How are your first few weeks of homeschooling going?
Raymond and Dorothy Moore, early homeschool pioneers suggested that homeschooling should be a balance of study, meaningful work, and service.
This is one reason that we include practical skills in all of our Peaceful Press resources. It's important for our children to know how to care for themselves and their spaces, and when we incorporate learning these skills into our homeschool, it can also develop important motor skills that aid in academic excellence.
Here are a few tips for teaching chores-
- Make a master chore list. List everything that needs to be done in a week and decide which ones would be helpful for your children to do. I especially loved teaching my children how to make their own breakfast and bring me coffee. So many motor skills are learned when carrying a hot beverage to another room (caution advised😅)
- Set up our Peaceful Press Chore pack. Laminate the To Do and Done chart, and choose a few chores and routines to start with. Add a velcro dot to the back of the tasks you are training and let your child move the task from the to do to the done chart as they complete each task. You could start with simple tasks like making their bed, brushing teeth, and putting pajamas in the laundry basket.
- Teach with games. Make putting away laundry into a game of store- they can count out pennies to purchase their clothes, and put them away. Play Mother May I while tidying up the living spaces. Let them help you sort toys into proper baskets, practicing throwing skills while tossing stuffies into the bin.
- Promote independence. You don't want your children waiting on you for every directive, so as they grow, develop daily routines that they can manage themselves. I made reminder lists like these ones for my children to check off on their own, and I consulted them about what to put on these lists. We include a blank checklist in the Chore and Routine pack.
- Inspect what you expect. When children are learning new skills it's important to inspect what you expect, and work with them until they are ready to do it on their own. Chores are often fun when we do them together, but loading children up with work so you can have more me time will work against nurturing a connected family. So take time to train your children in how to do a new task and offer encouragement for their efforts. Take time to just be with them as well, celebrating their new skills.
