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With 5 children, we find it easier for us to manage things with a set system.  Now, for about the last 5 years we have been trying several different systems, hoping one would fit our needs & our kid ages/types just right & I think we've finally got it!  It's a take on some of our old stuff & a take on some new stuff I found.  And because it took so long to put into play & it's a major change for our family, I just had to share because when you share it just gives you that extra little push you need to keep working hard. 

#1 - The calendar.  It's a Real Simple color coded calendar my friend Sybil gave me.  I LOVE IT!  I love the color coded system.  We have Orange for School, Brown for Church, Blue for Dr. Appt's & Green for Extracurricular Activities.  It came with labels, but I don't always use them. I just use colored markers.  We used to have a dry erase calendar but little hands got curious & wanted to erase things & put in their own things, so it just wasn't a good fit for us.  

#2 - The Clipboards are my favorite new item!  We had a problem keeping school papers from getting lost, things we had to sign, things that needed to be returned or replied to.  So, the kids empty their folders when they come home from school. They show me their schoolwork, we set it aside in a tray for Dad to look at when he comes home.  They can keep what they'd like, we recycle the rest.  Then anything that is important or that needs some kind of reply or signature, gets put on Mom & Dad's clipboard.  Once we sign it, we put it back on the child's clipboard. They check their clipboard in the morning & put that item in their backpack to take back to school.  Things we find on the floow also go on the child's clipboard, misplaced homework or folders, etc.  We have only been using it for 3 days, but WE LOVE IT & it is working perfectly!!!!  

#3 - Chore Charts - Basically I was desperate for help with the house.  It is just far too big for me to do all on my own & just having the kids do a chore here & there was really not helping.  We put together the Royal Decree.  Each King & Queen has their own Kingdom - the room of the house they are responsible to keep clean that week.  Then they have their Daily Deeds - two more small scale chores they are asked to do during the week. Most chores are not even required daily, but are very helpful to Mom & Dad.  Then they have their Day at the Royal Spa for Queens & Clean up After Battle for the King.  These are the days of the week they are to take a bath.  We can't bathe all 5 kids every night for economic reasons & time reasons, so they each get two days a week & everyone gets a bath on Saturdays in preparation for church.  And last is To The Dungeon! This is their laundry day.  They each have two bags, one for colored clothes & one for whites & they are responsible for bringing their clothes downstairs to be washed on their laundry day.  If they don't, they miss their day & will have to make do with what they have until their day comes around again.  (They do get friendly reminders of course!!) Oh, I forgot to mention that the kingdoms & the daily deeds change every week so they have variety. So everything is put up there with velcro in case we want to change any of it.

#4 - Daily schedule - We have a schedule for school days & non-school days.  It helps the kids to know what they need to be doing at a certain time.  This is not a military school (but we're working up to it, hahahaha), but my kids thrive on routine & knowing what's coming next.  Noah follows it the best, Mavaney gets sidetracked a lot & is always behind schedule & Isabelle moves too fast for me to even see what she's up to.  So, even if we don't follow it to a T, we'll take following it to a E (enough to feel like we're trying).

#5 - I didn't take a close up because it looks too awful, but I have a birthday/anniversary calendar that we made at a Super Saturday eons ago.  But, I really like it. Each block represents a month & you just write in the day & who the special day corresponds to. That way I can look up there & see who I need to send a card to that month.  This is not foolproof because I'm still terrible at it, but I keep it up there anyway.  

That's it!  I pray it works!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Or I'll just have to pretend we live in a chicken coop & cover all the floors with straw, throw food at the kids when they need it & change diapers when the babies lay eggs.