Practical Tips for Creating and/or Revamping Chores and Schedules

It's that time of year again...time to revisit and re-print the children's chores as well as our family's schedule for the new school year.  Although we live in Argentina and we're really still in the middle of winter right now in August...we still (for the most part) follow the USA school schedule.   
For almost 8 years, our family has utilized a wonderful resource for putting together our family's schedule and chore system that comes...

Homemaking Skills for our Girls (III) - 5 Easy ways to get started!

In the past, we've written a few posts about teaching our daughters homemaking skills.  You can find part I here and part II here. 
Planning and implementing a schedule to teach these skills

Our Family's After-Meal-Cleanup-Checklist

I wanted to post our After-Meal Cleanup Checklist that we have posted up in our kitchen.  Our daughters follow this checklist after

FREE GIVEAWAY...until March 6th!!!!! (closed)

Watch these trailers and see if they don't grab your attention!  These would be perfect gifts for a family, for grandchildren, or for your own family!  If you'd like more information, follow THIS link to the Moore Family Film website for additional inspiring resources.  Thanks to the Moore family, our ABC Say It With Me dvd is on its way and, Lord willing, will arrive to Argentina toward the end of March.  Thank you!!!

Review: Lessons in Responsibility for Boys

Lessons in Responsibility for Boys, Level 1 (Ages 6 and Up)

As we had mentioned in a previous post, we have enjoyed the "Lessons In Responsibility" curriculum series for our girls. This year, we decided to try out the first book of the series written for boys (6+). However, after careful review of book #1, we have decided that it isn't the best for our family. We have several reasons for this: 1) Unlike the book for girls, this one doesn't seem to have as many hands-on skill learning activities built into each week's lesson. The main focus is on being responsible in every aspect of life (relationships, personal care, money, etc.).  2)  Most of the chapters deal with issues we have already covered with our 7 year old son.  3) Our family has a conviction regarding not owning or watching a TV as well as not playing video games.  There are at least two chapters dealing with being responsible in limiting TV watching and video game playing, which are irrelevant due our family's situation.
My husband has found creative ways in which to teach our son responsibility.  Several of these things would include daily, weekly, and monthly chores as well as simply bringing him on board when it comes to learning skills such as grilling, outdoor skills, car mechanics, basic home repairs, etc.  The quality time they have while doing these things together, growing in character, is better than taking him through a book.  This also provides opportunities to have those "aha!" moments with 'Dad.'  Eric is very good about trying to turn events and life situations into teaching moments so these naturally come up while they work together.  Praise the Lord, we continue to grow as parents and praise the Lord for his direction and grace!