"Large Family" books

Congratulations!

Terri Maxwell’s Managers of their Homes from Titus2.  They also have a chore book I have not used.

Self-Propelled Advantage book and urthemom website by Joanne Calderwood.  Helps you help your children be more self motivated in their work.

I have no specific resource, though I am interested, but recommend getting a good food plan going.  I bulk cook and then freeze most meat to go in soups and casseroles.  Mostly chicken and ground meats.  We shop Sam’s Club and I can place my order online for my husband to pick up next day.

I like to follow a blog from an SCM forum member, wheremytreasureis.wordpress.com

And SCM forum member Tristan.  She used to have a blog, but has many helpful posts on here, including chore training boot camp.

Congratulations!!  How exciting to be welcoming another little one to your family.

I don’t have too many book recommendations, and none that have not been mentioned.  Large Family Logistics was ok, but I found Managers of their Chores to be more helpful because it gave a very structured place to begin from.  Then we were able to relax it into what fit for us.  Our chore training was already mention on here and by Wings2fly and explained by MrsB in brief how we train them to do a job.  Let me give an update of how chore work at my house:

All the kids get responsibility for a room of the house around age 4. They clean that room every single morning. Ta da. House is done in about 20-30 minutes. In the afternoon and evening we will have everyone do a 10 minute pick up. My job is to train kids in their work, then to pitch in with a different person each day (no schedule, just anyone).
Dishes and cooking: Each child is buddied up (older with younger) and twice a week they are the kitchen help. I cook and teach them how to cook or help in the kitchen to their ability. They do all dishwasher unloading on their 2 days. (Everyone loads their own dishes after meals). We keep dishes under a lower countertop so even the 2 yo and the 4yo in the wheelchair can reach. On their day they are also allowed to cook or make a treat for the family if they wish, using whatever is on hand.
Laundry: Oldest child in a room starts the wash for that bedroom and a timer. Next oldest child switches washed clothes to the dryer when timer rings. Then all kids from a bedroom take the load up to their room and put away their own clothing, helping little ones if needed. We’re in a 3 bedroom house for the 11 of us, so in one bedroom is 3 kids (2 girls and toddler boy), one bedroom is 5 boys, and I do the laundry for my bedroom (me, daddy, baby). They wash their own bedding by bedroom once a week or so, and their towels. And if you want your clothes folded you do it yourself – since you are the one putting them away.
Bedrooms are picked up by those sleeping in them each evening.
That’s it. Pretty straightforward. The hardest part was simply training everyone in what needed done for the room of the house they are responsible for.
We change rooms once a YEAR, in June. That is right. One child has cleaned the kitchen for a year, one has cleaned a bathroom for a year, etc. They are masters at their job. In June we don’t do much school work, if any, and our main focus is teaching each child all the jobs to do in the new room they are assigned. <span class=”emoticon_text”>smile emoticon</span> It’s a rough month in the house as there is a lot of teaching and reteaching. However I don’t have to do all the teaching now! The child who had the room for the last year gets to teach the new person, with me overseeing. <span class=”emoticon_text”>smile emoticon</span> By the time they are adult age they will know how to clean every room in the house very well, will have done laundry for years, and have been cooking in the kitchen with me for years.

With a large family I think the most important lesson I have learned over the years is that your family is unique and so getting ideas of lots of people is good but you are going to have to mix and adjust to get the right fit for you.

I have 5 (10-2) and enjoyed ‘A Sane Woman’s Guide to Raising a Large Family’. It made me feel less anxious about having a bigger family.

I have Large Family Logistics but never really implemented any of her ideas (even though I have read it twice). it seemed stuffy or lofty or something? I have never been able to figure out why I don’t love it when most everyone else does.

I think my favorite read lately was Leila Lawler’s blog Like Mother, Like Daughter. It’s full of such wonderful, practical advice!

Congratulations!

Too funny Anniepeter!

My now 5 year old (was 4 last June) has been doing the ‘piano room’.  It is half of our open living room (2 rooms not really separated).  In this room he picks up everything on the floor, the piano, and the small table and puts those things away.  Then he vacuums the wood floor with a lightweight stick vacuum.   Easy but helpful as this is the room you walk into when you enter our home.

My current 4 year old, Mason, will probably move into this room as his job in June.  It is wide open so he can maneuver his wheelchair easily, he can pick up things both on the floor and on the surfaces from his chair, and he has been ‘practicing’ using the stick vacuum after his brother.

Other rooms that could have been done by a 4yo here:

The enclosed front porch – picking up all shoes, vacuuming the carpet, bringing in advertisments and other papers that end up there, putting the collection of balls in one crate (we have two kid basketball hoops on this porch that they use there or we bring into the piano room.  One adjusts from 2ft to 5 ft, the other  is taller).

The laundry room – wiping down dusty surfaces, removing items from lower pantry shelves (bins of grains, appliances) and wiping those shelves, sweeping floor.

The half bath – wipe mirror, sink, outside of toilet. Empty small trash can.  Wipe down inside of toilet with a wand brush. Sweep the tile floor.

Those are the things that come to mind!  My husband and I are in the middle of deciding which room each child will receive in June.  🙂

LOVE this post!!  Tristan, can you suggest what to do with my 14 DS, 11DS, 10DS and 9DD.  I am so mentally exhausted, I can’t even get it together in this area! HELP 🙂

tjbowman34 – Here are the rooms as they are currently assigned, the kids started them last June.  I’ll share their current ages:

Makayla almost 15 – Kitchen: She puts away anything on the counters, wipes sink, counters, microwave (inside and out), stove top.  Sweeps floors.  Takes out main trash can for the home.   (She also has animals to care for: hermit crabs, bearded dragons, outside cat. This involves preparing various dietary needs from live insects to salads to meats. One bearded dragon is also taking medications daily.)

Joseph age 11 – Full bathroom and carpeted hall/stairs: He vacuums the hall and stairs daily.  In the bathroom he wipes down sink, counter, mirror, toilet, tub and shower surround, sweeps floor, empties small trash can.

Emma age 10 – Half bathroom and dining room. Wipes bathroom sink, counter, mirror, toilet. Sweeps floor, Empties trash.  In dining room she wipes down table and booster seats.  Removes chairs from the room and sweeps wood floors. Puts chairs back.  If there is anything on the floor she picks it up and puts it away, often papers or drawing materials, this room holds our school shelves.

Daniel age 8 – Freezer room and pantry/laundry room: Freezer room – picks up anything left in this small room, vacuums carpet.  Pantry/laundry room – wipes down dusty surfaces, empties lower shelves of appliances and bins, wipes off shelves, sweeps floor.

Oliver age 7 – Living room – picks up and puts away items.  Uses broom to get all items from under sectional couch that wandered there.  sweeps the wood floors.

That just leaves the 5 year old’s job I described earlier of the piano room.

Yes, every day Tameka!  By doing it all every day there is no “I wonder what I need to do today”.  It is also easy to do because nothing gets truly dirty.  There is no need to scrub and scrub because a simple wiping things down daily keeps the grime from building up.  The routine is to eat breakfast and then you need to do your chores and get dressed.  Any time you have left before 8:30am is free time to play or read or create.  My 14 year old gets up at 5am and is gone from 5:45am-7:10am for a morning scripture study class with other teens from church.  Then she’s back and does her chores.  The rest of the kids wake on their own before 7am generally, and if they are not awake by 7:15am I wake them.  We do school in the morning and begin with family work at 8:30am (hymns, prayer, scripture study, history, read aloud, etc).  The thing that they love is that once school is finished for the day they are free.  For all my children except the high schooler that is by lunch time.  The high schooler usually has one subject left to do in the afternoons, maybe 2 if she’s gotten carried away with writing or art or reading.  😉