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Last night’s talk on habits seemed to go over very well. I was astonished that we had forty moms in attendance! We set up chairs and blankets in my backyard. Several of you have asked for a write-up of the talk, so I’ll work on that during the week. Thanks so much for your interest!

Playing catchup tonight, so this will be another quick one. I’ve been making my way through Mystie Winckler’s Simplified Organization eCourse (affiliate link, and I think the “backtoschool” discount code still works), and I really enjoyed her video on Google Calendar. Same thing happened with gCal as happened with Evernote when I read Mystie’s Paperless Home Organization book: in both cases I thought I was already using the platform in question in a fairly savvy manner, but Mystie taught me some tricks I didn’t know. In the case of Google Calendar (my lifeline for years now), I already had multiple calendars set up that I toggled on and off for various views: Appointments, Kid Activities (including, this summer, Jane’s work schedule; also includes family birthdays), and a Deadlines calendar I share with Scott. But now I’ve added:

• a Household calendar for tracking my daily chores, the ones assigned to specific days of the week a la Flylady;

• a Readalouds calendar (a brainstorm that came to me after Mystie’s video; I’ve tried many ways of logging our numerous picture book readalouds through the week and I always wind up dropping the ball; we’ll see if this one works );

• and a very simple Zones calendar that displays the Flylady zone of the week. I’ve been using Flylady’s schedule, modified, on and off for some fifteen years now! When I follow it, the housework flows so much more smoothly. Until now I never thought of having a gCal dedicated solely to announcing the week’s zone.

The Household calendar has already proven its merits. I created it over the weekend and made recurring entries (not pegged to a specific time, so they appear in bands of color) for the rotating daily chores. Then, for extra tasks such as the ones associated with hosting a houseful of moms, I assigned times (somewhat arbitrary, but I did find it kept me progressing through the tasks through the day) so that those would show up without the orange background.

I’ve never tried anything like this before—listing the individual chores necessary for a non-routine event—and it worked amazingly well for me. I was able to work through the list in a pretty calm manner, not the frazzled frenzy that is my usual state when preparing for company.

I didn’t put our regular morning/afternoon/evening chores on this calendar because those are routine now, for the kids and me. This is only for my jobs that come around weekly or less often.

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I got carried away there and wrote more than I meant to. I’m thinking about adding yet another gCal for our High Tide studies. I have it marked out in colorful chalk and propped on the mantel where I can see it from my favorite chair, but I think I might enjoy seeing it laid out this way too.

This morning we returned to our (still new) schedule. We’re having a good time with Latin, brushing up on what we learned last go-round. For some reason Latin brings out the merry in all of us. Rose and Bean and I are back to our Romantic poets, so you know I’m in heaven. We’re reading Lear aloud—Rilla is doing a bang-up job as Cordelia—and today (at long last) Rose and I started Paradise Lost. Beanie and I, meanwhile, are spending a few weeks in the company of my beloved Mr. Twain. She’s knee-deep in Connecticut Yankee at the moment. I need to catch up to her.

Obviously we’re going heavy on Lit at the moment. There are other things afoot, of course. Including a whole lot of D&D character-building among the girls. For Rose’s birthday last week, I gave her a new adventure module with a promise to DM for them. In a momentous gesture, Rilla has been invited by her big sisters to join the game. This necessitated a lot of poring over manuals to find the perfect combination of character race and class. I believe she settled upon half-elf paladin. Backstory in progress. I think Rose may enjoy creating characters and fleshing them out even more than playing the game. A girl after my own heart.

In honor of Earth Day, I am looking at books that address an area of the world where children can actually have an impact on the environment: 
Their Room. 

How to Clean Your Room in 10 Easy Steps by Jennifer LaRue Huget, illustrations by Edward Koren. Schwartz&Wade, 2010  (review copy provided by the publisher)

Edward Koren is the perfect choice to illustrate this 'how-to' book.  His sketchy, disheveled style fits the untidy girl in this story. She carefully enumerates the 10 steps "guaranteed to (pretty much) please Mom."  The first step  is to always wait until your mother uses all three of your names before starting to work.  The second step is to pull everything out of the closet and drawers and off the shelves.  She continues through the steps, unloading some of the mess on her little sister, dealing with dust bunnies, and stowing left-over pizza and moldy cups of milk. Huget's book will make parents shudder and children nod, knowingly. Grownups will recall the evasion techniques from their own childhood but sympathize with the screaming mother. Excellent.

Why Do I Have to Make My Bed?: or, A History of Messy Rooms by Wade Bradford, illustrations by Johanna van der Sterre, Tricycle, 2011 (review copy provided by the publisher)

The age old question, "why do I have to make my bed? is addressed by one smart mother the same way the question has been answered since pre-historic times.  In answering her son's question, his mother reviews the kinds of chores assigned to previous generations of children.  A summery of the kinds of chores performed by kids,  by era and century, is included. In the end, there is just one reason for doing what parents ask.  Bradford delivers the line nicely.

I am no domestic goddess. In fact, I am nearly the opposite, as you can read about here.*  So in my latest efforts to lift the weight of housework off my shoulders and onto the not-so-willing shoulders of the rest of my family, I've been reading this book called Chores Without Wars.  The book contends that I am the coach and can get the whole family working together as a TEAM. Instead of, you know, me being the chef and maid. After I read the book--and my 8-year-old read it to make sure he agreed with the strategies--we gave it a try. This is the end of week one. 

At the book's suggestion, we had a family meeting. Where I said stuff like, "Which would you rather do: pick chores from a hat or I say all the chores and you pick which ones you want to do?" To which, I heard:

"Is no chores an option?"
"I'm too tired to do chores."
And perhaps the most honest, "I DON'T WANNA DO CLEANING!!!!"

After a rousing pep talk, where I said motivating things like, "The family that works together also gets to enjoy rewards together!" we agreed to:

1 hour of family clean-up on the weekend where we put stuff back where it goes
Little Guy clears the table with help and makes his bed without help
Big Guy sets the table and makes his bed

Also, the book suggested allowance not tied to chores. The reasoning--allowance is an opportunity to teach about money management. For those who don't do chores, there are natural consequences. For instance, if you don't set the table, dinner won't be served. 

So at the end of week one, we had one very productive hour of family clean-up. Setting the table and clearing the table were done with lots of complaining. Beds were made half the time.

Everyone was happy on pay day.

So, anyone tried these family methods for getting housework done? What works in your family? PLEASE tell me something works!



*Names have been changed to protect the not-so-innocent

Take out the Trash: Ugh.  The dumpsters are stinky and you’re busy.  Pawn that chore off on a young, gullible sibling.

Mom:  Sweety, would you please take out the trash for Mommy?

You: Aw, man, I’m watching cartoons!

Mom:  You can do it during the commercial break.

You: fine…. (sneak over to sister’s room) Hey, sis, Mom says you have to take out the trash.

Make sure they do a good job, or you’ll get blamed when this happens…

Unload the Dishwasher:  Tedious.  Why not just leave them in the washer where they are easier to grab?   Pay a sibling imaginary money to do it for you.

You: Hey, Johnny, I’ll pay you 14 Mega-Bucks to unload the dishwasher.

Johnny:  What’s a Mega-Buck?

You:  You don’t know what a Mega-Buck is?  Man, you are a baby.  Mega-Buck’s are for older, cool kids.

Johnny:  I’m not a baby.  What’s a Mega-Buck for?

You: Everything, rocket ship rides, candy, pet dragons…

Johnny:  OK, I’ll do it!

(Later when Johnny asks to redeem his Mega-Bucks, tell him Dragon Eggs cost 18,000,000 Mega-Bucks)

Sweep/Vacuum the Floor:  Why should you clean the floor?  It’s not like you have to eat off it!  Make sure to get the big noticeable stuff, but leave the rest.  If Mom doesn’t notice, great.  If she does notice, doing this enough may convince her that you are terrible at it and she won’t ask you again. 

WARNING!  The DO-THINGS-SO-BAD-THEY-STOP-ASKING strategy is a gamble that may result in you having to do it over.

Clean Your Room:  It’s your room, you should get to keep it how you like it, Messy.

First, insist that you have a system and know precicely where everything is and cleaning would result in you never finding your homework and thus failing Math and never getting into college.  If that doesn’t work, make your bed and shove everything on the floor into your closet/hamper.  If possible, block the closet with a fragile and extremely awkward school diorama or heavy dresser to prevent Mom from discovering its contents.

Mow the Lawn:  It’s hot out and it just grows back.  Luckily for you, the boys at MJM Books have possibly THE most experience in shirking this particular task.  

Strategy One:  Hide the Gas/Break the Mower. 

Strategy Two:  Stall. Promise to do it tomorrow because the weatherman says it will be cooler.  Say you twisted your ankle.  Anything.  The goal is to let the lawn get so bad that it becomes a lost cause and a family’s secret shame like so…

Strategy Three: Employ dishwashing or trash disposing strategies on different, unsuspecting siblings (hopefully, you have a large family).
…sigh…

Final Option: Do it, but raise the wheels up high and leave the bag off.

You’re welcome.   We’re here to help.

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