Chore Chart

Here is our latest and greatest Chore Chart that we are using in our family.  Having seven kids requires a lot of organization and planning.  Every once in a while, I switch things up to make doing chores more exciting.    

So I used my Silhouette SD and cut out this shape.  It is the chore_chart_grid_C00569_19210.  I increased the size and printed it out on about 4 sheets of vinyl that were paper size.  And I stuck it right on my refrigerator.

Then I used my Silhouette to print and cut out the coordinating icons that you can find in their online store.  It is great that the Silhouette has the option to print from your computer and then cut on the machine.  (Just make sure to print the registration marks on your paper.)  Before I printed, I sized down the circles to fit the size of my magnets (3/4 inch).  I added color and made sure to "tell" the machine not to cut out the shapes, but only the circles.

Here are the magnets that I bought.  I picked them up at Wal-Mart. And I used all fifty of them!

I used a cookie sheet with a paper on it to hold the magnets in place while I glued.

I used Tacky Glue to glue the papers down.

And then I used a Clear Gel Tacky Glue to glue the glass marble shapes (that are flat on one side) that I picked up in the floral department section.  (One tip that I learned is to put the glue on the marble and then attach it to the magnet.  It helps prevent the ink from smearing.)

I continued gluing the rest of the papers onto the magnets.  As you can see, I color coded the chores into groups.

Purple - put folded clothes away

Black - Practice piano

Green - Brush teeth

Orange - Homework

Pink - Practice stringed instruments (violin, cello, etc.)

Red - Clean room

Yellow - Make Bed

Blue - Other chores around the house

Next, I finished gluing the glass marbles onto the rest of the magnets.  I had so many marbles, that I was able to be picky with which ones I used.  Some of them had blemishes or weren't as large as I wanted.

Here's what the finished magnets look like.  I really liked the music ones!

Now onto the chore chart...

So here is the finished product:

I'm trying a new system, which has seemed to work great so far.  By this time in my children's lives, they know what they have to do and what needs to be cleaned.  So after they do their "jobs" they move the magnet next to their name and that shows me what they have done.

Everyone pretty much has the same jobs, except for the "blue magnets", or the household chores.  

So here's the catcher, whoever gets up first picks what house job they want to do, they finish it and then move the magnet for that job to their name.  This means that the person who waits to do their chores usually ends up with the job that no one wants.  These kids are running to get their jobs done, so they don't end up with the bathroom!  Haha!  I'm loving it!