Walking Therein

Posted By Jacque on December 15, 2008

Oh how often we either say it or hear it … “Too much to do, not enough time!”? I hear it and say it quite often. How do you manage all the tasks you have to complete in just 24hours? There are a lot of different methods on how to get chores and organizing done. Some have a strict schedule others just kinda wing it.

THEME:

This week I would like you to share how chores are done in your home. How you order your day with school and getting housework done. How do you decide which chores should be done by which child, of which age? I’m looking forward to hearing them! ~Miss Jocelyn

Chores, chores, chores… Really, the only activities we call “chores” around here are the ‘barn chores’. The rest of the work around here is not a chore, but part of living in our home. There is a little division of who does what, but not a strict line. Anything that needs to be taken care of is expected to be attended to by whomever is capable. We do include all of our children in cleaning, cooking, learning, ‘child care’, and maintenance around here.

Galatians 5
13For, brethren, ye have been called unto liberty; only use not liberty for an occasion to the flesh, but by love serve one another.

I wrote much of this up a couple of years ago, so it is a little more than a “Chore List”.

About 5 years ago, I had a perfect school schedule and chore chart (it was called the Dixon Responsibility Chart). We worked them both diligently, and they worked nicely for that time in our home. The following year, we worked a more loosely-based homeschool schedule but with the same chart, and that worked well for that year. In March 2007, we  totally changed our homeschool lives, and have run a less-scheduled day. Things are getting done, we just have a loose routine that is held to.

For awhile we had a chart, but it wasn’t being followed, mainly because there were so many projects to complete with the animals and building that we were happy just to get the house picked up, meals made, eaten and cleaned up after. At that time, the chart became more of a binding frustration when I’d come in tired from the barn or wake up late and still tired in the morning and see that things hadn’t been checked off, so I stopped expecting them to be. I did not stop expecting things to be done.

At that time, the girls and I had a little meeting, since they are the oldest and pull the most weight around here in the chore area, and I listed what *had* to be done. I expect the dishes to be done. Period. The food to be put away. Period. And the laundry and their bedrooms, as well as the floors picked-up and vacuumed. Those are the main issues when it comes to having chores done.

I don’t know how it is at your house, but ours can be completely sparkly-clean and become a total disaster in about 5 minutes. We are working on this.

As of now, we do not have set times for chores, but we know when Daddy gets home, when school needs to be done and meals. All else fits in-between.

Our children are:

Amanda,19
Jocelyn, 17
Rachel, 15
Eric, 11
Hannah, 9
Isaac, 5
Caleb, 3
LucyLillie, 20m

I think it is of great importance to teach our children to run a household. It is also important to be efficient in this task. And, it should be learned by both boys and girls, even though I think there is a distinction between what falls to whom in a marriage. Boys still need to know how to cook and do laundry, and take care of babies, just as girls need to take out the trash, mow the lawn, and change a tire. It sure is nice for a man to do such things for his woman, and likewise, it’s nice for a woman -and her children- to care for a household and have it clean and dinner ready when her husband comes home from work!

DAILY SCHEDULE

A day here, when life doesn’t interfere too much, looks like this:

Barn chores, first thing in the morning
Get something to eat for the Littles at least – oatmeal, yogurt or cottage cheese is quick
Fill a hot tub of water for dishes.
Read the Bible -working on remembering that daily still.
Do a light pick up of floors and tables in each room.
Gather dishes, wash them.
Make and eat lunch or a snack like chips and salsa.
Clean up food and dishes after lunch.
Work on workbooks, reading, computers, whatever learning is for that day.
Prepare dinner around 4pm.
Clean up floors again
Set table and eat between 5-6.
Clean up after dinner.
Read stories to Littles, finish up email and computer work.
Daddy comes home around 8pm. Daddy gets to eat.
Sometimes we play or watch a movie.
Prayer and Bedtime.
Dad and Mom and older girls stay up.

We do a lot of computer work, as far as writing posts, maintaining sites, graphic design work, as time allows. If we get on for a few minutes, fine or hours. we do it in-between almost anything.

DAILY CHORES:

BARN CHORES:

*Feed the goats, chickens and dogs & cats in the morning and evening
*Get fresh water for goats, chickens and dogs & cats in the morning and evening.

In the winter, that means they hook the hose up in the house to the hot water and run it 200 feet to the barn to fill their water buckets. Then, they must put the hose in the basement so it won’t freeze.

They also help Daddy get and store the bales of hay. They have to throw it down to the bottom of the barn as needed and make sure there is hay for them and also inside for Wilbur.

*We will start to milk the goats again here soon. They will do that morning and evening and then have to store the milk in glass jars.

*The chickens are not producing as many eggs (I believe the coon ate most of our good layers when we were on vacation), but they collect the few we get. Time to kill the hens.

*Wilbur is also a chore in and of himself. He requires being carried to the barn to be fed twice a day yet. When it is warmer, we can let him stay outside to eat grass, weeds and leaves, but must bring them in to him now. Fresh water, grain, change the box he is in IN THE OFFICE STILL. blah.  [We are looking for anyone who rescues animals and wants to care for the poor little guy to take him for us. He is quite a handful for us.] READ MORE about Wilbur

LAUNDRY:

*The diapers washed each morning and hung on the line in warm weather.
Amanda washes them, and any child down to Isaac hangs them. We have an inside rack we hang them on.
*The rest of the laundry: Amanda does most of the laundry, and sometimes each child folds and put their own laundry away, with an older child to help. Jocelyn and Rachel also wash it occasionally.

MEALS:

Amanda makes up the Meal Plans and the grocery lists. I look over and approve them, and she goes to the grocery, with my Mom or a sibling.
The older girls make most of the meals. Hannah and Eric know how to make dinner and will occasionally, but most of the time it is Amanda, Jocelyn or Rachel.
*The dishes, before meal prep and after dinner. All children ages 9 and up wash, dry and/or put away. Isaac and Caleb dry.
Before- and after-meal chores are done by all, and all participate until they are finished.
Clean off and set table.
Food is put away all children, ages 9 and up, but usually Eric and Hannah

BEDROOMS:

*Their bedrooms: each their own: Boys share a room, Eric is in charge of clean-up. Amanda and Jocelyn share, and Rachel and Hannah share. They all share responsibilities.
*Floors picked-up and vacuumed. Each child, including LL pick up and put away. All children can vacuum, but not all do all the time.

OTHER DAILY CHORES:

*Pick up the living room and kitchen floors, which is done about five times a day.
*Vacuum the floors, done at least once, sometimes twice.
*Pick up the office floor, the stairs and hallway. Sweep or vacuum.
*Take scraps out to the chickens and dogs
*Take out the Trash – Eric does this one
*Help with LucyLillie and Caleb (everyone)

WEEKLY (or AS NEEDED) RESPONSIBILITIES:

*Plan, buy and mix the goat feed and the chicken feed
*Deep clean one room/area a day
SUMMER:
*plan garden
*plant and care for seeds
*plant garden
*pull weeds
*Water the garden if necessary

Some of my philosophies on keeping a responsibility/task chart are:

*Training in Character is the main importance when you consider which tasks to do and to whom they are assigned. You will be able to use this as a time to assess the strengths and weaknesses in each child. If you homeschool, just consider it part of their learning. Character has to be learned first or you can forget the “teen years”. Really… if you are so busy fighting with and re-training your young adults at that time, then you won’t really be teaching homeschool anyway, and it will be terribly frustrating. Teach them responsibility while they are still young.

Ecclesiastes 5:18
Behold that which I have seen: it is good and comely for one to eat and to drink, and to enjoy the good of all his labour that he taketh under the sun all the days of his life, which God giveth him: for it is his portion.

*Include every child. That means the littlest, if on your hip or in an Ergo or backpack… include them all in the chores. Your Littlest walker will love to pick up and put things away. Hey, they still think it’s a fun game! Why not make it one? Why would you want to sit them in front of a video and learn that Momma does all the work? And, why would you want them to think they don’t have responsibilities in their own home? You will just be re-training them later, when they want to watch movies and play outside, as they were trained. This will teach love, cooperation, concern for others, and a good work ethic.

Proverbs 16:3
Commit thy works unto the LORD, and thy thoughts shall be established.

*For the most part, we don’t call them chores… We started calling them Responsibilities. “Chores” give the negative connotation that it’s just work to be done, when, if we believe it is a responsibility instead of a chore, we are more likely to want to do it. As Believers, doing things As unto the LORD may be hard work, but certainly not a job we don’t want to do.

Ecclesiastes 2:24
There is nothing better for a man, than that he should eat and drink, and that he should make his soul enjoy good in his labour. This also I saw, that it was from the hand of God.

*Decide when and how you are going to it and stick with it. Give it a few weeks and modify it as needed. We have to be positive ourselves about keeping our home picked up. I am not always the best about putting things away, but I must do something right, because my children are pretty good workers.

*A great place to find help in managing the home I found is Large Family Logistics. I do not know if Kim has transferred the info to her new blog, but the info I found three years ago was on her sidebar on Large Family Logistics. The only thing is, that you have to do it for your family, not just because it works for another family. I think we think we need the latest gadget to help us do this or that, and if we just think about each child’s personality, what needs to be done and how much time it will take, we can formulate a plan that we will be happy with.

*Just as in homeschooling: Don’t let the plan run you. If you find one day it no longer fits, change it. there is no sense in feeling like you are bound to it.

*Your children come first. Yes, we must not do them a dis-service and let them run amuck, but we have to discern what needs our attention most. A spotless home at the expense of relationships is not a home; it’s a clean house with a bunch of neat people (probably unhappy) living in it. Children are messy – don’t expect them not to be.

* In the opposite corner, don’t let your home become a total pig sty, either, under the guise of letting your children express their creativity or the excuses that you are too sick or whatever (I am saying this as a matter of a constant excuse, not a real one!). If you are never home to clean your house, don’t leave. Just stay home until it is cleaned up. I am talking about the woman of the house who has a path made to get from room to room. Your children doing their chores is the least problem. You need to put yourself on a chore chart!

Now, lest you stop by and find out that my house is not always so spotless, and you think I think my children are perfect in every way….  All of these philosophies are my perfect, utopian-world philosophies. I mean, we have books strewn, laundry in baskets, children whining and all the same things you sometimes have. The key to all of this working is me.

Mom, you have to make it work. That’s why I think it’s more than just buying a chart or a book and following someone else’s ideas. You know your household; this is just another way to implement what God has shown you and the different personalities to build your household on. It is a way you can train your children, daily, as you walk with them and talk with them.

Deuteronomy 6:4-7

4Hear, O Israel: The LORD our God is one LORD:  5And thou shalt love the LORD thy God with all thine heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy might.  6And these words, which I command thee this day, shall be in thine heart:  7And thou shalt teach them diligently unto thy children, and shalt talk of them when thou sittest in thine house, and when thou walkest by the way, and when thou liest down, and when thou risest up.

If you do not know your household well enough – well, shame on you! You need to stay home and participate! You will be pleasantly surprised on some days, and you will be frustrated on others. Stick with it. If all else fails, go outside and play for awhile. The housework will always be here, children grow up too fast! It will serve you and them best if they grow up loving it instead of dreading it!

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