Summer Chore Challenge 2018

It's almost summer! Around here, that means it's time to start our annual Summer Chore Challenge (I am not going to go into details of how the chore challenge works, but if you're curious, I've written about it in previous years here and here and here). 

We will officially begin this Friday, June 1. I just finished typing up the checklists and last weekend I made the tracking poster. I'm really pleased with how this year's poster turned out. The best part is that I didn't have to do any drawing! As the kids complete tasks, they can take the gumball from the lines below their gumball machine, place them in the machine, and write the completed task on the now empty line.

We are making a few minor changes/tweaks this time around. For starters, Mark opted out of participating. His summer routine just doesn't change enough to allow so much extra. I made my lists a little less ambitious/more reasonable as well. Bryce and Thane still want money as their grand prize, but for Aubree, who has been making significant money babysitting this last year, we had to come up with a more motivating prize. So, for her grand prize we have tickets to see a Lindsey Stirling concert with friends. Even better, she gets to bring along another friend of her choosing. If she doesn't reach the grand prize level, we will sell or give away the tickets. She's extremely motivated!

My genius friend, Ashley, came up with another grand prize option for her kids. Those that reach the grand prize level earn a whole week with no chores and no school work (they also homeschool). Anyone who does not reach the grand prize level has to take over those chores! My kids were intrigued with this option (and noted that avoiding having to do their sibling's chores would be extra motivation to get their tasks done), but decided that the grand prize options we had previously tried were more enticing for them. 

We will still offer a family party or adventure if everyone finishes before the deadline (September 3). I like to do this so they are encouraging of each other's progress. That being said, Bryce and Thane are both eager to be the first ones done.

Nellie is still too young to participate. Next year, when she's 3, we will include her.

Before I get to the chore lists, here are few thoughts on what I've included...

- Tasks marked with an asterisk are required tasks.

- Everyone has cleaning bathrooms on their lists again this summer. They've been cleaning bathrooms all year as part of their wheel-chart chores, but as the year has progressed they've all gotten sloppier. It's time for re-training.

- TGTB = The Good and The Beautiful, a really great Language Arts curriculum. I've included links if anyone is interested in checking it out.

- My kids had input in making their lists. Aubree especially asked for more tasks that she could accomplish independently.

Aubree, age 12
1. *Clean bathroom
2. *Complete through lesson 60 of TGTB Level 7
3. *Wash own laundry
4. Exercise at least 30 minutes
5. Cook 15 meals
6. Mow lawn
7. Nature journal
8. Practice violin
9. Swallow pills
10. Personal scripture study
11. Personal Progress
12. *Complete through Unit 3 of BYU Algebra
13. Floss teeth
14. Write 6 blog posts & Learn to put hair in ponytail
15. Read 8 parent choice books

Bryce, age 10
1. Wash laundry
2. Mop kitchen floor
3. *Clean bathroom
4. Scripture study
5. Jogging
6. Complete TGTB level 4
7. Complete computer use course
8. Read 8 parent choice books
9. Floss teeth
10. Behavior
11. Learn to braid
12. Nature journal
13. Practice piano
14. Wrap presents
15. Keep room clean

Thane, age 8
1. Sweep kitchen
2. Memorize Articles of Faith
3. *Clean bathrooms
4. Scripture study
5. Jogging
6. Nature journal
7. Practice piano
8. Spelling practice
9. Floss teeth
10. Put away dishes
11. Eat neatly & with good manners
12. Fold load of laundry & hang up clothes
13. Peel vegetables
14. Vacuum upstairs
15. Read 8 parent choice books

Graham, age 5
1. Memorize 8 Articles of Faith
2. Make bed
3. Nature journal
4. Jogging
5. Open van sliding door
6. Flush toilet/wash hands without reminding
7. Respond to frustration with words (not screaming)
8. Put dirty clothes away without reminding
9. *Wipe-down bathroom
10. Scripture study
11. Wipe down kitchen cabinets
12. All About Spelling 1
13. Learn to ride 2-wheeler
14. Let's Play Music practice + bell composition
15. Read 8 parent choice books

Mom, age irrelevant
1. Exercise
2. Play board games with kids
3. Nature journal
4. Weekly meal plan
5. Dental work
6. Family history
7. Complete 3 read-alouds
8. Hikes with kids
9. Home projects
10. Personal scripture study
11. Blog
12. Plan co-op Communications class
13. Family Prayer
14. Floss teeth
15. Invite friends to dinner or dessert

Thane Turns 8

Hard to believe, but Thane just turned eight years old! 

 

The Friday before his birthday we went to the park with friends and brought cupcakes to share. Thane loved this idea, but when the time came to sing to him and pass out cupcakes he refused to come over. If you look carefully at the picture, you can see Thane in the background playing basketball. He wanted to share cupcakes, but did NOT want the attention. Typical Thane.
(As a humorous aside, as Thane spent the entire weekend trying to avoid being the center of attention, Graham saw a picture of himself as a toddler and commented, "I was sad." Without prompting, he continued, "I was sad because no one was paying attention to me!")

The night before his birthday, Thane chose to go out to eat at Panera Bread. 

Since it was his birthday, they let him choose a free pastry. When he got home, he insisted on sharing with his siblings. He probably only saved a couple bites for himself. Also typical Thane.

His birthday fell on a Sunday this year. In our primary, kids who have birthdays put a giant cupcake cut-out over their faces and get to dance in front of the group while everyone sings to them. Thane was not interested in participating, but we explained that refusing to participate would draw more attention to himself, so when the time came, he went up, but definitely didn't dance!

Sunday afternoon Katie and her kids came to help us celebrate.

In addition to the traditional birthday CD mix, Thane got board games and Legos. He was most excited about the Legos, but was super happy to have a chance to play one of his new games, Loot, that afternoon.

Finally it was time for the part of his birthday Thane was really looking forward to - eating! For his birthday dinner, Thane chose cheeseburgers, frog-eye salad, watermelon, and chips. He packed his plate FULL.

He ate himself stuffed, but 10 minutes later announced, "When I finished dinner I was too full to eat another bite, but now I'm ready for dessert!" For dessert, he chose to get a Costco cheesecake. 

Then he proceeded to eat his cheesecake and ice cream with... chips. He certainly keeps things interesting around here!

We loved the chance to focus on and celebrate Thane. He is uniquely himself; a walking paradox. 

Hyper-competitive and generous to a fault.

Independent and loyal.

Demanding of justice/fairness and unfailingly merciful.

Tough and sensitive.

Thane is also compassionate, clever, intense, and inquisitive. He always has a million questions. When I read aloud, he's constantly stopping me to ask question after question (some applicable, some veering off into randomness). He is not a crowd follower. If anything, he intentionally chooses to be different (the nickname he had as a toddler, "Mr. Contrary," is still applicable).

He loves to play Legos, read, play board games, eat, argue, and play soccer. In the last year he's become a super-reader. Right now he is plowing through the Fablehaven series.

An Interview with Thane:

Favorite Color?: "Blue."

Favorite Candy?:  "I don't really have one. Maybe Twix."

What do you want to be when you grow up?: "A game inventor. Not video games, board games.”

Where do you want to go on your mission?: "Someplace random, like Germany."

Favorite Primary Song?: "'Gethsemane'."

Favorite Animal?: "Penguin."

Favorite Movie?: "'Meet the Robinsons.'"

Favorite Thing to Do?: "Play board games and eat."

Favorite Food: "Waffles and pizza."

Best Friends?: "Finley, Collin, and Lydia."

Favorite Book?: "'Fablehaven.'"

Favorite Toy?: "Legos."

What makes you happy?: "Playing Legos, eating, and playing board games."

Favorite thing to do with Mom?: "Play games and eat."

Favorite thing to do with Dad?: "Father/son outings."

What do you do really well?: "Eat, play board games, and play soccer (if I'm trying hard)."

What makes you laugh?: "Writing silly things on a Mother's Day paper."

What’s the best time of day?: "Snack time, lunchtime, dinnertime, and breakfast."
What's your favorite day of the week?: "Saturday, because we have more time to play around."

What are you afraid of?: "Public speaking."

What do you like to do with your family?: "Play board games and eat."

What do you love to learn about?: "Random stuff."

What is your favorite class/subject?: “Math.”

Where do you like to go?: "To my room to play Legos.”

If you had one wish, what would it be?: "To play Legos, read, and eat more."

What would you do if you had $1,000?: "Buy more Legos and Fablehaven books."

What is your favorite song?: "'Thunder.'"

What do you hope you can do before your next birthday?: "Get a lot more Legos and finish all the Fablehavens." 

What's your favorite Super Hero?: "I don't really have one anymore. I don't really like them."

Good Ideas

I have lots of ideas. Most of them are garbage. The majority of the rest, while sound, never come to fruition. Occasionally, I follow through on an idea or two, and it's glorious. I figure it's worthwhile to document those occurrences. 

* When we were switched into a new ward last November, I knew we'd miss most the friends we'd made in our previous ward. Of course, we still live super close, but without regularly scheduled opportunities to interact, it's trickier to maintain relationships. I couldn't solve that problem with all of our dear friends, but maybe there was a way to start small...

So, we organized a monthly combined FHE group with two of our favorite families. One Monday a month we get together at one family's home, have a lesson and activity, and share a treat. It's a wonderful chance to learn together, have fun, and build our friendships.

Sometimes it means we have activities that are bigger, or more involved than we might otherwise do with just our own little family.

Sometimes it means that we can hardly even hear the lesson because there are up to 14 kids packed in tight spaces.

Every time I leave feeling uplifted and inspired.

* I've acknowledged before that there are some downsides to homeschooling. One of the more obscure drawbacks relates to Mother's Day. Kids in public elementary school always seem to prepare Mother's Day gifts in their classes, and the kids love to present their homemade gifts to their moms on Mother's Day. Clearly, that doesn't happen in a homeschooling setting. 

Or can it?

Last year, my friend Ashlee and I decided to do a Mother's Day swap. I took her kids for an afternoon and helped them prepare special gifts. She took my kids and helped them do the same. It worked so well we decided to continue the tradition. 

This year I helped her darling kids make picture magnets and bead necklaces. Simple, but practical.

She helped my kids make a special bouquet of flowers (Thane is holding them in the picture). That's my kind of garden!

She also had them fill out "All About My Mommy" pages. Thane decided he wanted to be soooo funny. It's so him. Every time he reads when he wrote he cracks up.

* There's been a lot of news about cub scouting lately, but that's the topic of another post. The news that the Church was severing ties with Boy Scouts was relayed to me 10 minutes before our last pack meeting. Yikes!

The topic of that pack meeting was "Treasure Hunters." I thought a Cub Scout themed Escape Room type activity would be really fun and meaningful, but despite significant searching, I couldn't find anything like that already available to be copied or implemented. So, I decided to create our own.

 I split the boys and their siblings into teams of four and gave them 30 minutes to try to successfully complete five challenges. Challenges included: putting the scout law in the correct order (the law was written on popsicle sticks), correctly answering "Superhero or Baden-Powell" quotes, putting together a puzzle of the Scout Oath, completing a team building cup stacking activity, and trying to catch marshmallows shot from a marshmallow balloon shooter (that one was hard!).

 It ended up being a fun evening.

Sue's Spring Stopover

Aunt Sue makes a concerted effort to visit us regularly. Though her visits are short, they are always highly anticipated and well appreciated. This time, I picked her up at the airport a little after noon on Friday, and we drove to meet up with Katie for a hike.

We had a little trouble finding the same trailhead as Katie, and by the time we finally met up, we'd been in the car for quite a long time and really needed a bathroom break. Of course, this trailhead had no restrooms. Yikes!

On the upside, since this particular trail winds through the city, we were hopeful we might come upon a facility with restrooms at some point. So off we went! All three of my boys watered rocks along our route. The benefit of being a boy.

 

Graham and Dallin kept themselves occupied collecting sticks. Every time we got close to the stream they would toss in their sticks and start over. With the boys constantly stopping to pick up sticks, and Nellie and Jordyn walking on their own, we weren't the quickest hikers.

Aubree led the bigger kids in a snail versus slug counting competition. In the end, the snails won easily, 23 to 12.

Finally we came to a trail marker that said, "YMCA, 0.2 miles." Hurrah! 

Unfortunately, that was the longest .2 miles EVER (on our way back we used our phones and discovered ".2" was really ".6"), but we all made it. Phew! After potting everyone, we stayed for a short snack break, then turned around and headed back to the vans. Nellie was pretty well done by this point and spent most of the return trip on my back.

The kids were eager to get back to the vans because they knew Sue had brought them all special bags full of treasures (assorted beanie babies and miscellaneous items she no longer wants).

Sue spent Friday evening talking and playing with us. We taught her the game "10 Days in the Americas" and it was especially fun because she had visited almost all of the countries on the game board and could tell us all about them. 

Nellie quickly decided Sue was great fun because Sue would flip and fly her. At one point Sue commented, "This one's going to be a tumbler!"

On Saturday we went to Bryce's last soccer game, played more games, talked and laughed, and went out the the traditional Mod pizza dinner.

Bryce graduated from a "mini" to a "mod" pizza and was still one of the first to finish. I didn't think Thane was quite ready for the upgrade, but I was wrong. He polished off his pizza in minutes and then sat around hoping for leftovers. As a side note, Thane ordered half of his pizza with a pesto sauce. As he ate, he proclaimed, "It smells like art class!" Turns out his art teachers older boys always come home from school during art and make themselves toast with pesto sauce.

Nellie proved to be a solid eater as well.

As always, it was a treat to have Sue with us for the weekend. I especially enjoyed the time I had to talk to her and learn more about her family and our family history. Family relationships aren't always pretty, and sometimes are downright rotten, but they are so important. I'm grateful for Sue's efforts to build relationships with us.

Spring soccer

Bryce and Thane were eager to play soccer again this spring. Both of them were able to connect back up with the same coaches and most of the same players they had last fall.

Bryce's team shirts were bright orange and they decided to call themselves the "Orange Fluffy Unicorns (dancing on rainbows)." Sometimes they even had a mascot on the sidelines.

Since enrollment numbers are lower in the spring, there were only 9 boys on the team. Since 7 play at a time, that meant more playing time than usual.

There were numerous games when one or two boys were missing, so sometimes Bryce and his teammates played the entire game with no subs. That results in some pretty exhausted boys!

Bryce's team was solid and competitive in every game they played. Bryce continues to improve and showed tremendous growth this season. Most importantly, he still loves to play.

Thane's team named themselves the "Cookies." Thane is definitely a fan of the food name. He's already plotting name ideas for the fall team, "Tangerines, Potato Chips, Eggplants...."

Thane scored his first goal this season and was significantly less awkward than in previous seasons. He was actually a pretty solid player and contributor on his team this season (when he wasn't distracted).

To celebrate the end of the season, Thane's coach likes to have a parent versus child soccer game followed by potluck treats. The final score of the game was 3-2, with the kids pulling out a last-minute victory. I scored one of the parent goals, but Thane scored 2 of the kid goals! His coach asked, "Thane, where was that fire all season long?!"

Thane's favorite part was certainly the food. He really loves to eat, but he also loves soccer.

On nice days, we would bring Nellie or Graham to Thane's practice. Graham always made friends with the younger siblings of the players. Nellie enjoyed playing on the playground, but leaving was always rough.

We are looking forward to being back on the fields in the fall, and this time Graham will be playing again as well.