Tuesday, March 15, 2011

Routine and Rhythms: Our New Morning Lotto Charts

Nature has rhythms.  Life does, too.  But, somehow, we keep getting off beat here at Jammies School. 

To help us get back in tempo, I was planning to simply resurrect our Wake-Up Time and Daily Rhythm Charts, which remained effective until cards began to go missing.  However, as I was about to click “print” in order to make replacement cards, Jack scooted across the floor.

 

“Ah!” I realized.  No need for our newly mobile Jack to be gnawing at cards that might get dropped on the floor.  Nope.  A revised system was in order!

 

Thus, the kids and I spent yesterday morning creating and giving a trial run to our new Morning Lotto Cards.  I made the main framework for each card and, then, Luke and Nina sat on my lap to select their own images from Microsoft Office clip art to personalize their own cards.  (They helped Mommy make one for herself and insisted on making one for Jack, too.)  

 

 We hung our Morning Lotto Cards in the hallway in page protectors and put them to inaugural use by “x”ing things we had already done that morning and “o”ing things we had yet to do with a dry erase marker.

 

You should have seen how motivated those x’s and o’s made the kids to complete their current morning routines.

 

My hope is that we will go for coverall Lotto every day until our early morning rhythm gets back on track.  Then, I am going to roll the Lotto cards into a larger plan I have incubating to capitalize on Luke’s desire to earn some money and mine to have a better ordered home and more consistent habits for all.

 

I can also seem them working into kiddo workboxes and Momma workboxing when we get that set up down the line.

 

If you’d like to borrow our Morning Lotto Charts, you can simply click on the photo of each one below and it should come up with one large enough for you to print.   You’d just need to tape your own names and photos over the appropriate parts at the tops.  

 
 If a full-sized version does not come up, or if you would like a Publisher copy to adapt for your own use, simply leave a comment with your email address and I will try to upload one to send you via email.

 

(And, if you can give a simple tutorial on how to upload documents like this in a free, easy way at one of the document sharing sites, please do.  I have yet to get that technically savvy!)

 

Enjoy!

 

This post is being shared at 5 Minutes for Mom’s Tackle It Tuesday and We Are THAT Family's Works for Me Wednesday. Click on the links there to see other projects folks have been tackling and tips they've been sharing to make their homes and lives run more smoothly.  It is also being shared as a part of For Thy Sake: Teaching Children to Value Family Work.

10 comments:

Unknown said...

I love your charts. I found that starting routines at a young age was an awesome idea. I love how motivated the kids are.

MommyLES said...

That is a great idea! I might give it a try to remind and encourage my boys to do their thing. :)

Anonymous said...

I love the Images Luke chose for "pray" and "brush teeth." I laughed out loud when I saw them because they are just what my son would have chosen! Have a wonderful day!

Pam

PrettyGirlInAPlaceLikeThis said...

What a wonderful idea, I am definitely going to use these! We have a daily schedule, but a little more detail in the morning might help! Thank you so much for sharing!

Anonymous said...

Super cute!

...danielle

The Adventurer said...

These are great. I need to create one to include brush hair and put on deodorant. I have a preteen who is resisting growing up:) Now following hope you will take a peek at mine and follow back if you like what you read:) Found you on workboxes.

Anonymous said...

That's a great idea. I'm always looking for ways to help simplify things around here in the morning. For whatever reason mornings seem really hectic (even when we have nowhere to go). I'm going to steal that idea!

simply heidi said...

This is a fantastic idea! I love the way it combines morning responsibilities with the fun of a game. Wonderful!
(As for uploading documents - you might look into issuu? http://issuu.com/home)

simply heidi said...

Oh, and thanks for linking up! :)

Kimberlee at SD said...

These are super cute! Love how the baby has 'be loved' as one of his morning 'chores', LOL!
~Kimberlee, The Spunky Diva

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