First Day of School!

I didn't realize just how much taller Emmie was than Ellie until I looked at this picture! Poor Ellie, Ruthie is about to catch up to her!

Today the big kids headed back to school. Ruthie is a big Kindergartener, Ellie is in 3rd and Emmie is in 4th! Emmie and Ellie were nervous and excited but Ruthie was so excited!
We had Back to School night last week and they were able to meet their teachers and see their classrooms.

I wasn't sure how Ruthie would do this morning but she did awesome. We got to her classroom door and she gave all her siblings a hug and gave her teacher a hug and then started walking on in. I was like "Hello! Mom over here. Could I get a hug?" I finally managed to snag a quick hug and then she was off!

Then we dropped Ellie off. She was nervous because her closest friends are in other classes this year but she was a Rockstar and went right on in her class!

Then I took Emmie. About 2 days ago Emmie asked me if I would walk her to her classroom on the first day. I know the day is rapidly approaching where she won't want me to even be close enough by to be identified as her mom so I was more than willing to walk her to the classroom! She was really nervous but once we got to her room she went right in with no problems.

I know these girls are going to have a great day and I'm so looking forward to hearing all about it when they get home!


P.S. Little brother is not amused that they all went to school and left him behind but he's managed to survive the first few hours alone with me. ;)

Chore Chart

This week I started a chore chart for the kiddos. They will also start getting an allowance. Here's how it will work.
They have a list of their daily routine that they must follow. It's mostly pretty simple things like get dressed, brush teeth, etc. I laminated these lists and they can check each task off with a dry erase marker when they are done. (I ordered ultra fine point dry erase markers off of Amazon.)
Side Note: Kids with ADHD (like Emmie) generally have problems with executive functioning skills. Executive Function skills are mental processes that help with things such as remembering instructions, completing a task, multi tasking and being able to organize to achieve goals. We found last year with Emmie that things ran much smoother when she had a list of tasks for the morning and bedtime. She liked being able to check off her list and I liked that I wasn't constantly telling her the same thing over and over which only served to frustrate her and me.
Then each kid, depending on age, is assigned a few chores or the week. We have some chores that are daily (like setting the table) and some that are weekly (like cleaning the bathroom). For the big kids I tried to give them a combination of daily and weekly chores. Emmie and Ellie got 3 chores each and Ruthie and JP each have 2. These chores will be switched out each week. I put Velcro on the backs of the chores so that they could easily be changed.

Ellie's task list and assigned chores for the week. She later added some "high value" extra chores because she's all about earning money! You can also see how her allowance is split between the 3 categories. 

Each week the big girls will get $5, Ruthie $3, and JP $2. Now I know someone is saying why does JP only get $2 when he and Ruthie have the same number of chores? However, Ruthie has more things on her task list. Things like making her lunch for school, packing up her backpack, etc so that's why there is a difference in their allowance amounts. On their task list the kids have listed how much their allowance is each week and how it is to be divided up. Following Dave Ramsey's method we have 3 categories: Give (church offering), Spend, Save. The kids will put their save money in their piggybanks and they have envelopes for spend and give.
In order to get all of their allowance the kids must check all their boxes each week. If they have a reason they think they can't do a chore that day they can be excused from it but they have to first talk to "management" about their reasoning.  If they are missing chores and not discussing problems then their allowance will be docked.
There are also extra chores each week. These are each assigned a monetary value and the kids can opt to do extra chores in order to make some money over and above their allowance. These chores are totally optional and it is totally ok for them to choose not to do any extra chores.

Some of the extra chores and their values. There are a few missing because Emmie and Ruthie had already claimed them. This is also my holding paper for all the chores so I can see what options there are when I'm assigning chores for the week. 

We just started doing the chore chart this week and I think we will need to make some adjustments once school starts and after school activities pick up but for right now it's working and we're willing to be flexible and figure out what works best!

Ellie HAPPILY doing kid laundry! I had to provide a fair amount of guidance this week but I know that over time she will remember all the steps and so each time she does it she will need less and less help from me.