I spent a few hours tonight making new chore lists for summer and new chore charts and of course...Reading Bingo. Wouldn't be summer without it around here. It's great motivation to read through the summer and although the girls would probably read anyway, I'm not sure Joe would. This is how it works...they each get a "Bingo" card with 25 squares. I have filled in a few to vary their reading somewhat but then they fill in the rest. For each chapter book they read they get to fill in a square and pick a prize from the jar. The first year I did it they got a prize for "bingo," hence the name but now that they read longer books I just give a prize per book read.
We don't have a lot of money so most of the prizes are either non-monetary or are very cheap. Some of them benefit everyone like beach trip and bowling and then some are in there multiple times insuring that each child can get that prize at least once. Here's a sampling of the prizes--Bake a treat, Milkshakes for dessert--your choice, DVD from Redbox, 2 DVDs from library, Trip to the $1 movie, choose popsicles at the store, invite a friend to go walk around the mall, move your movie choice to the top spot in the Netflix queue, Netflix movie night--your choice!, Family bingo + prizes (Annmarie--I'll need help with some cheap prize ideas, I remember you doing this), and that about covers it. Most prizes seem to be food or movie related. I'm not very creative when it comes to stuff like this and as I've learned over the years--the prizes have to be easily redeemable (like "Do a Science Experiment" wasn't as thrilling as I thought it might be for the recipient nor did I want to do it).
I've hung the chore charts and even made one for myself with one cleaning area or chore a day...we'll see if I can stick to it. :0) I think it was last summer that I gave the kids the summer off from chores--that was stupid! I can't keep up with the housework alone and they definitely have more than enough time. One other new thing we're doing this year to help counteract all of the popsicles and ice cream our kids tend to eat in the summer is having them earn their dessert. I made cards that say, "I've exercised for 15 minutes today," and they have to have gotten a card in order to get dessert. This shouldn't be too hard--jumping on the trampoline counts, riding bikes, swimming, a walk around the block, etc.
We're officially ready to start summer break now! :0)
