Throughout the years, I have utilized several different methods of assigning chores and homeschool work. I’ve had a Workbox System, I’ve had Assignment Binders, I’ve had a static chore list written down on paper, I’ve had morning and night chores written down on a chart, and I’ve randomly written down chores on a dry erase board. Call me adaptable. 😉
So, after Garin was born and it became apparent his bouts of colic would not allow for me to do weekly planning of homeschool assignments as I was used to doing, I realized I had to…you guessed it! ADAPT!
That’s where these quick and easy daily chore cards come in…
{Before I stress any of you out by the fact that I had my children listen to something called “Toxic,” I better explain myself…it is a CD from Vision Forum entitled, “Toxic: Seven poisons that threaten the health of the Christian homeschool movement–and their antidotes.” So, never fear! The children are all safe!}
Most of the time, I have been filling these index cards out at night after Garin has settled down. They include each of the children’s daily chores along with homeschool assignments. When the card is complete, the rest of the day is theirs (excepting some tidying and some meal prep and clean up.)
The other thing these cards do is keep this mama on task! We all know what “mother-brain” can do to us! I’m no exception! I have 9 million thoughts running through my head every single day. There is not a chance I will be able to catch a single one and pin it down unless I “pen” it down on paper! Writing down the children’s chores and assignments holds me accountable. For instance, see the note on their cards that says, “mom read Torches” (YIKES, looks like I might need to explain this one too! “Torches” is my shorthand for “Torches of Joy,” a Sonlight Core 5
book about missionaries to the Dani people—“Torches” and “Toxic”–sounds like some crazy heavy metal band! EEK!).
So, there you have it. My solution to a busy mom with a fussy baby’s lack of time to create some uber-organized schedule! Index cards are my friend!
Morgan says
🙂 we have something like this on our fridge. It’s a list of all the things my brother and I have to do daily. 🙂 We have free time too. (that’s also marked down) With a big family, I can see how index card would work better. I want a big family. But my brother and I are both adopted from single moms, so it’s a great blessing I have a family at all. 🙂
God bless,
Morgan
Amy says
What a blessing to have a family who chose you. God is so wonderful!
Gae says
Dear Amy,
A great idea and so simple
Thanks again for your great ideas
Blessings
Gae
Clara says
This is an excellent idea! I might have to give it a go! 🙂
Andrea W says
Ok Amy..are you filling these out for your kids every day? a couple days a week? or just once a week?
And you’re not only jotting down cleaning chores, but lessons also?
I’m a list maker. I use two dry erase boards in my house! But it doesn’t work for chores. I bought a big sheet of white poster board and tried to make a ‘MOTH’ type chore list..but it’s not working either. No one goes to look at it, and it’s hard for me to read.
I think I should try chore cards next.. :o) I’ll give it a go today, when I sit down to write out a new schedule (I do a ‘moth’ type schedule, only I pencil it in a spiral notebook and leave it open on the bar in the middle of the house)
One more question..do your children ever misplace their cards?
~andrea w, hs’ing momys to 6 boys and 1 girl (andeebeth)
Amy says
Andrea,
I’m filling them out either the night before or the morning of. I’m only doing one day at a time because that is all I can handle right now (although Garin is getting less and less fussy as he gets older). The cards stay on the kitchen counter for the most part. Every now and then I find them over by the piano, but they pretty much keep them on the counter and just come back to them as they go. With the cards there, I am also able to readily see them and check their progress.
Judy says
At the beginning of the school year I was using index cards daily for each child’s school assignments. It was working out great. I need to start back up ASAP. I never thought of writing out daily chores and extras for them to do on the card. I think this could be a life saver! I am having baby #7 on Friday (by c-section). I love how this keeps every accountable and can’t use the “I forgot” or “I didn’t know”.
THANKS = )
Natasha Miller says
I too use cards for organizing my children’s chore responsibilities. However, I struggled with getting them written daily let alone weekly. I finally came up with a system that works for me. The children have the same chores and responsibilities each day of the week. For example, Troy vacuums the living room every day (except Sun.). He vacuums the stairs on Tues. and Fri. He makes breakfast on Sat., etc. This way I rack my brain once for the things that need done daily and weekly and then we use the same cards usually most of a year before I change them up again. Each day the kids just pull out their card for the day and make sure the responsibilities get done. The children become very proficient at their assigned tasks. The needed things get done every week. School I do much the same way. I write out a list of their daily subject requirements at the beginning of the year. It’s in the front of their notebooks. Of course, I do add things to their school work and chores from time to time. And we readjust as needed. But this is the problem I have with my system: Some of my kids don’t like it when I change things. :0)
Jamie (@va_grown) says
Seems like a great idea when the schooling changes the cards each day.
I just have a master list of chores that have to get done morning and evening and verbally pass them out when we pull in the driveway before we get out of the car. The kids are so use to the routine they’ll actually stop me before I get out of the car if I forget and say “Mama, what’s the plan?”
Debbie Nowinski says
Wonderful idea! Thank you so much for sharing. Where do you get index cards with stripes? I’ve never seen them.
Amy says
Debbie,
I don’t even remember where those came from. WalMart I think.
CharityH says
I love the idea! I may have to use it also. With so many little ones, it can be hard to stay on schedule. This would help adjust for each day.
Psstt! Look at our blog to see something exciting that happened here today. Just another reason I love homeschooling. Our school age children would have missed out on it if they were in public school.
Sandpiper says
That’s a great idea! Being adaptable is so important. I like the stripes on the cards, they make each task easy to read. I’m going to have to look for those.
Andrea W says
Hmm..for some reason my reply didn’t go thru..anyway…
I stayed up last night and wrote out a new schdule and wrote some cards for each child. So far so good! I blogged about it this afternoon and mentioned your blog. Hope that was ok.
~andrea
Amy says
That’s wonderful! I’ll head over there now! 🙂
Mama H says
great idea for when we get busy with newborns!I’v changed up my chore system so much thru out the years from 1 baby to 6 now.Anything helps!