Saturday, August 3, 2013

Saturday Chores/Samstagsaufgaben


Today I had a sudden inspiration about our Saturday chores:  I used to assign different rooms to different children and myself, either a child alone or two in a room, for dusting and vacuuming.  Recently that wasn't working anymore.  There were too many interesting books in those rooms, or there was too much you could talk about with the result that the work didn't get done anymore (unless I was cleaning in the same room).  So today I did it differently:  While Jonathan, Charlotte, and Peter had choir practice for church tomorrow, I dusted and cleaned downstairs with Miriam (we also did some laundry).  She had to work with me for an hour.  Veronika and Flora were free to join in or play.  When the others came back, I assigned Jonathan and Charlotte each a bathroom and gave them one hour to clean them.  In the afternoon, I cleaned the upstairs with Veronika.  She had to work with me for one hour too.  Then I assigned half an hour of ironing to Charlotte and half an hour to Jonathan.  Both needed to be finished before supper.  Jonathan and Charlotte were also in charge of the baking for Sunday morning breakfast.  Charlotte made blueberry muffins and Jonathan is still making almond flour date chocolate scones.  He thought the usual round shape we make was too boring so he tried to make a train and a bird.  I told him that those probably wouldn't turn out because you can't shape this dough very well, but he tried it anyway.  The results were better than I thought they would be.

Anyway, I really like this new chore system.  All the work gets done, I'm spending some individual time with Veronika and Miriam, and each child has only one or about two hours of chore time.

Train/Zug

Heute hatte ich auf einmal einen genialen Einfall für unsere Samstagshaushaltsaufgaben.  Normalerweise verteile ich die Räume des Hauses an die Kinder und mich, und wir putzen so das Haus.  In der letzten Zeit hat dieses System aber nicht so gut geklappt.  Ohne meine Aufsicht war es interessanter ein Buch zu lesen, was in dem zu putzenden Zimmer so lockte, oder der Mitputzer hatte so interessante Geschichten zu erzählen, daß man das Puzten ganz vergaß.  Während Jonathan, Charlotte und Peter in der Kirche für die Sonntagsmusik übten, habe ich mit Miriam unten geputzt.  Wir haben auch etwas Wäsche gewaschen.  Sie mußte eine Stunde mit mir arbeiten.  Veronika und Flora durften helfen oder spielen.  Nachdem Jonathan und Charlotte zurück waren, hatten sie beide eine Stunde Zeit, die Badezimmer zu putzen, der eine oben, die andere unten.  Nachmittags durften Jonathan und Charlotte je eine Stunde bügeln, und ich habe mit Veronika oben eine Stunde geputzt.  Zusätzlich durften Jonathan und Charlotte noch das Frühstücksgebäck für Sonntag backen.  Das konnte auch nach dem Abendessen passieren, das Bügeln mußte jedoch davor fertig sein.  Für morgen hat Charlotte dann Blaubeermuffins gebacken und Jonathan Mandel-Dattel-Schokoladenbrötchen.  Er fand die normale Form zu langweilg und wollte deshalb andere Sachen formen.  Ich habe eingewendet, daß der Mandelteig sich nicht gut für geformtes Gebäck eignet, doch er wollte das trotzdem probieren.  Seine Ergebnisse waren gar nicht so schlecht.  

Auf jeden Fall mag ich das neue System: Alles wird geputzt, ich habe eine besondere Stunde einmal nur mit Miriam, dann mit Veronika, und jedes Kind muß nur eine oder zwei Stunden arbeiten.    

Cat/Katze

  


23 comments:

  1. Eva! Mind blown! My kids have lists of chores for Saturday but it is hard to always fit them in around my work- ie if Doffy has to wash all the animal bowls but I need to do dishes, she waits and forgets. Your idea would work perfectly, especially as mine are bit 100% ready yo work independently. Thanks for sharing.

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    1. You are welcome, I don't know why I didn't think of this earlier :).

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  2. Excellent idea! I like that you get to spend quality time with your children. It helps them to be more motivated when you are cheerfully working together and eventually this will make them more independent. It is a very good investment of your time.

    I need to revamp our chores and weekly cleaning as well. Thanks for the inspiration.

    God bless!

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    1. Thanks for the compliment, Chari. I like to sing some cleaning songs when I clean with the little ones, that makes the work go faster. Good luck with changing your chore plans.

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  3. Can I come and live at your house?!!! It sounds so much nicer and far more organised than mine!

    Much love to you all

    San xxx

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    1. Well, if you don't mind cramped living spaces :). I always thought you sounded quite organized, especially in the kitchen. And there is the ironing that does not get done by doing an hour on Saturday. I do need to iron during the week and the yard could use a gardener at this point. So sure, come, but you might have to work here :).

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    2. No stranger to cramped living spaces!! I don't mind hard work it is trying to motivate the troops at base camp, especially grown daughter with her baby who would much rather paint her face, than push a vacuum cleaner!! The atmosphere in the house is horrid, it is a miracle i haven't had a breakdown.

      Can i ask for prayers dear friend?

      San xx

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    3. Oh, San. That must be so difficult! Could her sister, the twin, talk to her, or would that make it worse? I'll be praying for all of you and hope you will come up with a working solution for everyone.

      Sending love to you.

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  4. Das klingt nach einer ausgezeichneten Organisation!

    Das mit den "Ablenkungen" kommt mir bekannt vor, hihi! ;)

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    1. Wenn sie klein sind, dann sehen sie noch nicht alles, was getan werden muß und wenn sie groß sind, lassen sie sich halt ablenken, damit sie nicht alles sehen :).

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  5. The package arrived today, the necklace is beautiful and Flora's flower drawing made me smile. I will be dropping you a snail mail note of thanks very soon.

    Thank you

    love San xx

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    1. Oh, I'm so glad it got there and you like it. Happy wearing.

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  6. We have a chore chart again . . on the frig. It hadn't worked for awhile, but now it does. I like to try and sing songs too . . Lately. Chanda is into humming Narnia movie theme songs. I find I have to make a big effort to motivate everyone . . in a gentle manner when I often want to just yell. Sometimes we time ourselves to see who can finish first but with a job well done. When they were little I would tell them that if they straightened the room well, and it looked tidy and pretty, then I would do my Happy Dance! Oh, they loved that. Ah . . those were silly times :)

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    1. Have you tried bribing them? Sometimes we use chocolate chips for very slow people, that works wonders! (For every 20 things you put away, you get one chocolate chip). I know how it feels when you just want to yell, for example when making a bed takes half an hour or more, what else is there to do? Jonathan loves timers, but Charlotte hates them. They all do much better with a certain time limit, though, i.e. one hour cleaning for today. Or moving chores around is also working well here.

      That's funny that Chanda loves to hum Narnia movie theme songs. What did your Happy Dance look like?

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  7. Hi Eva! This is not really pertaining to this entry although I have to say that I'm very impressed with both chore systems. I am still trying to figure out a system here. I have been reading your blog for a while and wanted to know how you teach your children reading and writing bilingually. I have a first grader, a kindergartener and a baby at home with me. We're in Toronto. Any advice would be very kind and appreciated. Thank you! Ulrike.

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    1. Welcome, Ulrike! I'm traveling right now and can't write so much, but have you clicked on the tab "First Grade"? You will find a German section there and some book recommendations. Are your children bilingual? When I'm home again, I'll write more. Thanks for visiting here and greetings to Canada. I have lived in Canada, but that was a long time ago, from 1986-1987! Lovely country.

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  8. Thank you so much! I will look at the tab. My kids are bilingual ie. they understand all German but speak mostly English interspersed with German. My partner is Canadian and although he speaks German very well he is used to speaking English with the kids and me. Thanks again and happy travels, Ulrike.

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    1. You know what is really helpful in developing their German more? There are two methods, the first one is to have a house (German) and outside the house (English) language method and the second is the one parent - one language method. We use the latter, I exclusively speak German to my children and my husband speaks mostly English to them. We do have an additional rule, though: On the weekends we all try to speak German. You could also take a look at the AATG Store. They have some good ideas.

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    2. There is also a German school in Toronto here. They might have some ideas what to use in addition to what I suggest.

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  9. Hi Eva! Thanks again for taking the time to answer my questions and thank you for the advice about the method. The latter might be good for us and speaking German only on weekends might not be such a daunting task for my other half! The website you mentioned has good books available. I am fortunate to have an uncle in Germany who periodically sends me German books for me and the kids. Very nice. I am wondering how you taught Grade 1 to your children? Did you teach both alphabets or just one. I am just selecting the Grimm tales for each letter and am unsure which language to teach my oldest.

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    1. You are welcome. I start with German in first grade because it's actually easier to do. There are not so many sounds for each letter! We do the letters with the Grimm's fairy tales and then move right into the "Tobi Fibel" and workbook. Once the German reading has taken off, I do the English alphabet (without the stories) and start going through a phonics program. Both systems are introduced in grade one and are practiced from then on.

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  10. Thank you, Eva! I am excited about the new school year and will start with German. Kind regards, Ulrike.

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