Last year I made up chore cards and while they worked for a while some got lost and interest got lost as well so I decided it was time to change it up. And here is the new system I came up with.
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I got this adorable 16X20 inch frame at Michael's on clearance about 6 months ago with this idea in mind, but just last week had the time to put my idea into action. I then took a 12X12 pad of scrapbook paper and cut four coordinating pieces each 8X10 inches in size and taped to the "picture people" picture that was already in there. Then I printed out each chart made in excel for each child with their list of chores for the week and one blank calendar sheet for the 4th box as The Fish isn't old enough to do a chart with chores yet. I also cut our the names and the word "calendar" on my Cricut to add to top of each chart. I used the opposite paper scraps to do this so they would all match. Once it was all stuck down I put it behind the glass and had the hubs hang it in the pantry for easy access. The calendar is completely blank under the glass and I use a dry erase pen to fill in the month and dates and things like soccer, gymnastics, dr appts etc. But having a chart on the wall in the pantry has never quite fully worked for us either so I went one step further and made these...
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Each morning I put down the Morning/After School charts and as they do each item they mark them off and are on their way. They remain on the counter for after school as well. Then around dinner time I get out the evening sheets for them to get started on as well. We started these on Sunday and so far they are working great. We haven't been late getting out the door one day this week which is AMAZING! They are notorious for forgetting to do something making us a few minutes late going out the door. Ky Guy, the 12 yo, even mentioned that he likes that it says "pick up bedroom" because now he has just a little to do everyday and it doesn't get out of control. I have noticed this is working well for the girls too.
Each of these were printed on white card stock and tapped to scrapbook paper that coordinates with the chart in the pantry. Once they were all put together I laminated them so we could use the dry erase pens on them as well. What the kids don't know is that at the end of the week if they have at least all but one thing marked off for each day of the week they will be getting to choose something from a list of goodies that they can have for doing a great job. Each week the list will change. I plan on putting things like 1 hour of Wii time, paint nails with mom, go to ice cream with mom or dad, board games with mom or dad, etc on that list.
And that my friends WORKS FOR ME!
