Morning Glory!
In the hectic mornings before school last year, I got tired of hearing my own voice reminding my child to fix her hair, brush her teeth, or finish getting dressed. This summer, I came up with a song to the tune of "Head, Shoulders, Knees, and Toes". If you don't know the song, you can check it out here:
These are our rewritten lyrics:
Hair, teeth, clothes, and shoes, clothes and shoes.
Hair, teeth, clothes, and shoes, clothes and shoo-ooo-ooo-oos.
Don't forget your backpack and your lunch!
Hair, teeth, clothes, and shoes, clothes and shoes.
So, when I see her in the morning half ready for school, I start singing the song. Or tell her to sing it. So much more pleasant than yelling!
Chore and Homework System Pinned on her to diminish the "I forgots"!
We have tried MANY chore systems that never seemed to work for one reason or another. I came up with a clothespin chore system for my youngest, age 7, who does not work well from a list. It is fairly simple, and inexpensive to begin.
I bought a dry erase board from the "Dollar Spot" in Target and a packet of plain clothespins from the grocery store. I tried a smaller dry erase board first that didn't have enough room for the clothespins to fit around the perimeter. So, make sure you find one that is at least 8.5 X 11". On each clothespin, using different colored permanent markers, I wrote down my daughter's chores and homework. Each day of the week has a different colored end, and an abbreviation for the day. I let her help me with this part.
For example, Monday's pins are all orange, have a big M, and consist of the following-Lunchbox (for empty lunchbox and put away), Math homework, Spelling/Bible, Reading, Downstairs clean (she is to pick up all of her stuff lying around the house).
I keep extra clothespins to replace those that get misplaced. If/when this happens, it will be helpful to have a list of the daily chores taped to the back of the board. I hung the board near our back entry where she hangs her backpack every day. She has already tried to move the board around to different places. But, that's generally how we misplace things because they don't make it back to their home. So, the board stays in one spot. Only the clothespins can move. The rule is to keep them on her shirt, not set them down where she is working.
So, at 4:30, she chooses the clothespins for that day and clips them all to one side of her shirt. As she completes each one, she can move it to the other side of her shirt. When they are all complete, she can dump them in the "complete" bucket. For non-readers, this system could be modified using pictures.
We have also started a reward system. Right now, she is rewarded one quarter each day when all chores and homework are completed with a good attitude and without complaining. When she has accumulated $5, we take a trip to her favorite yogurt place, Berry Cool!
Good luck!
