Sophie's Chore Chart

I have been very inspired by Simple Mom's organization skills and been blessed by her willingness to share her ideas and her work. One of the first things on her site that caught my my eye was the Pre-schooler's Chore Chart. She did some research on age-appropriate chore for little ones and came up with some good ideas.

Last Saturday night I printed out the PDF file and customized it a little more for Sophie.

I introduced her to it on Sunday night and we started on Monday morning. So far it's going pretty good. She has made her bed (and helped me make mine) every morning, unloaded the silver ware from the dishwasher, helped with laundry, helped in the kitchen and done some extra work. The main challenge has been keeping her from adding extra stickers! :)

At the end of the week, Sophie will get $.05 (one nickel) for each sticker she has on her chart. Sophie loves money, but up until now she has just been given cash and change by her family...mainly grandparents. The girl always has cash! I don't mind this, my late Grandpa J.R. always gave us kids $1-$3 and called it "walking around money." I just want Sophie to have respect for money and work. I also want to teach her about giving (tithing) and saving at an early age. She already knows how to spend! :) Soon she will move up to the 3-4 yr old class at Church, so she will be with us in the service for worship and the offering. That will give her an opportunity to start learning about the joy of giving.

So.... the chore chart is a success. (If you can say that after only 3 days?) Hopefully we will all continue to grow in this. To be honest, I have had a pretty negative attitude about housework in general and have had to learn much about being a proper home-maker after I got married...kicking and screaming all the way! (Since by nature I am am a 'messie' and Daniel is a 'cleanie' about 90% of our fights the first year we were married were about cleaning! Ick!) I want both of my girls to learn how to keep a home with a happy heart before they get married! :) Don't get me wrong...I still have a LOT to learn about being a good home-maker, but I really am trying. Simple routines for each chore like washing/drying/folding/putting away one load of laundry each day or unloading the dishwasher in the morning, etc have really helped me lately.

Lord, I give my children to you once again. I give you my home. Thank you so much for blessing us with it. Please help me to be a good steward of it. Help me to be content with what I have and to find joy in the mundane, but also very important parts of taking care of my husband, children and home. I love You so much.

ps- Check out Simple Mom for lots of great tips on homemaking/life-management!

ten on tuesday

1- today was sophie's day to go to mimi & papa don's (daniel's mom and step-dad). she loves going over there to play. today she called me from the car to tell me that mimi had bought her a thomas the train umbrella. she was so excited!



2- grace & i enjoy these days. they are usually pretty laid back... especially on rainy days like today. can you believe this crazy weather??? 60 degrees in august!


3- i started making birthday lists today. i'm trying to stay a little ahead of the game with soph's birthday. we are having a "bug/flower/garden" theme. (inspired by the incredibly cheap paperware that i found at "oops" in springdale. you can't beat $.40-$.80 stuff!) i'm ok with food and decorations... i'm just struggling to come up with age-appropriate party games. any ideas would be appreciated. :)


4- we are looking into getting gymnastics/tumbling lessons for sophie as part of her gift. she is a sumersault girl! our chaise & love seat have become her flipping ground!


5- i worked on putting together an "all about today" poster for the playroom. it is loosely based on something like this that i found in a childrens' catalog for $35. i am trying to make it for a lot less. i think sophie will enjoy changing the dates/day/weather, ect. she often tells people "i see you see 'tomorreo'" or "i see you see 'saturday'!" :)


6- i have also been doing a little research on some scripture memory for her. i have been wanting to do this for a while and was inspired by this post/comments. i know that "hiding His Word in our hearts" is so important for the young and the old. i want my girls to love the Word! :) i'm also going to look into awana's cubbies for sophie this fall. any ideas for this??


7- my grandma ninkie (soph calls her "ma ma ma") brought by some more yummy garden veggies today. she is such a great gardener and has blessed us with her bounty many times this summer. thank you, grandma! the fresh, summer stuff sure beats our old standby- canned green beans!



8-grace & i made a quick trip to cruizzers (our local drive-in) for some fresh squeezed lemonade. goofy me missed " 1/2 price happy hour" by 3 minutes! oh well...

9-*update*- it's thursday...i just skimmed this and realized that i had left out number nine. oops! i must have been super tired!

10- i love my hubby SO much. he has been sending me sweet text messages all week. he is such a hard worker and a great friend and daddy! he worked on the fence again this afternoon and he is getting close to getting done. yippee!!


ps- i added music today. i hope it isn't annoying. the diverse group of artists is funny to me. 'night!