Hello Ladies,
Here is all the information for the chore chart. We call it the Little Way Chore Chart because it was St. Therese that said that God does not look at the greatness nor the difficulty of your actions but at the love with which they are done. She also said that if you pick up a pin with love, you can convert a soul. So, that has been our focus for the past few years. Charity in everything.
The purpose of the chart is to train their will and everything else I mentioned before. I started with the things I repeat twenty times a day, every day. You can obviously add lines to match the number of kids you are including in the chart and change the chores to fit your home. As these chores become habits, revise your chart. When you revise your chart, the old chores still need to be performed. Hopefully, by then, they are a habit more than a chore, which makes room for new chores on the chart. They get a star push pin on the chores that get done without my asking. They get a red push pin on the chores that get done after I ask them. They get no pin on the chores that do not get done. The time in each section is the cut off for each chore set. After that time they can only get a red pin or an empty space. For every section of the day completed with only with stars they get a ticket. For every section of the day completed with some red push pins they get a good job comment. For every portion of the day with spaces without pins, they owe me a ticket (after they chart has been in place for a while and only for the older kids ). Whatever they have not completed by the time school starts, they have to complete during the break, after their snack but before they go out to play. If they want a ticket, that is.
{Tangent} We also have a schedule on a clipboard which lays out the day for them. It is a target schedule, not a rigid time line of events. I have attached a sample (Monday). In that schedule you will see a reference to a clip board for school work. I have found that I cannot keep up with the daily lesson plans from CHC so I have created my own check lists for them which I can change as life happens. I keep final print outs with their completed work in a folder to store with their work at the end of the year. I have also attached that for your review/use. Each child has their own weekly clip board that they refer to throughout the day and the schedule clip board is posted up on the school area. {End of Tangent}
They can cash in their tickets for different rewards (you know your kids best so assign different ticket values to different motivators). They can also cash in their tickets for gifts for their sibblings. (In bold because I love when they do this!) For example, we do 5 tickets for 30 minutes on the computer playing games. 10 tickets to pick a movie from Netflix for a family movie night with popcorn. 5 tickets to earn back a silly band that has been confiscated by the authorities. 40 tickets for an afternoon out with mommy or a dinner date with daddy. We also have small crafts from Jo Ann or Michaels and other trinkets that they can get for themselves or get for their sibblings as gifts.
I print these out on legal paper and staple them to a thick corkboard (I use floor soundproofing cork, it is nice and thick so the pins go in easily and stay put). I have decorated ours with pictures and quotes from St. Therese of the Little Flower. My kids can relate to her right now and she is our companion saint for this year. They have a small box with pins so they can tack off their chores as they complete them. I have also stapled envelopes at the bottom to hold their tickets. That way it is all in one place.
I do have to say that you must follow through with the rewards and the punishments for it to work. If you are not on top of the ticketing, they will lose interest. Set a ticket counting day for the month/week. Take out your calendar and your reward chart and let them cash in their tickets. Whatever appointments you mark on that calendar for rewards, make sure you stick to them.
I hope this helps you guys as much as it has helped me, if not more. You know your kids best so remember to fine tune it to meet your family’s needs.
God bless you,
Little Way Chore Chart – Shell
Thanks so much for sharing this! It seems like we're always beginning again with organization but this looks like a great place to start this time.