mixing chores and school

I had to run up to the club Tuesday morning and that really messes up our school day. I didn't know how well the kids would do without me there, so I told them 3 things they could do while I was gone. One of those was for my oldest to read aloud a chapter of our read aloud book. As I was walking out the door, I looked at our embarrasingly overgrown-with-weeds flower beds. I yelled back at the kids that they could weed the flower beds and I would pay them. I didn't know if they would do school while I was gone, so I thought at least I'd make some use of their time! I hurried at the club and when I pull into the driveway, I see my oldest sitting against the garage reading out loud to the boys and Cameron as they pull weeds. Now that's ingenuity at it's best! I was so excited! Raeley did not want to pull weeds, so she was content, and the other kids all had thier own bags full of weeds so I could see what kind of progress they were making. If I would just let them come up with solutions on their own more often!