We have been implementing chores for nearly a full week now and I wanted to update everyone and talk about how it is going.

Verbal reminders are necessary – It is the first week, and it has quickly become my custom to ask over breakfast. “It’s [day of week] do you remember what your chore is?” She shakes her head, we look at the list (which is written in chalk on the door panels of the homeschool room) and she usually nods and tells me she will do it soon.

Once is usually all it takes – I remind her once, and typically that’s it. No arguing, no complaining, just time to get it done. She even cleaned her room (not messy at all since she hasn’t been playing in it recently) without a single complaint or argument or delaying tactic.

I’ve tied some tv into the queue – I told her that, sometimes, if she simply did her chores without any nagging, she could watch entertainment tv (instead of educational only) for a while. Since she is doing phenomenally well on reading (watch for my post on that soon), I feel better letting her watch some purely entertaining stuff.

She gets $5 in profit sharing – Each week, on a Sunday, she will get $5 to spend (or not spend) how she wants. I don’t consider it allowance and I don’t pay for chores, this is simply her portion of participation in profit from her position as a member of the household.

I don’t have to clean toilets at home anymore! – Terrible? Maybe. But I’ve got her cleaning our toilets on a weekly basis. I demonstrated how this past week with one toilet and the other one will happen today with my supervision. A couple of supervised times and she is on her own to complete it. My toilets will stay clean and she is learning how to do basic cleaning. So far she has been game – despite the ick factor – and I make sure she washes her hands thoroughly afterwards. Just in case!

It seems that 7 1/2 (nearly 8) is the perfect age for chores!