Home Economy

As I've hinted in posts past, we've hit a few rough patches this summer.  The amount of fighting, screaming, and general freaking out amongst the children -- not to mention the complete disregard for obedience and respect all around -- has led to many a breakdown and near-breakdown on my part over the last couple of months.  There have definitely been some legitimate stressors around here that have triggered many of these issues {e.g. the move and all it has entailed}, but the fact of the matter is that it's time to start moving forward.  

Since I'm constantly searching for ideas and methods to help my kids grow up to be responsible and respectable contributing members of society, I've had a book called "The Entitlement Trap" on my radar for a little while now.  When a new friend here recommended it as well, I decided to finally bite the bullet and order it on Amazon so I could read it and have a copy at home as a resource.  I've finished half of it so far, and from what I've read, I really like it.  In the book, the Eyre's are really big on the importance of creating a sense of ownership for your children.  This concept really resonated with me, and for the past week we've put one of their methods to the test by creating our own little family economy here at home.  We took the basic outline of the plan detailed in their book, and tweaked it to work for our family. The three older kids are now a part of this "family economy" and when they contribute to it, they will be compensated.  One of the perks of this new system is that they will have the opportunity to earn a lot more money each month than they have in the past.  The expectation that comes along with this newfound opportunity, however, is that they will now have to buy all of their own stuff.  We'll provide their food and shelter, obviously, but for everything else they will have to pay.  Clothes, toys, treats, outings, entertainment -- you name it.  They are now responsible for it.

When we presented this new system last Saturday, Ethan and Grace were particularly stoked.  Who wouldn't be excited at the prospect of making more money?  Right?  Hahaha.  The basic rundown that we've adopted for our family is this:

{Checklist Chart courtesy of Ethan}

Each week they have the potential to earn 20 points.  Monday through Friday they have 4 areas in which to earn points -- Morning Routine {wake up, make bed, eat breakfast, get dressed, brush teeth, make lunch, and be IN the family room and ready for Scripture Time at 7:20};  Assignment {something they've been assigned to do for the entire week, such as take out the trash, and then once school starts it will include any homework assignments}; Zone {using our old chore chart system, the older three rotate between Kitchen, Family Room, and TV Room, and must have it done before Scott gets home from work and still perfecto when they go up to bed}; and Bedtime Routine {teeth brushed, clothes laid out and IN bed by their bedtime}.  Saturday morning they still have bigger chores to do that are separate from this point-earning system and once Alex is down for his nap we will have a family meeting and Pay Day.

The idea of earning more money sparked all kinds of interest and motivation after our meeting last Saturday.  I woke up Sunday morning to see the older two already hard at work on other money-making ventures.  Ethan created a store in his room to sell his old junk, and Grace quickly followed suit in her room.  The funniest part of the whole morning, however {at least to me}, was when Grace charged Sophie $0.55 for a hairdo for church.  Hahahaha.

Ethan's venture.

I don't think they quite thought through the idea that the only people in the house that might want to buy their junk don't have any money.  Hahahaha.

And Grace's.

Oh yeah.  

One blow dryer...

lots of detangler spray...

and some scrunching later and...

Voila!  We have a "curly" hairstyle!

Unfortunately, the custom hairdo didn't last very long due to another Grace venture.  You see, Grace is never all work and no play.  As I was taking pictures of the "store" in her room that morning, I noticed on her desk a book jacket that she had created at bedtime the night before.  

The Magical Rainbow and the Evil Leprechaun

Once she grew tired of making money, Grace turned her attention to the screenplay and casting for the above story.  About mid-morning, she came down with Sophie, Jane, and Alex all in costume and ready to start filming.  Hahaha.

Jane was the Magical Rainbow.

Sophie was the pot of Gold.

And Alex was the Evil Leprechaun.  Hahaha.

The rest of the week went better than expected in some ways and par for the course in others.  The checklist charts were HIGHLY motivating for Ethan and Grace {although, rest assured -- there were still some behavior issues}, while Sophie had a bit of a harder time getting on board.  Jane didn't want to be left out of the fun, so I whipped up a sticker chart for her on Monday morning and she LOVED putting her owl stickers in each box all week long.  

The final tally at the end of the week was 20 points for Grace, 19 for Ethan, and 9 for Sophie.  For Pay Day, we set up a sliding scale so that 18-20 points got full allowance, 15-17 points got half allowance, and less than 15 points got nothing.  We let them know last week that they could earn back up to 2 points {if they needed it} by memorizing scriptures, and that if they got a perfect score plus those extra 2 points we'd give them a $2 bonus.  Our ever-surprising surprise, Grace knocked it out of the park by getting 22 points this week!  Not to be outdone, Ethan spent the rest of his day working to earn more money by cleaning out and organizing the garage, cleaning out the car {a total trash heap} and vacuuming it, and cleaning up and organizing the office.  He did an awesome job!  And at the very end of the evening he used some of his hard-earned money to treat himself AND the girls to a Hawaiian Shaved Ice.  Every now and then they surprise you. Hahaha.  

All in all, I'd say our new economy is off to a great start.  And now that we've got that in motion, the next big thing on our horizon is school!  Only two more days.  And as much as I'm looking forward to it, I'm also very worried about the extra early {at least to us} start time, as the bus here will be coming a whole hour earlier than the bus came for their school in St. Louis.  Yikes!  It's times like this that I really wish I were naturally a morning person.  Unfortunately, I'm not -- so Monday morning is going to be dawning awfully early around here!  Until next time...