Some time in the beginning of last year as we worked through our Calendar Board (which I will lay out in another post some day), there would be fighting & tears. I usually had JuBe do most of the work, because she was technically the only one in "school" and frankly at the time was the only one capable of doing pieces of it. Then, I'd let the littler ones do the simpler things on the board, but JuBe would then feel bad that she had to do all of the "hard" stuff and never got a chance to do the "fun" stuff. I was in one of those homeschooling mom funks. You know the kind where the yellow bus drives by and you don't even care that you haven't showered for 3 days and you look like you just got over a bad bout of stomach flu (even though you didn't), and you try to run after the bus, but it leaves without your kids, so you turn back around and start banging your head on the door before you go inside. You know what I'm talking about, come on...don't pretend like you don't! I just tried to find an appropriate picture to share of me in one of those funks, but realized...the camera doesn't come out during those kinds of days.
Anyway, during one of those funks, the Lord gave me this idea of the Kid of the Day...and it has been going strong for almost two years. Here's how we do it.
Each morning after breakfast, one chore, and getting ready for the day, we have Calendar Time.
We have a Good Morning song where the kid of the day is announced. I rotate them like this.
week 1: Jube, Peebs, Odes, JoJo
week 2: Peebs, Odes, JoJo, Jube
week 3: Odes, JoJo, JuBe, Peebs
week 4: JoJo, Jube, Peebs, Odes
then start all over again.
Rotation was key in our home. If we always started the week by age, it became "unfair" due to life's rhythms. For instance, if we always had, say "swimming" on Tuesday, and Peebs was always the kid of the day on Tuesday, he would miss out on some of the roles in which the kid of the day takes advantage.
We have a "name-o" song, which comes from here. We spell each other's names and then the Kid of the Day gets velcro'd on the outside of the envelope which contains our names after we sing/spell everyone's name.
The Kid of the Day gets to:
complete all of the Calendar Time activities
be the first in each activity
lead the pledge of allegiance
pick a movie (if we watch one that day)
play his/her webkinz (if they play that day)
decides where they are sleeping at night (they like to rotate bedrooms and sleep together)
gets choice of where to sit during read alouds
gets to pray at meal time
gets to choose the first bite of a treat
...you get the idea...
The Kid of the Day ALSO:
is my kitchen assistant for the day...setting tables, vacuuming after meals
helps serve food
helps JoJo with different tasks (if the kid of the day is not Jo)
and is generally called on to be a "servant" for the day as well
You see the genius in this, right? They DON'T FIGHT over who gets to choose or who gets to do things. They don't buck me when I ask them to get out the vacuum or load the dishwasher. They know they have privileges, they know they have responsibilities that go with them. They look forward to it when it's their day, and they let it go when it's not, because they know their day is coming again.
What kinds of systems do you have in place to help your kids feel special? Or to minimize fighting? Or to help kids rise to responsibility? I'd love to hear about them!
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