i realized before summer break ever officially began that there were some things we would have to establish early on in our summer break if sanity were to reign in this house. one of the first things to establish was eating habits. a close second...chores and clean-up.
we've addressed both this week, and so far so good.
first, the eating. i made up daily food journals, printed them off, and clipped them together with brads - one for each of us.
the point is not to make a strict harsh law out of what we eat, but rather to give my kids a visual tool to help them be aware of their food choices and help them make their own good eating decisions. they have all really taken to it quite willingly, and i've even seen them alter their eating habits so as not to overdo in areas like sweet drinks and snacks. it's been great! hopefully we can keep this up throughout the summer and really make some progress in forming better habits as a family.
as to chores and clean-up, we have had the button charts in place for a while. those are still there. but i wanted to clarify the daily chores and sort of set a list of what is to be done each day, monday through friday. so i simply wrote the daily lists out on five separate index cards and looped them together with a jump ring i had handy. there are some things that we do every day, like clean the kitchen, feed the cat, make beds, etc. besides that, there are chores specific to each day of the week. today was pay bills (my chore, boo), wipe bathrooms, clean toilets, empty trash, etc. they each picked what they wanted to do - isaac actually LIKES to scrub the toilets, so he jumped at that right away, and meagan and sebastian worked together on wiping the sinks and counters. within an hour, all the beds were made, the bathrooms were clean, and the trash cans were freshly emptied. sa-weet!
the last thing i have to put in place is some kind of reading incentive program for us to follow. anyone have any experience with anything that has worked well for you? i figured for them to earn their 'homework' buttons each day they could do so many minutes of reading. but i thought it would be fun to track it, and maybe reward it beyond just a daily button. i haven't quite figured this one out in my head yet, so i haven't done anything with it. sebastian has said he wants to read through a few books in the bible this summer, so i need to work that in there as well. would love any suggestions you might have.
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other than sticking to the chore chart for the day, we also made another trip to the dentist. this time meagan had to have a cavity filled. that was about the highlight of our day. it was hot. meagan was grumpy. we just stayed in and soaked up the a/c. lame, i know. tomorrow morning the church we've been going to is showing the latest narnia movie, so i think we'll try to head over to that for something to do. beyond that, i have no real set plans. wednesday is gymnastics night, so i try not to get meagan overly tired before practice. tired grumpy meagan = not so great practice. no good.
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