One of the many benefits of homeschooling is that you can teach your child to hone his skills in doing household chores. As a mother of three grown children (RD is the fourth and youngest), it is with regret that I admit that we had never trained our three older kids to do household work. They always had the house help to follow up after them as they were growing up, and it has proved to be disadvantage to them. Now that they are in college, and living separately from us, they are just learning how to keep house. I have vowed to make things different with RD. This early, I am already training him to do household chores, so he doesn’t need to learn them on his own later.

Does you homeschooler do household chores? How do you go about it? What about rewards? Here are some tips: 1. Schedule a different chore each day so he knows how to do varied chores around the house.

2. Explain the “WHYS” (e.g., Why is it important to do household chores?, etc.)

3. Do it by example!  1) Show him how to do it.   2) Do it with him.   3) Watch him do it.    4) Let him do it alone.

4. What about rewards? NEVER reward young children with money for doing chores! It will foster a “what’s-in-it-for-me” attitude that will carry on until adulthood. (And you don’t want that!) In the end, he won’t do anything for you unless he is paid!

– Age 3-7: Stickers or stars on their chore charts will do

– Age 8-12: A trip to Jollibee/McDo, a movie or their favorite thing to do is advisable, but NEVER A TOY. (i.e., “Clean the bathroom and get to see a movie or eat at Jollibee.”)

– Age 13 up: Teenagers may be paid with money because they now understand why they are being paid. Major chores (like doing laundry, babysitting his brother or sister, meal preparation or gardening) should have a set amount of payment.

5. Make them learn to manage their money: pay for their own clothing, toys, etc. Most important! Emphasize saving their earnings in a savings account.