Summer snuck up on us, to be honest. There was no big "done with the year of study" kick off or anything. We kind of weaned our way into it. There are some things left unfinished and we've worked out plans to get it done before we start fresh. Part of it was incorporated into my summer plans for the kids. Every day the kids are required to finish these tasks called their "Summer Daily Duties". Each time they finish a task they get a blue ticket.
What's a blue ticket, you ask? Let me introduce you to our new household incentive program.
Let me start off by saying that I've been having some trouble the last long while with consistent obedience. I bet I'm the only one and no one understands me at all. ;) I've done a few other things before to encourage good behavior. For instance, at one time when the kids were much smaller and it was basically just my oldest and second oldest doing any chores, I had a marble jar. Every chore completed was a new marble in the jar. If they filled up the jar together, they'd get a special privilege. That worked for a long time, eventually it wore off it's excitement and they just never put marbles in any more. I also made up something to instill fear in them at one time, for each act of defiance or any misdeed, they got to pick from a pile of different ways to make it right, depending on the level of the infraction, there were four different piles to choose from. That's still technically in effect, but it doesn't seem to be utilized much.
Recently I came up with this incentive system for the kids. It's been going for two weeks now. I worked for a couple weeks, trying to perfect it, then after we started utilizing it I made a few tiny changes, some of which I just wrote on the charts in marker. I knew that might happen because sometimes you have to experiment before producing a finished product. I figure I may want some more changes to be done before I re-print and laminate.
Here is the "command station" in our kitchen.
The system involves blue tickets and green tickets. I bought 2 rolls of happy face raffle tickets on Amazon, and then put them on this paper towel holder that just slides under the cabinet next to our command center. I then hung jars under their chore chart for them to put the tickets as they earn them.
The blue tickets are for getting their regular chore jobs finished, and for basically doing anything for mom when she needs help and asks for it. They also get a blue ticket for each subject of study completed for the day. The green tickets are given for money jobs.
When I make my final changes, I'll be changing the title of this chart from "Chore System" to "Incentive System," as I've been referring to it here. I think it just sounds more friendly and less authoritarian.
I decided to give the opportunity of redeeming blue tickets for money because they earn blue tickets so much more often. But they also redeem them more quickly, so saving 30 blue tickets would be a big deal and a sacrifice, since they're not allowed ANY of the things on this list without redeeming the blue tickets. My oldest is ALL OVER the money jobs, but the girls are not so much. I want them to learn money management and a bit of sacrifice that comes with budgeting. I want them to understand responsibility. So I gave them 3 things they are responsible for buying with their earned money, that we normally just buy for them ourselves. This may need some tweaking over the next few months as we come up on these things. I may just make them responsible for 2 things instead of three. I put a cap on the amount of money they can earn in a week so that we're not put out of business. Ha ha. Each green ticket is worth $0.25, and each money job has a green ticket value.
I have to admit that this system I came up with is partly inspired by the Eyre's book, The Entitlement Trap. I love their family banking system, I really wanted to do it. But I just couldn't see it working for our family. Maybe because our children are little, I couldn't see it working. I think the main reason is because we homeschool. We just don't get that predictable schedule that would make a family banking system work, at least FOR ME, as the house manager.
I made banks for all the kids to organize their earnings. This is W's and as you can see I haven't cashed in his tickets yet.
This is the money jobs jar. I have two sets of money jobs. The brown ones are for the older kids and the blue ones are for the younger kids. The green ticket value is on the back of each card, written in wet-erase pen just in case I need to change the value at some point. I let them pick the job they want to do. I tried to assign jobs for the $ JOBS jar that need to be done regularly enough so they aren't waiting around for weeks before they have an opportunity to earn money, but also things that aren't NEEDING to be done on a daily to every 3 day basis for quality living (such as cleaning the toilet).
This next pic is a close up of one of the individual chore charts. I've had this for about 6 years. I made the magnets way back when I had a 3 year old and a baby that could just barely sit up. So IOW back when I had that kind of time. This chart is how we've always organized who does what chores. It's worked out really well, I don't see us doing anything differently for organizing chores. I just basically decide what each kid can do based on their age and personality.
I do believe I figured out a system that works very well for us, finally. I mean, I really feel good about this one. We may not always do "tickets" and may just do "points" instead, but the kids have fun with the tickets for now, and they love redeeming them for a reward. My 7 yo daughter saved up 20 tickets already so she could have a one-on-one date with Mommy. I feel so honored! Now I get to arrange with my husband when I can ditch him with the other kids while she and I go out.
If you have any ideas or suggestions about things you'd do differently, or tweak, let me know! I love outside ideas because it helps me brainstorm better.
