Each year I make New Year’s resolutions. They usually involve losing weight, exercising, eating better or reading my Bible more. I still want to do all of those things but I am already working steadily at all of them. I am just finishing a Bible read-through (and will most likely turn around and start again in a day or two when I finish Revelation), and proper diet and exercise are happening although they could be ramped up.
So, this year I have changed my focus. What I really want to improve on in my life is home management. I do a decent job at homeschooling the kids and working for our business, Knowledge Quest. Where I need improvement is keeping the children pleasantly occupied after they finish their school work and keeping the house running like clock work. My kids have their schedules and chore charts, but need to be reminded constantly to actually do the things that are written on them.
Let’s take morning chores for example… The kids are supposed to clean up breakfast, start the next load of laundry, feed the pets, etc. before beginning their school work. However, nearly every morning we gather at the table at 9:00 for our morning Bible time and I ask if they have done their chores and the answer (often, usually) is “no, not yet.” And why this has not happened is because I did not remind them. Do they need reminders every day? I should think not. So, I am working through the process of training the children to see their part in keeping the house running smoothly. Besides, I really don’t want to be the nag – just the facilitator.
Funny, this does not happen at all with school work. When they finish one thing, they move right on to the next until all of the school work is completed. I don’t have to say a word. How can I transfer this concept to chores, reading time and other afternoon activities. Still working it through…
Any ideas? I’m all ears!
This entry was posted on Tuesday, January 5th, 2010 at 5:30 pm and is filed under Uncategorized. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.
Terri January 5th, 2010 at 6:50 pm
Duh, why didn’t I think of that – food! I have teens now (plus younger ones) and food is a huge motivator for teens. Yes, I think that I will try that – move the morning chores to before breakfast, rather than before schoolwork. Beautiful! Thanks a bunch.