The System

Aubrey, here is a post just for you. :)



This is the chart I designed on Illustrator (I emailed the file to Kinkos for printing). It's based on Linda & Richard Eyre's pegboard from their book Three Steps to a Stronger Family. I just flipped it on its side, then put all five weekdays on the same board. (Their's was for only one day at a time.) This way we can easily keep track of their weekly progress. Now I'll explain what each peg includes:

Morning Peg - prayers, dressed, bed, teeth
Homework Peg - homework, practice (Bennett doesn't have homework, so he reads me all the letters on one page of a book he chooses...and the practice part will begin when they start piano lessons next year.)
House Peg - your zone, kitchen chore, bedroom (They each have a zone they are responsible for keeping neat--right now they share the living room for their zone. They also each have a kitchen chore--Bennett puts forks on the table, Chandler puts on cups. It's easy enough, but still gets them helping.)
Evening Peg - pajamas, teeth, tomorrow's clothes, prayers

Now the fun part...each peg is potentially worth 10 cents. (So 20 pegs = $2.00) The amount of pegs they earn that week equals the worth of the Saturday Money Job. So if they don't do very well one week with pegs, their Money Job is not worth much. In the Eyre's book, they just gave the kids money each Saturday based on the amount of pegs...but I didn't like the idea of just handing out cash for things they should just be doing anyways. But I like the idea of my kids learning to handle money, so that's why I added the Money Job. The only thing the pegs do is change the value of it.

Right now we're just using magnets, but later this week (after I mod podge them to the boards), Jarom's going to drill holes for wooden pegs. It'll be more durable that way, and plus--who doesn't like putting chunky pegs into holes? :) For the Saturday Money Job section, I'm going to paint a thin board with chalkboard paint to fit the rectangle. Then I can write up the new job each week, and also what it's worth for each kid.

Another thing I think I'll do is work out blocks of time in which each peg needs to be accomplished. We're all still getting used to the routine, but I want to eliminate all the "mom reminders". I'm thinking of putting this chart directly onto a clock, so they can actually see when the clock hands are leaving that block of time...? Still working on this one. :)

Hope this post is a good reference for you Aubrey! I'll email you the charts, let me know if you want a different font!

editor's note: (I've always wanted to write that..) Diane -- I divided a lot of my Money Jobs up by season. So here's the few I have so far:
Spring: prep gardens for planting, planting gardens, weeding gardens, wash car/van
Summer: weed gardens, harvesting gardens, gathering fallen branches
Fall: raking leaves, etc
Winter: (mostly inside stuff) clean table & chairs, vacuum out couches
I'll add more as I think of them, but it's kind of hard thinking of things young kids can do. So I think it'll help me to plan waaay in advance. :)