i am a stickler for chores.  i feel pretty strongly about my kids doing chores for a few reasons: 1) we really want our kids to have a strong work ethic, 2) i want our kids to leave for college knowing full well how to take care of themselves, and 3) i don’t want to do all the work myself!

we have been using a set of chore charts i made for the last couple years, but i realized that while silas’ chores were appropriate for him when he was 4, now that he’s 7 he should definitely have more responsibilities.  and because silas was going to take more responsibilities, it lessened the load on the girls a little bit.  so that lead me to needing to make new charts.

ok, here’s where you can all laugh at me.  if i knew how to use my computer beyond making a word document, this could look so much better.  but no.  i made this simple chore chart and then hand drew the circles!

i know it looks like a lot of chores, but let me explain it to you a bit.  where ever theres an X, they don’t do that chore on that day.  take emptying the dishwasher, for example.  each child doesn’t empty the dishwasher every day, but every 3 days.  also, there are a lot of chores to do on saturday.  basically i’m using that as a catch up day – if it needs to be done, i’ll choose one of them to do it.  if it doesn’t need to be done, then they can skip it.  also, since there is only 1 circle for brushing teeth and it needs to be done twice a day, they just mark off half of it each time they brush.

the chore charts are on a cork board covered in fabric, that was then attached with some small nails to the cabinetry on the side of our fridge.  the charts are in clear plastic page protectors and the kids write on them with dry erase markers.  the chalkboard underneath the cork board is also magnetic.  i found this gold pen holder in the locker decor section at target – it doesn’t hold up really well, so i may end up permanently attaching it to the wall.

here’s a break down of the chores my kids do:

laundry (start to finish), empty dishwasher, make bed, open windows (window coverings), clean room, brush teeth (2x), clean playroom, vacuum carpets, vacuum wood floors (swiffer), dust, empty trash cans, clean backyard (basically pick up toys, bikes, etc.), water (house) plants, clean bathroom sinks, clean potty.

we try to get most of our chores done in the morning before school, but its not always possible.  and some days we skip chores altogether if we need to.  i try to keep this as a regular daily thing, but i also do my best to show grace when the kids need it.  its definitely not  perfect method, but its working for my family.  and if my kids had to go to college today, they could all do their own laundry!