Summer’s here. Swimming, sleeping in, vacation, cookouts….loosing my mind because I either overplanned or didn’t plan enough? So this year I’m keeping it simple because these days simple is what I need but I know the kids need a schedule. If there is no schedule I will get tired of answering what do I do next? Then from there it will all fall apart. I will especially loose my mind even more and back in the hurricane I go.
SCHEDULE
8:00 – Make Bed / Breakfast / Feed Flower / The Y
10:00 – Errands / Activity
11:30 – Lunch
12:00 – Quiet Time / Read / Practice Music
1:00 – Chores / Play outside / Neighbors / Playdates (all chores must be done before play)
5:30 – Dinner
BOREDOM JAR
This worked like a charm last year. Together we came up with activities they could do to break the boredom. I added some of my own but they mainly came up with them. When they felt bored or complained I sent them to the jar. They had to do what they pulled be it clean up their room, play outside for 10 minutes, write a thank you note…no exceptions. They really loved it.
Thanks to Mum In the Madhouse here’s a boredom list already made.
EXPLORATIONS FOR SUMMER
I’ve also already made a list of activities to do this summer that way I’m not stressing about what to do with the kids. I will not feel guilty if I don’t do all of these because I know I won’t get to them all and that is okay.
Beach
Cummins Falls State Park
Picnic
Camping
Cheekwood
Zoo
Science Center
Museum
SOAR
Gocarts
Kayak
The Crag
Nashville Shores
Lucky Ladd
FUN THINGS TO DO AT HOME
- Sleep over with girls in their own room
- Date Night with each girl
- Pen pals – the girls wanted to do this last year but it just didn’t happen. The school suggests writing over the summer so this will be our writing time. Here’s a great link to help guide the kids in the writing and corresponding process.
PBS Penpals - Make paperback books – We did this with Flower last year using Blurb. The girls came up with the words, theme and helped upload. I took the pictures pro bono. This year I’m going to let them to do as much as they can and sell them to friends.
CHORES
This will also keep them busy and give me more time for my own little summer break. Right? The girls have a chore chart they typically follow and pay themselves. When they are falling behind I remind them of the toy they want and that gets them in gear.
I hope this helps make summer a bit smoother for us all.
