David said if he did this, people would say......

David told me that if he did this (read on) that people would call him anal........and you may say the same about me. But, personally, I hope its a stroke of genius.

So Matt stayed home from school last Friday because of an outbreak of Fifth Disease. Nothing you can do about it, just have to ride it out. So he was home all day Friday, all day Saturday, and after church - all day Sunday. And Mom was going NUTS! It has been a while since he was home all day with nothing constructive to do (and he was itchy!). And I started thinking, "I've got all summer with him in just one more week, and I REALLY want to love my child well! What are we gonna do?!"

So Monday he went back to school, and Mommy sat down and did some serious thinking and research. I decided we needed some sort of daily schedule to get us through this. I was also thinking its time he had some specific everyday (simple) chores to do. I read several Mom blogs about summer schedules, looked up age appropriate chores, and started writing down what I thought would be a good plan. (And I hope it is!)

Here's what Mommy's schedule looks like:

Time	Ben	Matt	Janae
9:00	Eat	Eat Breakfast	Feed Ben
9:30	Play	Morning Chores	Play with Ben
10:00	Play	Outside Activity	Outside Activity
10:30	Nap	Outside Activity	Outside Activity
11:00	Nap	Independent Play	SC Bookkeeping
11:30	Nap	Independent Play	SC Bookkeeping
12:00	Nap	TV Time	SC Bookkeeping
12:30	Nap	Lunch	Lunch
1:00	Eat	Computer Time	Feed Ben
1:30	Play	Afternoon chores	Afternoon Chores
2:00	Play	Play with Mommy and Ben	Play with Ben and Matt
2:30	Nap	Nap	Prep for Dinner/ Other
3:00	Nap	Nap	SC Bookkeeping/ Other
3:30	Nap	Nap	SC Bookkeeping/ Other
4:00	Nap	Snack/ Learning Time	Snack/ Learning Time
4:30	Nap	Learning Time	Learning Time
5:00	Eat	Help w/ Dinner	Prep Dinner
5:30	Play	Dinner	Dinner
6:00	Play	Evening Chores	Clean Up Dinner
6:30	Family Time	Bath/Family Time	Family Time
7:00	Bedtime	Family Time	Family Time
7:30	Bed	Family Time	Family Time
8:00	Bed	Bedtime	Time with David
8:30	Bed	Bed	Time with David
9:00	Eat	Bed	Feed Ben

(SC = Sport Clips)

Here are Matt's chores:

Morning Chores – clear table, get dressed, put away PJs, make bed, brush teeth, start laundry days stuff

Afternoon Chores – clear table, pickup toys, day specific stuff

Evening Chores – clear table, wipe table and cabinets, unload dishwasher, check Cairo’s food and water, pick up house, and finish laundry day stuff

Here are the "Day Specific" chores:

Rest Day - Sunday

Cleaning Day 1 – Monday

Dust

Mop

Vacuum

Cleaning Day 2 – Tuesday

Wipe counters throughout (Kitchen and Bathrooms)

Scrub toilets

Ben/Towels/Sheets Day - Wednesday

Bring laundry to laundry room

Sort laundry

Start loads

Transfer loads

Put away dry clothes/towels/remake beds

Matt/Mommy/Daddy Day – Thursday

Bring laundry to laundry room

Sort laundry

Start loads

Transfer loads

Put away dry clothes

Trash Day – Friday

Empty all trash from house

Take all trash to dumpster

Yard Day – Saturday

Pick up all yard toys

Check the garden for weeds

So I got all that ironed out. And then I thought, "This is great, but Matt can't read yet.....so I'm gonna have to make him a picture chart." So, I spent a lot of time making him a picture chart. I'd love to post it, but it won't bring up the little pics I added..... :( So, if you want to see Matt's chart and the Chore Chart with pics, I'll have to email them to you.

If this works, I'm gonna be so thrilled!!!! Here's to loving my children all summer long!