cleaning hands and dirty feet

The first week of summer this year, I let everyone hang out all day doing whatever they wanted. I figured we all needed a break from routines now that school was out. And that first week of June, the kids drove me crazy! They were picking on each other, fighting and bickering constantly. And they just sat in front of the TV watching cartoons or playing nintendo all day. So at the end of that week, I decided it was time to get back on the routine-wagon because they needed something constructive to do!

For the last five years, the boys have had a summer daily chore routine. Every year it's changed based on how old they are, and what the needs are in the home. It began when Ammon was 6, and he had to do 2 chores each day, and there was pictures so he knew what his responsibilities were. Then when the twins were 6, they started doing chores too, and I split the responsibilities between the 3 of them: Ammon had the written chores, and Jonah & Micah had the picture chores on the chart. Here's some examples of old and current chore charts that have been hung on our fridge:

This year, I restructured the system: The boys each have a specific day when they do laundry and when they have to help with dishes. And on weekdays, we focus on cleaning one room in the house per day and each of the boys have a specified chore on a rotation chart to do in those rooms. The five areas of focus are: the living room, family room, kitchen, bathroom, and bedrooms and the rotating chores are things like: dusting, washing windows, vacuuming, mopping, and garbage duty. They can earn money by doing the assigned rotating chores ONLY if they don't complain about doing them. They have five rotating chores each week, and can earn potentially $1.00 at the end of every week. And the rule is that they have to do their chores each day before they are allowed to do anything fun. The best part of this year's summer chore program is that the boys are actually doing their work, and WITHOUT complaining about it, too!!! They wake up, eat breakfast, and start doing their chores before I have to ask them to do them. It's been wonderful!!! They are productive, they are happier, they are earning money, and the house is cleaner! I LOVE this year's system! 

Fridays are the easiest chore day because none of them have laundry or dish duty, and all they have to do is clean their room and then weed the garden and pumpkin patch. Weeding takes more time than any other chore, usually about an hour or more, and we work on it together as a family. It's funny to me that we work all week on cleaning the house with our hands, and at the end of the work-week, we end it by getting our hands and feet dirty!!!