Written Narration

Jayden has begun to do written narrations. I thought this was going to be difficult...I mean, this is the first guide to have them do written narrations, and she's only in the third week! Here is her narration from today's reading in "Life in the Great Ice Age"

Jabeth's family had success in killing the wooly mammoth, and they had a feast. On the third day of the feast, Gath and Soren were figuring out where to paint a picture of a wooly mammoth, and Jabeth and Baylock heard them talking. Jabeth spoke up and said, "I know the perfect place to paint the wooly mammoth!" and he took Soren and Gath to their secret part of the cave. Soren said, "This is a great place! The air is dry and the drawing won't get smudged from the smoke from the fire." Then Soren started painting the wooly mammoth.

I am pleasantly surprised at her ability to narrate now after such a rocky start with oral narrations. In Beyond Little Hearts For His Glory, the first Heart of Dakota guide we used with Jayden, it was a struggle to get her to say one sentence that had anything to do with the daily reading. And in the beginning of just two guides later, she writes the above paragraph. I'm impressed!

New Chores

Our old way of doing chores (Job Cards) had gotten old and monotonous (and boring!), and I had basically stopped doing them. I was just giving each girl a job or two or three to do throughout the day. Just random "clean up" times.

I realized that wasn't working for any of us. The kids were feeling random and out of place, and nothing was REALLY getting done.

So I decided to split up jobs according to ability, and have them only responsible for their jobs on their Kid of the Day. All other days, they still have to do random jobs (clean up 10 things, carry something for me, garbage, wipe spots, whatever), but I tie in the random things I ask them to do with their jobs. I also paired them up (Jayden/Julianna, Grace/Evie) so the older ones could help the younger ones.

I gave everyone, based on their abilities, something easy, something a little harder, and something they just learned.... except Evie. She has all middle ground chores, easy for Grace, a little hard for her. Along with these chores that are written down (and posted daily!) I'm also training the older three in something new, that isn't on their card.

Their chores:

Evie : clean the playroom, clean the girls' room, wipe spots off the floor

Julianna : Laundry (wash a load, which includes putting the clothes into the washing machine, putting soap in, and turning it on, and put away a load, which means empty the dryer into designated spots), dishes ( wash a load, put away a load), clean living room, and clean dining room. Her "new" thing she's being trained in is loading the dishwasher.

Grace: Laundry (wash, dry, put away a load), Dishes (wash and put away a load), clean playroom, clean girls' room. Her "new" thing is going to be sweeping downstairs, but I haven't started yet.

Jayden: Laundry (wash, dry, put away), dishes (wash and put away), clean living room, clean school room, sweep downstairs. Her "new" thing is cleaning bathrooms.

So you can see the pattern :) As one girl learns a new chore well, it goes on their card, and they will begin a new chore. I'm hoping that this teaches the girls more than just how to clean. I'm hoping that it teaches them that this is their home, and they need to take pride in it. I'm hoping they learn that their job one day as a mother means they are responsible for making sure the job is done, not necessarily that they have to do it all.

And I'm also hoping that it makes the transition from living at home to living in their own home much easier than the transition I had. I was never taught to do chores. I did chores when I wanted extra money. I was also an only child and we lived frugally in a very small house. I went to public school, and my mom was home each day at least an hour before I was. I rarely saw my mom cleaning, and I know she never intentionally taught me what to do.

Not to mention that with four other people intentionally helping throughout the week should make my life easier and more open to teach them more things!