TEAM WORK...

My friend, Heather S, started using a family schedule for her household. She says it has been working wonders for her homeschooling/family days, and I believe her. When I read her post on facebook, I immediately remembered the days when we used to use a family schedule and praised God for this precious reminder.

Let me add here that the past few months have been less than a joy in my parenting journey. I've noticed some rude behavior from my children and I have had a bit of a struggle reeling them back in. Once I give them an inch...well...they took a few miles.

So, after reading Heather's post, I drug out my old "Managers of their homes" book and found our OLD homeschooling schedule...from when Kazz was still homeschooling and the twins were babies... I tailored our new schedule to fit our family needs now and it worked like a charm today. Chores, homeschooling and all...

People…Listen...Our bathroom and kitchen floors got swept AND mopped today! What? Oh yes they did. And, the whole family gladly pitched in with chores.  We  cleaned their rooms, made their beds, wiped down cabinets and the kids did their homeschooling work, in small increments, without whining.

Why?  Because they were "in on the plan."  They were given the schedule and I talked to them about expectations. I let them know that our day was going to "feel" different and we would be busy bees.  They really enjoyed all of us working together and that everyone had a place to be at a certain time.  That's important you know...because it's TIME to do this or that...it's on the SCHEDULE...very important stuff here.  :o)

Kole and Daxx actually asked to to extra work on their math computer program!

Man…now I remember why a schedule is important.

I'm going to add a star chart, "our last name" money rewards and "when dad comes home" marks on the refrigerator. If they get 3 tally marks... (bad)... dad will “see them” when he comes home…and NOBODY wants dad to see tally marks. EVERYBODY wants dad to see stars. When they earn a certain number of stars they can trade them in for "money" to do something special like have a later bed time, get a free day with a friend or things like that...

Next week will begin the FULL MONTY baby! Momma needs some sanity in this house and I do believe this is our answer.  More to come as we implement the rest of the plan.  Wish us luck. :o)