The Everyday Family Chore System - A TOS Homeschool Crew Review

For the past month or so I have been working with a product from Everyday Homemaking to review.

For the past month I have been working with the concepts presented in The Everyday Family Chore System.
 

I received access to the PDF version of the book in late mid-July. I had just undergone foot surgery, and my son was away on a trip with the Civil Air Patrol. When I learned that  The Everyday Family Chore System was coming up for review I expressed interest. Sitting in a chair with my foot elevated, looking around at the mess my house was, I knew I needed help. I thought, "Sure! Why not!"

As I began reading The Everyday Family Chore System, I began to get a lump in my stomach. We were expected, for this review, to "read through the book and implement something from it." This system is a great product, but my family is not a good fit for the system, and the time-frame was not good for my son's summer schedule. My son, in the midst of a ten trip, came home briefly and then left on another trip. Shortly after his return from his second trip, there was County Fair week...

As I further explain the Family Chore System I will help you further understand what I mean (that the system is great but that I was not able to implement the system). 

The Everyday Family Chore System is an ideal system to begin following when your children are young. It gives excellent instructions and encouragement to the mom on how to implement the system with various aged children. The book teaches which chores are appropriate at which ages.

The Everyday Family Chore System begins with a section that covers training the child: realistic expectations; setting up rules; establishing disciplinary consequences; and cultivating your relationship with your child.

Section two covers setting up the actual system. It involves first determining things that need to be done daily, weekly, monthly, etc. Next jobs are divided between children (and parents, if desired). Next there are resources provided that you can print out to set up the system. The first is called "How-To-Do-It Cards". If you have additional jobs you write them up on 3"X5" cards. You put contact paper on everything and cut out the cards. Instructions are given for what to do with the cards and how to set up a "Job Box".

A third section of the book focuses on teaching the children to work with diligence. You demonstrate the task and gradually let the child take over. You want to be organized and have a functioning routine. Success gets rewarded; slacking has consequences. Commit everything to the Lord.

A forth section gives the actual templates to use with instructions. There is also a link given to a workshop you can listen to, Getting Kids to Help at Home.

I'm not trying to explain the whole system -- I want you to buy it if you want it. There is a rotating system for daily and weekly jobs assigned to your various children, and it is explained how to work in the less frequent jobs.

So where the program did not work for me was that I have only one child (almost adult) in the home at this point. During this review his time was already taken.

But I do love the system. What I read that is totally working for me is the various "How-Do-Do-It Cards". I've been homemaking almost 40 years, and gradually over time things have been going downhill in cleanliness. The instruction cards, while not rocket science, are very helpful for me. I read, and I say, "Oh, I never thought of that! No wonder that is so dusty!" In other words, author Vicki Bentley includes cleaning steps that I have not been doing, which explains the gradual downhill slope of cleanliness around here. I think I used to move so frequently that it never got this bad. At this point we have lived in this house 18 years, and there are places that just haven't been getting cleaned.

So while I don't have an army of little people to train to help me with the many jobs that need doing around here, I do appreciate the content of The Everyday Family Chore System and look forward to the gradual improvement I will see around here as my little army (hubby, son and I) work to make improvement. This is a program you can run with as is or tweak to fit your situation. Improvement is good; we don't need perfection. Neatness and cleanliness bring peace.

I got an email from the author this morning offering my readers a special deal - 10% off The Everyday Family Chore System and/or Everyday Cooking (print or e-book) through Labor Day! The code for your discount is TOS10books -- you can apply it to as many books in yout cart as you'd like, but you do need to shop first, apply the 10% discount code last.  Expires Sept 5.

Other members of the Homeschool Review Crew were reviewing both The Everyday Family Chore System and Everyday Cooking. To read more reviews please click below.

The Pantry - Week 2 of 34 Weeks of Clean Challenge

Okay, here is where my participating in the "34 Weeks of Clean" challenge becomes more of an attempt to humor my readers than to participate in the challenge. Let's just say I am taking a "By" week (or is that "bye"?).


I was very busy and did not do this assignment. I did, however, go through my spices and got rid of old and duplicate spices (by gifting duplicates to another woman's kitchen). Didn't take a "Before" photo. Here's "After":

A Fly Lady Day

First, I want to let you know that my "G" key is not working well. There is something under it making it so that even though I hit it, it doesn't appear. So in advance, I'm sorry for "typos" where it is not there. (Notice I am no words with that letter in sentence...)

Anyway, this is an illustrated primer of my FlyLady morning routine.  First, bathroom. got out of shower and noticed condition of room, so decided to do a "before" and "after" shot for my friends:

It's not that "P" word (perfect)... I didn't empty the trash or remove my son's books by the sink there, but it's nice, isn't it?

Next, I was wondering what you all do about cords. Do you have cords out the wazoo like I do? Cell phone cord, i-pod cord (for two different i-pods), cord for kindle, cord for blue tooth, whatever it is that you have. I also have a lifetime membership badge that I don't want to loose, and a cord that came out of a pair of pajamas that I need to thread back through, but in the meantime I don't want to lose.  So, what do you do?

Well, in case you need an idea, here's what I do. I keep my cords on my towel bar, and I hide them nicely under the towel.  Here's a before and after shot of that as well:

So, after that, by now I was "dressed to my shoes", and I looked at my bedroom.

So, actually there is a lot going on wrong in this room, but I'm mostly going to focus on the bed and ignore the overflow clutter beside the bed, on nightstands, and the fact that my hamper is overflowing and that I can't see my dresser for the stuff. So, now I will transform the bed and show how much nicer that makes the room look:

Very nice!

And last, but not least, what do you do when your college aged offspring has left for that last final exam of the semester, without giving said offspring's dog enough time outside before leaving, thus encouraging said dog to leave a present in the middle of your schoolroom/family room?

Well, you sigh, and you get a bag and pick it up, just like at the park, and you go flush it and then start your school day.

So, why did I blog about my FlyLady morning? Because I've been neglecting my blog lately, and I wanted to do an entry. Because my life is real, like yours is, and it's fun sometimes to read about someone else's life. Because doing it this way actually encouraged me to clean my bathroom, make my bed, and have a good attitude about the doggy droppings and "just do it!", as I like to say.

Have a real day!

D

Cleaning Day

Dear bloggy friends!

Thank you so much for subscribing to my blog. In the long run, I hope to make it an enjoyable subscription for you.

But here I went and took the week end off -- which I might do most of the time. But then I made it a long week-end! Actually, I have a meeting in my family room with the person who heads my new umbrella group for oversight. I looked around at my family room, where I do my school, and when I paused to see my "school corner" through the eyes of a visitor.... well.... AAAAAHHHHH!!!!!

So, after dinner I stashed and dashed and crammed and decluttered, and it still needs work, but now my family room looks like this:

 and the school corner now looks like:

 

 Not perfect, but much better. The lump on the floor in the photo with the fireplace is a dog toy, and there is a coffee table in front of the fireplace with a jigsaw puzzle on it. There are still school papers for filing. It's real life, but not panic mode like the first photo.

So that's what I did after homeschooling today. No crafting. No blogging. Just cleaning, then made and ate dinner, and then more cleaning. ::sigh:: Past my bedtime. Off to bed.

D

My FlyLady Days

Summer is coming to a close, and some of my responsibilities that have been distriacting me outside of my home as well.  My (deceased) mom’s house is finally fixed, cleaned, and on the market. Renovations to my own house are (almost) finished. Time to et back into the swing of things.
Trying to work towards a more normal working schedule for my home and homeschool.
Flylady Mondays include:

• dust all surfaces
• sweep/mop/vacuum
• empty all trashes;
• change sheets
• clean mirrors, sliding door, major windows,
• declutter weekly periodicals

…need to check and see if that is all.  Then there are the Flylady "daily"s. 
Morning routine:

• make bed(s)
• morning shower and such; swish and swipe bathroom;
• feed the critturs;
• start the coffee; make the breakfast;
• unload dishwasher, breakfast, vitamins. Check calendar;
• eat the breakfast; quiet time; then rouse, feed, and do Bible time with my boy;
• a load of laundry started;

Later in the day routine:

• Look at or create "To Do" list;
• homeschool;
• hit the hot spots (load the breakfast dishes; clear "hot spot" surfaces;
• lunch and recess break/ email, phone calls;
• homeschool in afternoon/ any appointments for the day

After homeschool:

• Clean up school area;
• make sure everything’s on hand for dinner;
• some mom "craft time"
• start dinner

Bedtime routine:

• Leave kitchen clean with dishes loaded, dwasher running, coffee set up, counters wiped, sink shined;
• brush teeth, get dressed for bed;
• snuggle in and read, or do computer or watch movie while knitting or crocheting.

So, anyway, I got the sheets changed. I had to major clean my bathroom, because it had been ages… I pretty much have to dry mop the hardwood every day because of the dogs. I’ve been able to keep up with the dishwasher and coffee every night, but still need to remember to wipe down surfaces.

Majorly, I have boxes to unpack and declutter.  We had hardwood put in last week, and everthing was boxed and removed from the rooms. Now the boxes need to be unpacked. Realistically, a lot of the stuff that got packed needs to be thrown away, given away, or put away. In other words, when we packed up there were piles that should have been dealt with that were just packed. Now they need to be dealt with.

Anyway, time to get on with my day. I got the breakfast/coffee part done, but not the bed made part, nor the shower, nor the quiet time, nor the dishwasher, etc. Gotta get moving.
~D