15
Oct

The Plan – part 4 – Housecleaning and Philosophy

   Posted by: MotherHen   in Homemaking

broom
House cleaning
Ha!  This place looks like it’s been cleaned by a crew of rough cowboys.  Oh, wait, that’s probably because it was.  I do very little “housework”.  The boys do all the sweeping, mopping, cleaning of bathrooms, dusting and yard work.  I keep them busy on Saturday afternoons.  Saturday mornings they’re gone playing soccer, but they know that after brunch on Saturdays they’ll be cleaning house.  We call this THE WEEKLY CHORES and I actually have lists for each child over age 10.  Wanna know what’s on ‘em?  Here ya go!
Tex’s list:
  • Clean bird cages (there are 2 that he takes care of)
  • Clean gerbil cages (3)
  • Sweep & mop master bedroom
  • Sweep and mop his bedroom
  • Sweep and mop the dining room
  • Sweep and mop master bathroom
  • Clean toilet in master bath
Hank’s list:
  • Clean bird cages (he has 2)
  • Clean, sweep and organize the lego closet
  • Clean top of fridge
  • Clean the vent hood
  • Sweep and mop the kitchen (not the only time in the week this gets done)
  • Sweep the cage tables (birds are a big part of the mess in this house)
  • Sweep and mop the hallway bathroom
  • Clean toilet in the hallway bathroom
  • Sweep and mop den (including under the sofa)
  • Vacuum sofa
  • Clean tub and tile walls

Dusty’s list:

  • Sweep front porch and both sidewalks
  • Wash lower kitchen cabinet doors
  • Sweep and organize his closet
  • Clean both bathroom mirrors and sinks/faucets/counters

Rowdy’s list:

  • Sweep patio
  • Clean bathroom cabinet doors
  • Clean front and side of stove
  • Clean front of dishwasher
  • Clean sides and front of fridge
  • Sweep and clean out pantry floor
mop
Philosophy
I think this is the most important part.  I really expect a LOT of help from my kids.  The Amish (I think it’s them) say that for the first 7 years of a child’s life they are a burden to the family, the second 7 years they are breaking even since they are able to help out, but the third 7 years is when they are able to really contribute to the family, kind of pay-back for the first 7 years.  I can appreciate this vision of children.  I don’t think all kids under 7 are a burden and I hope they only mean to apply the word “burden” to the work aspect because there is nothing burdensome about tickling a baby and enjoying their laughter.
But I really gave this some thought when the kids were all littles and I have trained them to help out around the house a LOT!  This is really not the way the rest of the world raises children, and I have taken a lot of flack over it from my extended family and lots of folks from our old church.  They prescribe to the “gov’t school, play station, lazy, perpetual childhood” plan.  I have a better plan for my kids and it involves work.  Makes much more sense because all of life is WORK.  And I have enough kids that are over the 7 year mark to really make a difference in my day.
I usually don’t make lunch, I delegate that.  I probably delegate more chores than I work.  I’ve taught the older boys to cook, and I have them do it!  They know how to do dishes and they do them!   They know how to bake cookies and brownies and they do it!  They sweep, they wipe, they pick up.
I think one main thing that really has garnered me more time than anything else is just staying home.  We only have one car and it goes to work every day.  Our church is very respectful of our family time and doesn’t infringe on our week.  We used to attend a church that really demanded a lot of involvement from us as teachers and required attendance of multiple services and clubs.  If that is your situation then I suggest you consider those experiences and commitments as part of your overall academic program.  My opinion of those kinds of church programs is that they are the gov’t school equivalent for religion.  Our church leaves the instruction of the children up to the family.  I’m saying that badly, but it’s a family integrated church and we love it, and it doesn’t eat up our family’s week.
Tomorrow: THE SCHEDULE
Linked to:

Related posts:

  1. The Plan – part 1 – Food
  2. The Plan – part 3 – Laundry
  3. The Country Place
  4. The Plan – part 5 -The Schedule
  5. The Plan – part 2 – Homeschool

This entry was posted on Thursday, October 15th, 2009 at 5:52 am and is filed under Homemaking. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.

9 comments so far

Cardamom's Pod
 1 

I’m REALLY enjoying this series! LOVE the pictures. We do have a lot in common, especially about church programs. YEARS ago we used to attend a church that was like that – we went elsewhere.

The other fringe benefit to all these chores for your boys is they will REALLY appreciate their helpmeets down the road… :-)

October 15th, 2009 at 6:37 am
MotherHen
 2 

I always tell them that they need to know how to do these things. Even if they have wonderful wives, there are times when she’ll need a hand. Better to be useful in those times rather than clueless.

October 15th, 2009 at 8:21 am
Cyndi L.
 3 

Jenny,
This was a very uplifting post. My children work and as they age they will be working more. The problem is that no other family on the street does this and I feel like I look like a child abuser. It is good to hear others have a like-minded philosophy. Playing is fun and has its place but I’m trying to train up my children not just let them have fun and figure out how to be an adult once they get there. Our church isn’t fully family intergrated. The kids have a seperate Sunday school class and leave the the Sunday service 1/2 way through for Children’s church. They also have a seperate Wednesday night class. But this is only up through grade 6. Other occasional outside church activities are family orientated. The pastor has a non “youth group” philosophy which I like. I guess we do look like “freaks” when the world looks at us. That’s okay, though, We are trying to be obedient to the Lord.

October 15th, 2009 at 8:28 am
MotherHen
 4 

Right! It’s hard when we see the “rest of the world” giving their kids the fluffy life. How do they not see the bigger picture?

October 15th, 2009 at 8:39 am
Richard Boureston
 5 

What a great blog. I just caught this one for the first time but really enjoyed. I’m glad to see that you expect a lot from your kids, they are very capable of doing usually more than we expect. We have a list of chores for our children, though not as extensive

Our home discipleship church also keeps the families together, which we love, and encourages families to daily worship in their home. We love it.

I agree that the number of services and programs that most churches have can be overwhelming. It’s hard to have any family time, or sanity, when you are going in so many directions!

October 15th, 2009 at 10:37 am
Becky
 6 

Wonderful thoughts. While I might be picky about laundry, I’m less so about their rooms. I don’t clean up after them. If they’re old enough to pull something out, then they are old enough to put it back. Mine also do a great deal of the basic house work – sweeping, mopping, vaacuming, dusting, etc. But I’m sure, just as in your own home it all evens out. There are many things that I handle completely, or mostly on my own, as I’m sure you do as well.
Your comments about church are right on the money too. We also used to go to a church that met a lot. Sun. morning and night, Wed. night, and had numerous other meeting and activities all the time. It took enormous amounts of time away from my home. Way too stressful. We attend a family integrated church now and it’s much less stressful. They do meet on Wed. as well as Sun. morning, but we don’t attend the Wed. meeting since we live so far away, and there aren’t dozens of camp meetings, jubilees, homecomings, revivals, tent meetings, youth meetings, ladies meetings,…you get the picture. A lot of activity, but little real spiritual growth.

October 15th, 2009 at 3:22 pm
MotherHen
 7 

I’m starting to think you and I are the same person, Becky. ;)

October 15th, 2009 at 5:41 pm
Becky
 8 

I’ll take that as a compliment!!:)

October 15th, 2009 at 8:39 pm
Anne-Marie
 9 

I really like that you published your “To Do” list for each child.

It’s so refreshing to read that SOMEONE is actually giving out chores. While other mothers kill themselves trying to do it all – or spend money for someone else to clean, your kids are actually learning valuable lessons they will use as adults.

GOOD JOB!!

October 28th, 2009 at 3:29 pm