chores Archives - Forgetful Momma

Balancing it all as a Homeschool Mom

*This post contains affiliate links, see my disclosure policy for more information.*

A Homeschool Mom Needs to Plan

I love my Happy Planner, it isn’t full of pretty stickers, but full of things that I hope to accomplish each day from blogging, to household chores for myself, to appointments or fun that I want to do with my family. I have a Happy Planner big enough that I use it to keep track of all that stuff PLUS our homeschool plans, like what book and what chapter in the book we’ll be reading, etc. I even write down our weekly, repetitive things like “story time” at our local library. It’s all in one spot for me to look at with a quick glance.

Chores

I have to have my family helping out around the house or nothing would ever get done. I am one person, I cannot do everything alone. Hubby works all day so he can’t be here to help as much, though he is great at throwing together a supper when I just don’t feel like cooking.

Each of my kids have chores that they do everyday to help out:

unloading and reloading the dishwasher

taking the dogs out

setting and clearing the table

keeping their rooms tidy

keeping toys out of the living room

Homeschool Mom Needs to Wake Up Early

I get up before everyone else in our house, well, maybe not before our pup, he wakes up with my alarm too. I take this time to make and drink coffee, exercise, and just wake up in general. Hubby often comments on the weekends how cranky I am when I first get up… you know when the kids are getting up, and everyone is talking to me and demanding things. Just let Momma wake up!

Homeschooling

Picking a homeschool curriculum that is open and go, and easy to use. I think this is the best thing that I have done as a homeschool mom. Bookshark is open and go, no long hours of planning and trying to figure out what we’ll be doing each day.

No matter what curriculum you choose to use, make use to plan ahead a little so that you aren’t getting frustrated and searching and trying to figure out what you are going to be doing each morning.

Try to keep your homeschool things together in one space so you aren’t searching all over you home for books, pencils, etc. We have pencils with our craft stuff but also keep pencils with our homeschooling things. Pencils and erasers disappear quickly so having backups helps.

Self Care

It doesn’t matter if your self care is exercising, going out for coffee alone or with friends, or hopping into a bubble bath. You need to remember to take care of yourself. That’s why I am up at least an hour and a half before everyone else here. I use that time for me, to exercise and to drink my coffee in peace.

We have recently implemented a chores & allowance system in our house. Our girls have been doing chores for a little while but we hadn’t started the allowance mainly because we went sure what or how we were going to do it. But we have now figured out our chores & allowance for our children.

Chores & Allowance for Children

*This post contains affiliate links, please see my disclosure policy for more information.*

We decided on an allowance cap: $5 a week. My girls earn gems for their chores at $0.25 each. They have to earn their gems, I’m not forking over my budgeted money for no reason.

We are using candle holders to hold their gems, with scrapbook stickers for their names. The white retro milk bottle is where I have their gems stored. I bought that bottle because I love the look of with no idea what I was going to do with it.

The key here for you to remember is: this is how much my kids get, you decide what works for your family.

Austin’s chores: vacuum, clear the table, feed the dog in the morning.

Brookland’s chores are: feed the kittens, feed the dog in the evening, and clear the table.

But here’s the thing with their chores. I’m not including things that they are expected to do anyways for themselves such as clean their room, fold and put their laundry away, and such. Those are things they have to do. Its for them, so I’m not giving out gems for them.

What happens with their allowance?

Piggy bank. After a month, we’ll count it, and then they can choose to save half still in their piggy banks or spend it. The other half goes in their bank accounts to save.

I love that not only are they helping out around the house, but I also really like what they are learning. What they are learning for doing chores? They are steadily build a strong work ethic, and developing the basic life skills. Kids doing chores helps them to feel contributing members of the family household. Research indicates that those children who do have a set of chores have higher self-esteem, are more responsible, and are better able to deal with frustration and delay gratification, all of which contribute to greater success in school.

The best part of them earning an allowance and how we are doing it, is what they’re learning from getting an allowance, like how to save money and carefully spend their money. They are learning about bank interest – yes at 5 and 7 years old, when their bank statements come in the mail they open it and we talk about what is happening with their money sitting in the bank.

Printable Checklist

I made this printable for my kids. It saves me from asking “Did you clean here? Did you clean there?” I laminated it, so they can grab a dry erase marker and check off things they clean. I did call it “Mom Clean” because that is what I ask my kids. “Is it Mom clean?”