Faithfulness

I hope you all had a great Memorial Day weekend.  Some men fought long and hard and gave their lives for our freedom.  I am so thankful that we can worship and live in freedom.

Yesterday, we got out and got busy in our garage and sheds, but I recognize that the process will take some time.  So yesterday, Carpenter and I talked about some projects that need to be done.  It's not too much for eight people to do, so the kids and I are going to make the effort to finish these projects this week.  It will actually be in three days.  Carpenter wants to take Friday off from work if possible to get things headed in the direction of our ministry opportunity.

But before we can move and work on this opportunity that has presented itself, things at home need to be shored up.  Organization needs to take place and things need to be taken care of.  Attitudes need to be adjusted and kids need to be prepared to work as a team.

So this week, we have to:
Clean out the old fort and repair the roof so that we can store metal in it for the scrap yard.

Clean out the garden shed, so that we can put the lawn mowers in there with the tiller and other gardening stuff.

Finish cleaning out the garage and the woodshed.  Move the mower and the tiller out of the garage so that we can use the garage for vehicles again.

So I guess I figure we can do one portion each day.  We'll also have to work in the garden faithfully, dentist appointments, a trip to the park with other moms, and babysitting one day this week.  Pool is our incentive - Daddy gave the go-ahead for not one trip on Fridays, but several throughout the week. :) Yay!!!!

So it will be an incentive to get our work done in the morning.

Keep pressing on.
Steph

Age appropriate chores - junior high and high school

We've reached an age where our kids can be a huge help to us.  In fact, they can almost work as hard we do.  You should teach them new things, but you won't need to do one-on-one as much as with the little ones.  Please don't think that they don't need to do things with us anymore, you will need to find other ways to hang out with them.

Inspection is key when you have teens.  You need to train them to do their best at a job.   They can mow the lawn, do yard work, clean bathrooms, do laundry, clean thier rooms (yes, I do think they should keep their rooms clean) and a myriad of other jobs.

I have a home business and mine enjoy some of the extra things that I can find for them to do.

Help them learn to enjoy doing a good job.

Keep pressing on and enjoy your family this weekend.
Steph

Age appropriate chores - elementary age

Let's think about elementary ages today.  Whether you are homeschooling or sending your kids to a school, your children should still have chores.  They should be getting more independent.   But they will still need to be checked and inspected.  Continue to have a plan for checking up on their chores.  Reward occasionally, but not always.

There should still be a chore or two that they are still learning and that they get to learn with their parent.  The independent chores are still important, but they still love being with you and learning from you.  Use this opportunity to be with them and enjoy spending time together.

• Dishes - Our children continue to learn to dry and as they get taller, they can put away more dishes.  They also around can gradually learn to sweep, clear and wash dishes.  Just let them wash on a day when there are only a few or let them start the washing with the cups, and then you can finish up for them.
• Baking cookies - At this age, they can learn how to measure and make cookies.  Watch them and work with them and slowly hand over the whole job to them.  My oldest daughter (just finishing 5th grade) made some fabulous peanut buttter cookies the other day.  And don't forget cleaning up, see Dishes.
• Laundry - They can learn how to measure the soap and start a load, and how to switch loads over.
• Making beds - Somewhere in this age range, they shouldn't need you to do it with them anymore.
• Dirty laundry - This should be a habit now, but I've found it still needs inspection on a regular basis.
• Pick up toys - The habit should be well learned by now, but they lose the focus easily and get out too many things.  When this happens, they feel frustrated when clean-up time comes.
• Dusting - During this age they should be able to do this well, by the time they are done with elementary

Summer is a great time to learn something new.  Take each child and spend just five to ten minutes each day with them teaching them one new chore.  Don't change the chores around, just let them learn that one new chore until they can do it all by themselves.  The elementary children can learn more about laundry, or cleaning the bathroom, or gardening.  These children have so much potential that it's tempting to work right along with us all day.  They can do a lot, but be careful not to overload them.

Keep pressing on,
Steph

Age appropriate chores - 4's and 5's

Let's think about 4 and 5 year olds today.  Those little ones that are still learning about the world, maybe they are in preschool, or maybe they are learning the things that are needed at home.  They are older now, and therefore, some of these things they could do on their own, independently.  But they will still need to be checked and inspected.

I think that if you are inspecting their chores and letting them do some of them alone, find a way to reward them on a regular basis for a job well-done.  We have to remember their age still, so we must think of what a job well-done for a four or five year old is.

There should still be a chore or two that they are still learning and that they get to learn with their parent.  The independent chores are still important, but they still love being with you and learning from you.  Use this opportunity to be with them and enjoy spending time together.

• Dishes - They can bring their plates and things from the table.  They can also wipe the table off with a bit of help.  They can dry a few things as well.   But I would pick between clearing and drying and not have them do both at each meal, unless they absolutely want to.  Now is the time to teach them what "dry" looks like, or you'll have them rushing and have dripping plates and cups. In our house, children dry a certain number of dishes according to their ages - sometimes we say "Your age times 3" or "times 2" depending on the number of dishes.
• Baking cookies - stirring, taste-testing, etc.  And then cleaning up, see Dishes.
• Laundry - They can learn to sort laundry.  But will need much supervision.
• Making beds - they can help put the stuffed animals neatly on the bed after you have helped them pull up the cover - and at some point during this time depending on the height of their bed they will be able to handle the sheet and blanket on their own, even if it means switching sides of the bed.  
• Dirty laundry - when they take off their clothes, they can learn to put their clothes into the basket. These things should already be a habit, but now they can learn to carry their basket to the laundry area.
• Pick up toys - they even are quick to pick up how they are sorted.  A friend has her toys in bins and when I was over there the two and three year olds were showing me which bins which toys go in. Now they should be learning that they can get out new things, if they put away the others.
• Dusting - they won't get all the corners, but they can hold a dustrag while you are dusting. 

Keep your child involved and remember training is a big part of your day when you have a toddler.  It's easier to put them in front of the TV, but it's not training them a lot.  They aren't learning how to interact, or how to handle frustrating situations.  These things are good for them.  As moms, we want to take the frustration out of their day, but it's not healthy for them.

Summer is a great time to learn something new.  Take each child and spend just five to ten minutes each day with them teaching them one new chore.  Don't change the chores around, just let them learn that one new chore until they can do it all by themselves.  With a preschooler, you would have to pick a chore that they would be capable of alone.  I'm not thinking of laundry or washing dishes.  But making the bed and picking up toys should be getting easier for them.

Keep pressing on,
Steph

Age appropriate chores - 2's and 3's

In our Mom's group, we started talking about age appropriate chores.  So this week I thought I would share my lists of chores and what is age appropriate.

Some things we need to remember about 2's and 3's, and continue to remember as they grow up, are they need help.  They need a teacher.  So while these are age appropriate, I would probably always say that you can't just have them do them on their own.  They should be working alongside you, not alone.

It's more than just that they are still learning to focus.  It's a pleasure for them to work with their mommy/daddy at this time.  They love being big and helping, but it's not as much fun, if they are being big and helping on their own, while Mom is doing other things.

So let them help while you are doing these things:

• Dishes - mine stood on a chair and played in the rinse water and "rinsed" while I washed.  The bigger ones were the dryers.  Did I really need a rinser?  No.  In fact, the "rinser" probably made more work for me at the sink.  But he wasn't off being naughty and so maybe it was less work to have him with me.
• Baking cookies - stirring, taste-testing, etc.  And then cleaning up, see Dishes.
• Laundry - they can help remove clothes from the dryer.  Yes, you will have to help them learn to be careful of buttons and zippers.  Pour the soap in when you start the washer.  They probably won't be able to measure it yet.
• Making beds - they can help put the stuffed animals neatly on the bed after you have helped them pull up the covers
• Dirty laundry - when they take off their clothes, they can learn to put their clothes into the basket.
• Pick up toys - they even are quick to pick up how they are sorted.  A friend has her toys in bins and when I was over there the two and three year olds were showing me which bins which toys go in. 
• Dusting - they won't get all the corners, but they can hold a dustrag while you are dusting. 

Keep your child involved and remember training is a big part of your day when you have a toddler.  It's easier to put them in front of the TV, but it's not training them a lot.  They aren't learning how to interact, or how to handle frustrating situations.  These things are good for them.  As moms, we want to take the frustration out of their day, but it's not healthy for them.

Summer is a great time to learn something new.  Take each child and spend just five to ten minutes each day with them teaching them one new chore.  Don't change the chores around, just let them learn that one new chore until they can do it all by themselves.  With a toddler, you would have to pick a chore that they would be capable of alone.  I'm not thinking of making beds, or dusting, or washing dishes.  But getting the clothes out of the dryer and pushing the basket into the living room to fold, that's fun when the laundry basket is a car and you're driving it to the store.  

Keep pressing on,

Steph

Basement and outside plans.

Our family really would like to have the majority of the cleaning done before Saturday.  Not that nothing is done on Saturday, but we would rather just have a quick pick-up, and a load or two of laundry so that we can do other things together.

Other things we don't want to do on Saturdays, especially once summer starts - mow the lawn, gardening (if possible), clean the basement, clean up the sheds.

So I've added them to my schedule throughout the week.  My boys will mow the lawn and we'll plan on them doing that Thursday so that if it rains that day we can do it Friday.

Below are my lists of the things that I need to do before I start other projects.

Daily Morning To-Do List

• Get dressed to shoes
• Brush teeth
• Make bed
• Clean room 
• Dishes
• Laundry
• Make bread
• FLYLady
• Clean bathrooms
• Supper started
• Garden
• Devotions
• Scripture Memory

Daily Afternoon To-Do List

• Piano
• Garden
• Pick up in the Living Room, Piano room and hallway
• Put laundry away
• Homework - not for long!!!!! 
• Collect Eggs

Weekly To-Do List

·         Monday – Focus – Bathroom

o   Mop kitchen and dining room

o   Vacuum downstairs

o   Scrub bathroom floors

o   Bedrooms – under beds

·         Tuesday – Focus – Bedroom

o   Clean windows

o   Clean basement

o   Change bedding

o   Organize clothes

o   Bedrooms – straighten dressers

·         Wednesday – Focus – Kitchen

o   Mop kitchen and dining room

o   Vacuum downstairs

o   Wipe kitchen counters

o   Bedroom – clean closets

·         Thursday – Focus – Grocery Shopping

o   Dust living room and piano room

o   Organize Tupperware

o   Organize pantry

o   Make shopping list

o   Bedroom – Desks

Mowing the lawn

·         Friday – Focus – Floors

o   Vacuum upstairs

o   Sweep and mop rooms upstairs

o   Mop kitchen and dining room

o   Vacuum downstairs

Those are the things that we are doing in our house.   As I've said before, our house will look different from yours.  

Keep pressing on,

Steph

Downstairs plan

After I figured out what things should look like upstairs, I started on the main level.  Not that things look spotless upstairs, I still need to work on doing inspections, but they are being maintained.  Hopefully, I won't have huge surprise laundry days anymore.

We have a room by the front door that we call the piano room.  It's also my work room, where I keep all the bags from my business and business supplies.  We have a beautiful piano in there that isn't tuned and I was told that if it had sentimental value it might be worth fixing up.  So my idea is to take it apart and make a desk out of it.  Something that is for my business. 

All that description to say that I start there, but don't forget the stairs, they need to be swept/vacuumed about three times a week with our traffic.  Daily pick-ups are necessary, dusting and floors weekly.  Then I move on to living room, dining room, kitchen and bathrooms. 

I make a list of what needs done daily - a quick once over in the bathrooms, sweeping in the kitchen and dining room; and what needs to be done 3 times a week - floors on the main level; and what needs to be done weekly, dusting etc.

When this list is divided eight ways, we conquer it pretty well.  It may be discouraging if you are the mom of little ones.  I guess I would say you can only do your best.  Follow FLYLady, she gives you just a few steps per day.  Give your child a cloth on dusting day and don't worry about getting every speck.  Or find little ways to have them help.  If they are helping you, they aren't making bigger messes, maybe.

Or just pick one room to clean a day.  You won't get everything done in a week, but it doesn't matter.  You may not be able to wash sheets every week or something may get behind.  The idea is not perfection, but progress.  If all you are doing is maintaining that is enough.  If you go backward for awhile, but you are doing your best, that is enough.  At some point things will move forward, just keep being faithful. 

We are cleaning for an audience of One (God) - not the world, not how our mothers did it.  Do you realize that if we remember how our mothers did it, we probably were old enough that we were helping or at least not making as many messes?  What God thinks matters more than what anyone else thinks?  And if He is pleased with you, then the world can think what they like? 

I am a people pleaser.  I love it when people are happy with me.  But I need to change that. 

"Your name is the only name that matters to me,  the only One whose favor I seek."

Have you heard that song?  It's one that stands out to me.

Keep pressing on,
Steph