REORGANIZING THE FAMILY AFTER A LONG WINTER
www.ariannesjoy.blogspot.com
I don't know about you, but after a long winter our whole family seems to be a little out of whack!
We live in New England and although I love the seasons here...winter can seem very long.
You find yourself stuck in the house a lot, trying to avoid the slippery roads outside.
Our family enjoys our cozy downtime, but when you do it too often...you start slacking on the regular stuff. We have so much fun curling up with a book or playing with our electronics, we start to forget about the chores, exercise and other things that need to get done.
We can always tell when winter is coming to an end, because the kids are getting bored...chores went on the back burner...the invasion of each other's space starts to happen. You find yourself feeling like a traffic director...'Okay, you go that way and you go this way'. This is when I know I need to buckle down and get the family REORGANIZED!
I believe that giving the kids chores and exercises helps them beat the boredom blues and get there sense of pride back up. When you are just hanging around without a sense of purpose or accomplishment, it can start to frustrate you. Homeschooling moms know that there are times we have to readjust our schedules, reinforce the chores and find new ideas to keep everyone happy.
WHAT I WILL BE SHARING:
FREE KIDS CHORE CHART PRINTABLE
FREE KIDS EXERCISE CHART
FREE WEEKLY FAMILY FUN LIST
DAILY CHORE CHART
So I created this chore chart first to help get the kids back on track.
The template is created so that you can write whatever 7 chores you want for each child.
Then each day after they are done they can check it off. I laminated mine so that the kids could use a dry erase marker and just erase each week to start over. I gave them a couple of easy chores and a couple of harder chores. My oldest has chores like 'Take the trash out', 'put all the shoes away'...while my youngest has ones like 'comb your hair', 'feed the cat'. I have made the mistake before of making their list too easy and they were all done in 15 minutes. This time I am going for a happy medium.
TO SAVE: RIGHT CLICK & HIT 'SAVE AS'...
SAVE, PRINT & LAMINATE!
KIDS EXERCISE CHART:
Next to the chore lists, I hung up the family fun list, indoor activity ideas and the exercise chart.
The chart can be used to track their exercise activity. We decided on 30 minutes of exercise a day. Then I gave them 6 different choices for exercise: 'Just Dance' (dance game for consoles), Active Video Games (like 'Sports Champion', 'Carnival'), Play Outside, 'Sworkit Kids' App (App for kids exercise...we love it!), Exercise Fun List (find free list printable and ideas here) and last if they had a sports or dance class than that would count as their exercise for the day. I have them initial on the day and activity square so I can keep track. I have this one also laminated so it can be erased when needed.
TO SAVE: RIGHT CLICK & HIT 'SAVE AS'...
SAVE, PRINT AND LAMINATE!
FAMILY FUN LIST:
Another thing that I have to constantly remind myself as the mother, is to make memories.
Sometimes we get into a routine that feels comfortable and we forget to make the effort.
I created this printable for us parents. To remind us to do fun things with the kids each week. These are five things that we love to do together every week. A FAMILY OUTING is the best! You create so many memories and have fun being together. That one is a must. A MOVIE NIGHT can be spent at the movie theater or at home on the couch. We tend to do more movie nights at home, but I try to make it special. I make a special movie night table with fun snack choices, glow sticks and hot chocolate. We bring our pillows, blankets and dolls in the living room. For PIZZA NIGHT we like to make homemade pizza. Sometimes I make dough for everyone to make their own pizza...so fun!
Our family loves READING FUN! Sometimes we pack up and head over to the book store. We grab a hand full of books, sit at the table together and read. Then after awhile of reading ,we pick our favorite book to buy and head home. It's cozy and keeps the kids interested in books.
Our last family favorite is CRAFT NIGHT. I try to come up with a seasonal craft everyone will enjoy. Recently for winter, we made ice cream cone bird feeders together. Then we headed outside for a little exploration and to hang our bird feeders outside. It was a nice, peaceful moment the kids enjoyed. I also laminated this one to check off as we do them and start over each week.
TO SAVE: RIGHT CLICK & HIT 'SAVE AS'...
SAVE, PRINT & LAMINATE!
happy organizing...
XOXO
I love how you build fun exercise into the kids' schedules! My mom was a hard worker but exercise for exercise sake wasn't a part of our lives. When it was snowy outside, I was a couch potato. I could tell you a lot about what was happening on Gilligians Island! LOL
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