Saturday, I went to check on a sale at the education store in my town. They were doing 50% off everything in the store except new furniture. I could spend all of my days in that store. I racked up on lots of kids' writing paper, early readers, Caldecott Winner readers, skill books like Ad Libs with letter blends, a scale (that we desperately needed LAST week), and a spanking new microscope that was just $25! I can't wait to break into the yogurt just for a glimpse at bacteria. I also came across some door hangers for $0.25 and the chore craft popped into my head.
That night, I decided to do it. I was going to make Teagan and Neely a couple of door hanger chore lists. My track record isn't very great when it comes to the kids doing chores. It's more work for me to stay on them all day for one messy room.
But, thanks to my night-owliness and a case of the boredom bug, I broke out the paint and started painting. Since I have trouble going to bed at a decent hour (I am sure my husband must think I'm part vampire), I decided to go to Wal-Mart during the wee hours of the morning and get the other supplies I needed to complete it before the girls woke up.
Surprisingly, the girls liked them and did all their chores today. Of course, I only gave them chores they usually do like brushing teeth, taking a shower, making bed, practicing piano, etc. I made more clothespins with real chores on them, but I'll wait and add them to the mix later this week. I figured they'd like a chore chart they could mess with. After all, they like to mess with everything else.
Now, I give them a couple of weeks before (1) they're tired of it, or (2) they lose the clothes pins.
When I was going through the scrapbook stickers, I came across some awesomely cute school bus stickers. Luckily, these girls will NEVER get on a bus unless I die and they have no choice, but I had to get them. They were only a buck. And, they gave me another idea. We aren't as organized as we need to be around here. I thought a door hanger would also make a good checklist for a "Subjects Completed" kind of thing. I could make it their way of keeping up with what they've done and what they have left when they work more independently.....and, maybe, it will encourage them to work independently just so they can mess with the hanger.
So here they are.