Are you a super homeschool mom? Can you accomplish homeschooling plus all the household chores by yourself? Most homeschool moms do best with chores when chores are a team effort. Don’t you love the thought of your children working together as a team for the good of your family? If your children are like ours were, though, they didn’t spend their days asking how they could help with what needed to be done around the house. I discovered I had to have a goal—chores accomplished daily by the family chore team and then make a plan to achieve it—chore system. 

Simple

Start simple to make it achievable. I watch moms get so caught up in developing a perfect chore system with every possible job listed and assigned that they never get beyond the planning stage.

Really and truly, keep it simple. I challenge you to list three chores—start with just three that each of your children are capable of doing every morning like:

• make bed
• pick up toys
• fold pjs and put away
• empty trash
• wash breakfast dishes
• wipe bathroom sink
• clear breakfast table
• sweep dining room and kitchen floor
• wash breakfast dishes
• dry breakfast dishes

Some of the chores will be the same for every child such as make bed. Others will be individualized based on the child’s age and capabilities. Even a three-year-old can be given a small squirty bottle with water in it and taught how to wipe out the bathroom sink. By the time that child is seven and hopefully mature enough to handle whatever cleaning agents you use, he will be prepared to tackle real bathroom cleaning. Look down the road when considering chores for little children. They might not be able to do much real work now, but you are equipping them with positive attitudes toward work and skills that will soon allow them to be productive members of your homeschool family chore team.

Timing

Set aside a specific time for the chores to be accomplished. If everyone is working at the same time, the distraction of wanting to play with a sibling is eliminated. With just three chores each, it shouldn’t take more than 15 minutes for these chores to be done, 30 minutes at the most. 

Be a cheerleader for your chore team, encouraging them with positive words about working, telling them how happy you are for their help. Thank them for their work and accomplishments, and praise them for every step toward a chore well done. Work alongside them to mentor them in their jobs and fellowship with them in the process. Keep a smile on your face and sweet words on your tongue, and you can motivate your children to do much.

Build on the Foundation

When you have solidly established those three morning chores to where they are habitual for everyone, you are ready to build on that foundation. If there is more time in the morning, you can add another chore or two. You will likely assign chores at lunchtime and dinnertime. After school is another logical chore time as is just before bedtime. Everyone probably won’t need to do chores during all of those time frames. Use the morning when you are most likely to be on schedule to accomplish the bulk of your chores. Make sure meal preparation and cleanup is covered and then see if there are any holes. Most families find is helpful to have a tidying time just before Daddy comes home from work or as part of the pre-bedtime routine.

The Manager

Be a super homeschool mom by managing your homeschool chore team. What a beautiful picture to have children learning to work and all the character that goes with that while the tasks necessary to keep a home functioning are being accomplished. “It is good for a man that he bear the yoke in his youth” (Lamentations 3:27). The more productive your team is, the more time you have for homeschooling and other pursuits God calls you to.

If you need help with a chore system, Managers of Their Chores is a resource you might want to consider.