Molly Review: Everyday Homemaking; The Everyday Family Chore System

Vendor Name:  Everyday Homemaking

Vendor Contact:   Contact Page

Name of Product:   The Everyday Family Chore System

Price:  e-book: $17.99; printed coil bound: $19.99

Age/Grade Range:  family

I’m excited to be bringing you the first review as part of the Molly Crew!  Those of us on the Crew were given our choice of two books and I chose the Everyday Family Chore System by Vicki Bentley.  This book while short, at just 88 pages, is big on ideas and how to get your children involved in helping out around the house and learning vital life skills for when they fly the coop.

That being said – I was never given chores as a child and I’ve somewhat kept that going with my children, we just didn’t assign them chores.  We tried it once but we (my husband and I) got into the mindset that it’s just easier (and faster) to do it ourselves and so we’d do it.  Lately, though as they’ve gotten older I’ve tried to make them do more – but it’s usually met with grunts of disapproval and complaining rather than loving obedience.  As I’ve said this is how it went in my family growing up so I guess part of me just expected the same from my children and it doesn’t have to be that way – so that’s why I requested the Everyday Family Chore System so that maybe, just maybe I could get my children to delightfully pitch in and help around the house.

I really enjoyed the “Laying a Foundation”  which talks to the parent in how to setting up successful child training in regards to training them in the home – such as tying strings to their hearts, setting up house rules and others.  Part two discusses how to implement and begin the plan, including a life skills checklist.  I’m sad to say that some of things she has outlined are things I’ve been doing for my children for a long time, but it gives me a guide to go by as I set up our chore system, even Vicki tells you not to use this as a set-in-stone guide but a measuring stick.  After that you decide what are the chores that are most important – for my family that means the children keep their rooms tidy, they clean up after themselves after meals, help in washing and/or drying the dishes, sweeping the floors and putting dirty clothes in the hamper.

The above may not sound like a lot but hey, we’re just getting started and I don’t have a kitchen table to set or a dishwasher that needs loading and unloading (was that a gasp I heard??).  The idea of giving the children a weekly chore or two and a daily chore or two was right up my alley – each week it changes and we move the chores up (of course I still base it on age appropriateness – my 6 year old son would not get the dishes completely dry so he gets to dry the silverware).  As you continue to read you’ll realize there are more chores that you can delegate, like I never actually considered the feeding of our dogs (our oldest has to care for her guinea pig) something that I should delegate among the children!

Once you’ve determined how or what duties are going to be assigned to each child it’s time to set up your chore center.  I’m still tweaking mine and still figuring out what works best, etc.  Vicky gives six ideas in how to implement the chore system and each will work well regardless of family although some may work better for a larger house with more space versus a small house, like mine with less space.  She also takes into account learning styles.  There are lots of charts, such as sample schedules, what is a tidy room?, bathroom cleaning list, and more to help guide you (and your children) in getting things done the way they need to be done – but remember they won’t be done exactly like you want it unless you take the time to teach them.

She also discusses a reward system – which I like – but we haven’t implemented at this time because 1) it’s not in the budget and 2) I feel the children should contribute to the house regardless of reward.  Maybe in the next few months as we continue with it and the children become more obedient and joyful in their chores we’ll figure out a reward system.  At the end are the how to do it cards – this explains to the child how to do something, like how to set a table and these can be altered (not in the document itself but the use of white out could help in altering the card) to fit how your family completes these tasks or omit them all together if need be.  I suggest laminating the cards – if you have a laminating machine or using some sort of protective covering to make sure the cards last a long time.

This is a wonderful resource, and Vicky even gives you more resources if you want them, for more ideas – not that I think anyone will need them after reading this.  I even learned some things – and I hope as I continue using the system that my children will be more independent and more joyful in helping around the house that they too inhabit.  If you’d like to see sample pages before buying you can visit here and click on preview under the book cover.  If you’d like to read what other homeschool parents thought you can head over to the Schoolhouse Review Crew.

**Disclaimer:  As a member of the Schoolhouse Review Crew, I received this product, at no cost to me, in exchange for my honest review. All opinions are mine.

---

Comments are closed.