Making a Responsiblity Check List for the Morning

How many mornings do you have to repeat the same things over and over to get your kids out the door?  I know that I have turned the steps into a song so that my son can sing it over and over again to remember what else he has to do but I would like to take a little of the fight out of the morning routine so I made a chart from the ten things that we need to do in the morning to get out of the house.  I am hoping that this makes the process a little easier so I thought that I could share if you wanted to make one of your own.

Get a file folder (ours just happens to be red) and a list of responsibilities written out (or typed).  I used a font that had a "normal A" as my son says instead of the "fancy a" with the line over it so that I didn't get a discussion about that so make sure you choose what works for you.  If you have younger kids, use words with pictures to make list so that they can "read" it themselves.  If you only use pictures, you could probably cut the folder in half and not use as much of a flap.

Then, get glue, rulers and scissors.  I used the glue stick for the paper and white glue for the magnets.

I grabbed two magnets that we had under the sink that we got for some freebie awhile ago.  They are the thin magnets and were already stuck together so I didn't have to wonder.  I put them together and cut into 10 piece sets which is how many I needed.  You could always buy magnets but it is much better to cut up the ones that you get from the local real estate agent or doctors office so keep your eyes open if you don't already have a pile of them like we do.  I cut out the papers and lined everything up to make sure it fit.

I measured the one side to 10 mostly equal parts to see what it would look like and then I cut them across.  After finishing it, I used the white glue to glue a magnet in the middle of each section.

On the other side, I used the glue stick to glue the responsibilities on using the cuts in the other side to guide my centering.

I flipped the folder over and attached the DONE! to flaps on the outside of the folder.

 

I had to be patient and let it dry because all the white glue was still wet but when it is totally done drying, I still need to attach the other line of magnets so that they are touching.  They don't have to fully connect so I think that it should be pretty easy to eyeball but hard to do when the other side is still wet because they get stuck and pull off.

I can't wait to test out the chart on Monday morning and see if it gets us out to school with less fighting in the morning.  I am also crossing my fingers that I can change the last one for the summer time and not have to make a new chart!  Hope you try it out too and see if it works for you!!