Summer Jobs

I'm back (and I'll be backdating my posts). We had to send in our computer for repairs. After we got it back, I've just been lazy. My kids have sucked my energy this summer!

Speaking of no energy - am I the only mom who feels like having your kids do jobs is about five times as much work for mom as it is for kids? Geesh! I have my kids do jobs because I know they need to learn how to work and, quite honestly, the clean-up fairy does not visit our house very often. Gavin, Enoch and Kate need to learn to clean up after themselves. But, good grief, it takes time to teach your kids to clean.
I've tried many different incentive programs (bribing), sticker charts, yelling, you name it, I've tried it. I think I have finally hit upon something that works for us.
Gavin does not have daily jobs, but weekly jobs. It was just too much arguing, fighting to have to check Gavin's jobs everyday. Now he is in charge of his own jobs and he does them when he would like. He can do them all Monday morning, do them throughout the week, or wait until the last minute to finish them up. They must be done by Thursday night or he owes us $1 a job and he must do the unfinished jobs on Friday. It has worked well for both Mom and Gavin.
Enoch and Kate have daily jobs. I wish I could remember what blog I copied this idea from, but I can't. Enoch and Kate picked their favorite color and marked the top of jumbo Popsicle sticks. Their jobs are written on the sticks.
Enoch's jobs include:
1. get dressed and sunscreened (yes, putting on sunscreen is a job at our house),
2. clean room,
3. clean bathroom (wiping down toilet with Clorox wipe),
4. job jar (a random mix of jobs like clean Kate's door or wipe down baseboards in hallway),
5. weeding and
6. reading.

Kate's jobs include:
1. get dressed and sunscreened,
2. clean room,
3. put away clean silverware from dishwasher,
4. reading.

It takes a good long while to complete jobs every morning. If the kids would just do them they could be done in 20 minutes, but you know how it goes. When they are done with a certain job, they turn that stick upside down. We know all our jobs are done when there is not colored sticks left.
Kate and Enoch's favorite job is definitely reading. We read the Book of Mormon scripture reader together, then Enoch reads to me from one of his early reader books and then we read a chapter from a Magic Treehouse or Magic School Bus book. We end with repeating the Pledge of Allegiance.
After our reading we do some sort of activity that goes along with what we read. The first book we read was a Magic Treehouse book about Castles. We did different activities like building a Lego castle, playing games online about Medieval life, playing with Gavin's trebuchet, making a Medieval tart (the kids really liked it) and learning about different castle jobs during Medieval times. Enoch especially like learning about how the name Fowler came from the person who took care of the King's hunting falcons and hawks.
To celebrate Independence Day, we read the Magic Treehouse book about the Revolutionary War. We did activities like making crepe paper flags (where you wrap a square of crepe paper around the eraser of a pencil and glue it to the page), learning flag etiquette, making red, white and blue chocolate dipped strawberries. We talked a lot about the flag and pledge and I hope my kids caught some of it!
We are having a lot of fun with these activities and I hope the fun balances out the jobs! I have to keep telling myself that someday all of this will pay off, but until then, it's still a work in progress!