Happy New Year friends! One of the most difficult things for me, as a homeschool mom, is trying to get my kids to do their chores. Before I made this change in doing chores, my house was always a disaster, and I was always getting upset with the kids for not listening when I told them to clean up. Well, this new way of doing chores, has changed everything for us.

Every year, we try to come up with resolutions. Generally these are things that we forget about a week later, or a month later. Resolutions can be so difficult to keep, but I hope you can make this change, because it is so worth it.

My 2025 Resolution

This year, my biggest resolution is to make time for myself. When I decided to stay home with the kids and homeschool them, some of my dreams got put on hold. Of course, my kids and husband are a big part of my dreams. I loved working though, and having interactions with people. My goal is to create as much inventory as I can this year, so that I have products to sale at the local farmer’s market this summer, and possibly even get some of my items into a local store.

Using the name Homeloved Mama, I would like to create learning toys for kids. Anything that could help make a homeschool mom’s day easier, is what I would like to try to do. Along with that, I want to make gifts for mom’s, because we do a lot, and even though you aren’t told every day, I know your kids appreciate you. This is my goal for 2025, and I am so very excited about it!

Simple Chore List

This post will be much shorter than normal, because it is just so simple. I was getting so beyond frustrated with the state of my house, because no one was helping me keep it clean. Asking the kids to help me, seemed like such an impossible task. I saw an idea for a chore list on Facebook, but I tweaked it a bit.

Currently, I have an 8 year old and 2 year old. Their levels of cleaning are completely different, so I created a list of Big Kid Chores, and then a list of Little Kid Chores. I did this by inserting a table into a Word Document. It is very simple and very basic, but it gets the job done. In the second column, I created a list of Big Kid Awards, and a list of Little Kid Awards. The chores had a money amount associated with each one, so that they could earn money. Then the awards had a price next to each one. The money earned from the chores, could be used to pay for the awards.

So simple, but I don’t have to ask my oldest to do chores anymore. She just does them, because she wants to play video games or watch television. It is a wonderful thing!

Earning Money

You may be wondering about the money being earned. This is not done with real money. I went to the Dollar Tree and picked up this kit of fake money. This is what I use for their chores. Their is no reason why they should be getting real money for this, in my opinion. When I was growing up, if I worked hard in school and helped around the house, my parents were happy to purchase items that I wanted from the store. I apply the same idea to my children. Now, depending on the price of the item they want from the store, I may put an amount of days or chores on that item before purchasing it for them. This seems to work out well for my little family.

As money is earned, I place it into envelopes with my kids’ names on them. I tape these envelopes to the well by the chores list, so it is all organized. Whenever an award is given, I simply take that money out of the envelope and put it back into the bag of fake money.

Extra Helpful Tips

Next to the chores list, I have my Melissa & Doug Responsibility Chart. I really like to mark off the chores that my kids do throughout the day, so that I can visually see how much has been done that day. My mother got me this chart when I first decided to homeschool my daughter, and I absolutely love it. You can purchase it from Amazon at https://www.amazon.com/Melissa-Doug-Responsibility-Developmental-Encourages/dp/B01ALIQY1E/ref=asc_df_B01ALIQY1E?mcid=fc7f5aae6c363daabe00b52adaf5d338&hvocijid=1808754941931552206-B01ALIQY1E-&hvexpln=73&tag=hyprod-20&linkCode=df0&hvadid=721245378154&hvpos=&hvnetw=g&hvrand=1808754941931552206&hvpone=&hvptwo=&hvqmt=&hvdev=c&hvdvcmdl=&hvlocint=&hvlocphy=1027744&hvtargid=pla-2281435176658&psc=1.

Another thing that I like to do for my oldest, is to put a money amount on her subjects in school. She works so hard on her school work, so if I see that she makes it through a subject without complaining, I will give her $20 to go towards her awards. This helps keep her motivated, because her morning is spent doing school, which means there isn’t much time in the morning for chores.

I hope this idea helps your 2025 go a little bit smoother! It is my favorite change that I made in my home.

A Lesson on The New Year for Kids

During this holiday season, our wonderful Children’s church director has been out of town, so I have taken over while she is away. I found this silly, yet very informative video on YouTube about the New Year and what change looks like as a follower of God. I hope your kids enjoy it!

The verse that I took away from this, and shared with the kids was this:

“Remain in me, as I also remain in you. No branch can bear fruit by itself; it must remain in the vine. Neither can you bear fruit unless you remain in me.” – John 15:4

This year, in order to make real change, you can only do it through God. I pray that your year is blessed, and full of wonderful memories to be made.