Many homeschooling families don’t stick to a rigid time schedule like a public school. They don’t need to have math at 8 in the morning, lunch at noon, etc. Because everything happens at home, homeschooling parents can interweave their home and school tasks together and maybe even include chores into their curriculum.
Not only are you the parent, you are also playing the role of teacher, guide, and facilitator extraordinaire. You are responsible for both your child’s academic and moral education. Because of this, many parents look for ways they can add to their child’s education in unique ways as well as keep their home running smoothly. If you’re looking to do the same, then read our tips for Incorporating Chores Into Your Homeschool! Learn how to weave them into academic work as well as how to implement chores effectively!
Select age-appropriate chores
Before you begin to implement chores in your homeschool, think about what would work for your child’s age. Your child’s chores can develop as your child grows. And if you have multiple children in your homeschool, you can separate their chores according to their age.
Chores can have a two-fold benefit especially if you match them to your child’s age. They can help develop fine motor skills, spatial organization, and more!
Check out these printable chore charts:
Add them to your daily schedule
Make chores a set part of the day by including them in your schedule. For example, before you begin “class”, your child can make their bed and head to the dishwasher. Keep certain chores in place, so that it becomes like a daily rhythm and not a dreaded list of tasks.
Use these to incorporate chores into your daily schedule:
Find chores that tie into class activities
To blend chores into your homeschool even further, find chores that develop skills you’re working on in the classroom. Perhaps you’re working on money management. Your child can begin to get an allowance for their chores so that they can learn how to keep track of their money earned per week. Or maybe you’re learning about plant life cycles. Give your child work to do in the yard and garden to give them real-life experience with plants!
Explain your expectations
Just like you would with academic work, provide standards and expectations for your child for how you want them to complete their chores. Be clear, so that your child can achieve your standards. This is a great chance to model what you want, so that your child can emulate it.
You could even make chores a part of school, and it could be something they get “assessed” on.
Don’t make it too complicated
No one really likes chores, and children probably enjoy them the least. So, don’t make the list an arm’s-length long, and make the chores easy to understand, especially the daily ones.
You don’t want your child to be dragging their feet every time they need to begin their chores. You want to try to make chores as painless as possible and ingrain them into your child’s daily routine. And if you’ve made chores a part of your curriculum, you want them to be easy enough so that your child can eventually do them independently!
Use these printables to help keep them on track:
Listen to podcasts or audiobooks
One way to use chore time as learning time (and to make the time more interesting), listen to educational podcasts or audiobooks you’ve been reading! To make sure they’ve been listening, you can assess them afterward, just as you would with an academic activity!
Don’t hover
Be sure to model the behavior you want your child to implement when completing the chores, but then let them work on it themselves. It’s important that you give them some independence with the chores, so that they can develop their skills each time they do the chore.
If you try to micromanage your child and hover as they’re working, critiquing along the way, they won’t want to do the chores. Also, be sure to reward your child for completing the chores, and when they’re still learning, observe what they’ve done well! You can use an allowance, activities your child likes, trips, a reward chart, and more!
Start these skills early
You can start giving your child tasks even when they’re little! Start this habit early, and your child can develop a strong work ethic. Chores will just be a part of daily life, and not something they’re forced into.
Make sure you’re teaching them on their level and tracking all these new life skills they are learning. Skill Trek is a wonderful program that encourages kids of all ages to learn and master new skills – including chores.
With Skill Trek, kids can explore and learn skills you might not even think about, all at age-appropriate levels! You’ll find videos and lessons for cooking, housekeeping, gardening, and so much more!
Suggested books and resources
“I Can Do It” Reward and Responsibility Chart
Managers of Their Chores by Steven and Teri Maxwell
Clean Up Your Room So I Can At Least See the Floor by Cheryl Carter
Keri
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