do. I don’t remember any debates or confusion at all, which is really nice. (Josh is always up for a debate, so it really is an amazing thing….he still isn’t 100% sure about what “home school football” looks like….we shall see.)
Anyway, I have been getting the school room a little more organized, buying uniforms for school and TRYING to get the kids to learn some responsibility so that the whole year won’t be full of arguments and nagging. We all get sick of hearing that!
These are the chore charts I found at Target. Each kiddo has their own.
Ruby and Molly have similar lists
As you can see, we start simple with Mack. Things like flushing the potty just don’t come easily for him. He didn’t even take care of making sure the pillows were in the right place, but he said he would do it in the morning…and he whined and whined for me to leave the star in place.
I got some transparent plastic bins to help me see things we have. This is the art bin.
This is one of our Math bins. Lord knows we need all the help we can get when it comes to Math!
Pencils and scissors and glue and markers, oh my!
This is our uniform section in the closet. Last year I managed with three shirts and a couple of pair of pants and one skirt for Ruby. I just kept it simple. This year, we are getting a little more complex, as each girl wanted to be able to wear jumpers to school. They look so cute on them. I have dresses/skirts/dress shirts/coats all hanging at the top. The khaki bottoms are next, then the navy bottoms, and the socks and shoes are last. The goal is to have the girls wake up, make up their bed, wash their face, brush their teeth and get dressed from head to toe all on their own. I still reserve the right (and responsibility) to fix their hair.
I also reserve the right to “spruce up” their beds after they make them. I just don’t know if I can leave them looking like this all day:
Let me leave you with Mack’s trucks all the bin. We are so proud of anything he does since he usually tries to get out of everything “acuz I’m yo’ baby.”
Love this post…makes me want to get more organized. I love the charts with their daily chores listed and I have been putting off doing that for my kids. Where did you get those? And I think adding ‘flushing the potty’ as a chore is an EXCELLENT idea 😉 I am sure your girls are ready for school. But I hope y’all have a productive and fun last week of summer.
i too, LOVE this post! my kids really like to “help” and i’m sure they would love those charts and the stars! Marcy, you and i will have to pick some up this weekend from Target. have a good week and i can’t wait to see pics of the girls first day of school!! soooo exciting! 🙂