A schedule.
I got this idea from growing up at Bible Camp. Every time we had a camp they gave us a schedule for the week. Every minute of our day from Rise & Shine to Bedtime was on that thing. And it worked fabulously. My thoughts are - if it Works for the classroom & it Works for camp - maybe it will at least Help us!
It starts with things like
6:15 Wake up, eat cereal, shower
7:00 - Austin feed guinea pigs, Xav feed dogs
And further down is things like
3pm-4pm snack & playtime
4pm-5pm homework
5pm - 5:30pm dinner
5:30pm-6pm dishes - Mommy empties the dishwasher, Xav rinses, Austin loads the dishwasher (alternating who does what with each meal)
On Saturdays we mix things up with Chore Morning that has more advanced things like dusting, vacuuming and cleaning the animal cages.
I have slight OCD issues with my house having to be picked up at almost all times. I can't just walk by something that isn't put back - I have to put it there. It's been hard for me to stick to my guns through the fights and make the kids do it. Since I got divorced when the kids were 5 & 1.5, when they hit the "helping" stage - I was overwhelmed single mother who worked and was one 45 hrs a week while the grandparents help parents & became lazy with teaching the kids to help...... i'm beginning to ramble.....the point is I never really enforced chorces for them. Butch wants to see if I can "grow a pair" and enforce this.... We'll see... If I can than it will help...