Hey Someday Crafters! I'm here today to kick off the Summer Survival Series for Moms of Boys that The Joys of Boys is running this summer! She has partnered with with tons of great bloggers to bring you tons of great ideas to help you survive the summer. Be sure to check her blog each day to get the latest idea.
It's officially summer here! Our preschool co-op ended about 2 weeks ago, and since then, things have felt a little off. We don't really have any kind of schedule to our days, and I knew we needed to change that in order to survive the summer. My 5-year-old is almost 6, and is headed into kindergarten next year, so I'm trying to instill responsibility that comes with a schedule and daily chores. To do so, I created this simple daily schedule and chore chart.
I feel like this system is really easy, and totally adaptable to multiple children and different ages. There are 3 parts to this system. First, is the daily schedule.
The things on this list are what we expect our 5-year-old to do everyday (or every few days, in the case of his bath). These are just what he needs to do in order to be a part of our family. Some of these are done in the morning, and some are done in the evening before bed.
Each day, he also has some daily chores to do.
There are 4 spots on this chart. So far I've kept 2 of them as unpaid daily chores. These are mandatory and have to be completed before going outside, playing video games, etc. Then I'll put up 1 or 2 paid chores that he can also choose to do. These don't have to be done, but he can earn the amount listed if he does. He loves earning money (especially quarters), so he's always been willing to do these extra chores. I just change them out each day based on what needs to be done around the house. They're paid according to intensity. Our kitchen is small and usually doesn't take much to sweep, so that's cheaper than something like cleaning the baseboards (which are just done a section at a time, not the whole house, just for reference)
Each of these charts are just in a sheet protector. The daily schedule can just be marked off with a dry erase marker and then erased at the end of each week. The rest of the chore slips are in another sheet protector.
When it's time to pay up, I just go to the change jar and give him his money. I've also considered just slipping the money in the back of the sheet protector so that it's available immediately, but I'm still debating that. So far I've been good about immediate payment. The jar may eventually run out, but it's all the loose change we collected while my husband was working as a waiter. There's about $60 in there, so it will take a while.
If you'd like to download the PDF file for the schedule and chore system, you can do that here.
If you'd like the editable version so you can adapt this for your children, you can do that here. Please note that with the editable version, the font may not show the same if you don't have the same font downloaded on your computer (it's called CF Jack Story). A different font may cause differences in the design, so please keep that in mind.
Also, if you're going to share this, please refer them to this post to download it. Please don't share the file or download link without permission from me.
And don't forget to go check out The Joy of Boys and the rest of the summer survival series. She has so many other great bloggers lined up throughout the summer!
