Household - Organization Charts

I am a self-recognized control freak and with five kids running, crawling and laying around here things can get pretty hectic really fast! I have been living in a state of total turmoil for too long. Mentally I can't take the stress of going with the flow with 5 kids! I need order in order to function and stay sane! So I sat down and figured out what are our most challenging areas as a family of 7 and tackled the task of figuring out how to make those areas smoother. Charts seemed like the best solution, of course when I came up with this I forgot only 1 of my kids actually reads so we will be revamping some of the charts to help the big girls be more self-sufficient.

Our first area of concern is early mornings, the kids need to be at daycare by 6:30 so Owen and I can be to work by 7 am. This means we are usually up by 4:30, Owen and I try to get ready first then he gets Jahvar up and he gets himself dressed. Owen then dresses the big girls while I dress the littles. After they are dressed the kids are responsible for taking their lunchboxes out of the fridge and putting them in their backpacks and putting on their shoes and coats. Its a joint effort to get everyone's teeth brushed. So these are the charts we use for these tasks. (The chore charts are what I am going to revamp, I'm going to print and laminate pics of shoes, coats and lunchboxes for the girls to stick in the square once its completed.) Each older child is also responsible for helping a smaller child in some small way in the morning. Jahvar carries Livi's backpack to the car, Lillee helps Ari with her shoes and coat if she needs it, and Ari carries Kirstie's bottle bag down the stairs each morning. Each child is also reminded on this chart that they still need to brush their teeth if they haven't done so already.

This is an example of their Week Day Morning Chores: each child is responsible for their lunchbox, backpack, shoes and coat as well as one responsibility of helping a child that's smaller then them (Duggar style).

The early wake up time usually means grumpy kids who don't want to be up which starts lots of arguments. I realized that usually my first communication with the bigger kids each morning was usually breaking up a fight. I didn't want that to be what they remember from their childhood so the first chart I created was our "Good Morning" chart. Every night before I go to bed I write them each a note to tell them how much I love them or how proud I am of them for something they did that day. It is posted at the bottom of the stairs so when they come down the stairs each morning the first thing they see is positive. This also helps Jahvar with interacting with the girls because he reads theirs to them every morning.

I actually found this at the Dollar Tree in the teaching section and I love it!

 The chart below I found on google, I chose it because the kids mark off both their morning and evening brushing plus it has dark blue squares weekly to remind the child to floss. Which is how often our dentist suggested they floss.


I am using very tiny star stickers to mark this chart, once the month is completed I'm going to have them remove the sticker for the spot to mark its done for the following month. I figure this will save stickers and help them work on their fine motor skills at the same time!

 

The next area of concern is when we get home from our day. Usually the kids come into the house first dropping their bags, coats and shoes right in front of the door. So when Owen and I come in behind them carrying the babies and usually other bags of groceries or whatever we trip over everything that's been left on the floor. So I created another chart for After School. This chart also doubles as our bath schedule because with 5 kids you need to have a bath schedule just to make sure you don't forget anyone for a week!

This was in the package with the other poster I got from Dollar Tree. Both posters for just $1.

Another problem we faced was that each child is on medication, it is very easy to forget these important medicines when you have 5 kids and 2 parents who could be giving it to them. So I found these charts on google which are actually meant to be used when your child has a cold or something so you don't miss a dose but I modified it a bit. So now once Owen or myself give them the med for the day we initial the chart to ensure each child gets the correct medicine each day.

Medicine Charts
 

With a family of 7 our schedules can be hectic, I keep everything written down on a calendar in my purse which works for me but then Owen has no idea what's going on. So I am now doing monthly and weekly schedules for all of us that are posted by the door so he is able to see what's going on as well. These were also found at the Dollar Tree. Both in the same package for only $1.

Monthly/Weekly Schedules

We have not mastered this new chart process yet but it is definitely helping us become more organized and giving me peace of mind.