More Reward Charts

Reward Charts!

I have two kids that have been having a REALLY hard time in school. One of the two also has a really hard time communicating. So we set up behavior folders for each of them. On the cover it lists their first name, teacher, and grade. Inside the folder has a pocket on each side and a three hole area for the middle. One side of the folder has a place for their homework (since it was being thrown away), grades, or things that are coming home for us to see. The other side is for extra papers (I try to make up a couple months worth of papers). The three hole area has a calendar (one of my kids sees three teachers a day so she has a calendar that has a place for all three teachers to place comments. This is what hers looks like. The other child has just one teacher and so she has a more of a month calendar! It also has a reward chart that has a goal they are working on. I have the teachers pick the goal, but if you were doing something for home, you would want to. Our goals have been: Sitting in your seat and raise your hands if you need to tell the teacher something (since one likes to follow the teacher around), Telling the truth, bringing the folder to all the teachers to sign and then back home, Reading a book and telling the plot of the story at the end, Doing 10 subtraction problems, etc. If it is a hard one like sitting in your seat, then I divide that into three time periods and the teacher can give her up to three smiley faces or check marks on her reward sheet.

It also lists the reward they are going to get. So far we have done: Getting to go to the movie store and pick out your own movie to watch with the family, sleepover with grandma, Late night, game with mom and dad. It has been working really well.My problem though is that I had to make this up as I went along. The teachers are more than happy to do the goals, and to check things off and make notes, but not to organize the whole thing. I also thought I would have been able to find really cute goal/reward charts on the Internet that I could print off. I did find some and I will put that at the end of this post, but not many. So I decided I would just make my own. That way I can decide how many they need to get in order to get their reward. When I started this, they only had to get like five. Now I have increased it, so they are having to work harder for their prize.

It has really worked for us so far. Do we still have problems? YES! At least once a week I get a note from the teacher that something has happened, and once I got a call from the principal. But overall they are working harder, being more responsible, being more behaved, and getting better grades! If I end up making more, I will post them. Also this is the site I have been using a little:

http://www.freeprintablebehaviorcharts.com/singlebehaviorcharts.htm

Chores!

I never make my kids do house chores during the school year. But in the Summer, all bets are off.

So I came up with this idea. I made lists of jobs that need to be done. So below you see Racing Red Jobs. It basically is a list of how to straighten each bathroom, and then gives them one kitchen job.

I have four kids so I have Red, Green, Blue, and Yellow, each with a catchy title to help them remember. When each of these jobs are done, it will basically take care of the general picking up of things. Then I can focus on deep cleaning. My Husband has a list and I also have a list. We also have a Pain in the Neck Purple list and that takes care of monthly jobs. Anyway I bordered each of these lists with the color that they are, so they look really fun and bright (for some reason it wouldn't do it for you). Every Monday we rotate jobs. This makes it so they get the repetition of doing something multiple times, but they also get to learn to do other tasks. For my three year old, I help him (Ex. When he is wiping a counter off, I am also wiping it off. We do it together).

I keep these sheets with their goals for the week, their homework charts, their jobs charts that help them (brush teeth, comb hair, get dressed), and all the rules that we have, in a great binder. The kids take turns looking at it, and it really seems to work well. Last year I put a ring around every one's so they each had their own little stack. It didn't work as well. This way is a lot better. Anyway if any of you are like me and just needed a little more organization, you might want to try this.

Our Family Rules:

This was really hard for me to do. I had so many new rules I needed to add to my older household, but I didn't want to frame all of them. So I framed this one. This one is more behavior rules:

Then I made a list of Safety Rules:

Most of these are for my 3 year old. It might look like too much, but I needed to just write them down and know what I expect.

I also have another list of House rules. Rules, Rules, Rules! I know to some it might seem extreme, but for me it will give me the guidelines I need to be a better mother. They are written the like the above ones, with the following categories: Eating (Cleaning up After yourself), Friends (Friends need to clean up their mess & You need to ask before they come to play), Chores (Do Them or else you do nothing else), Watching (T.V, DVD's, or Playing the Wii), Homework & Music (Do it so you are smart), Computer (Internet safety), Respecting House (Breaking things, Etc.), Respecting God (Going to church, etc.), Respecting Visitors (Don't be wild, go on time out when you are asked, don't show off), Respecting Myself (no hurting yourself, or your body). I didn't show you a copy of this one, because they are rules my husband and I have made. But they were categories we thought were important to cover, especially as our children get older.

I put a copy off all rules in my 3 ring binder. I now keep everything to keep my family happy in it. I have all the rules, all the consequences for breaking the rules, Every one's Chore Charts, Every one's Mom Jobs, Every one's Goal Charts, What makes us happy as a family, and what makes each person happy, Mom & Dad Responsibilities, Extra Monthly Jobs, and tips I found on the Internet to help us be a great family.

I will share some of these later.

Hope this helps you, if you needed an intervention as well!

Charts

You are probably noticing that I put a lot of ideas up about behavior. That is because that is what I am dealing with at home. I want my children to be good kids, respectful, loving, friendly, etc. Everything I have learned about behavior, whether it is reading or a therapist, they have said to change it up quite a bit. So for me we take breaks on some stuff and do new stuff and then return when they are excited about doing it again. It really seems to work. Anyway today's idea:

I am a fan of charts for kids. This is an example of one I did for good behavior in the car. They get a sticker if they are quiet, a sticker if they are fast getting to the car, a sticker for good behavior, a sticker for cleaning up mess in car, and so on. They can have this every time you drive somewhere. I put it in plastic protectors and we keep it in the car. It makes it really easy to motivate good behavior.

I am doing charts right now that I found under My favorite websites/Charts. I printed up a different one for each child and gave each of them a goal I wanted. For Example two have the goal of Cleaning their room before school and turning off their light. One has the goal of going to time out and staying there. Lastly one has the goal of not hitting. When the simple chart is filled they get a surprise.

Easy and so far a great motivator. Here is the website or look on the side area.

http://www.stickersandcharts.com/