Now for a little expansion on my
last post about our summer schedule. I
would like to reiterate that this schedule is for our convenience. There have already been days, and there will
be more, when we completely dispense with the schedule because something bigger
is going on (for example: summer camps, company, etc.). My summer schedule is really a guide for
long, open days. When our days are
already scheduled for us and busy, we go with that. Trying to do both is stressful, which goes
against the whole point.
Our week features a different theme
each day. Before the day begins we
already have a plan for what we are going to do and when. I am a planner (can you tell?), so usually
Sunday evening is our family planning day.
We discuss any formal plans or schedules and coordinate. The event only takes up part of the day, except
for rare occasions, so they don’t feel like I’m smothering them. Some of our themes we’ve used are:
- Cleaning Day consists of one big cleaning job that we all complete together, such as deep cleaning a room. I limit the time involved to about an hour or so, and then they have free time for the rest of the day. Simple. We don’t spend the whole day cleaning. Yes, it’s more work to have little ones help you clean than doing it yourself. No, it doesn’t get as clean as it would doing it yourself. But we turn on music and have as much fun as someone can when cleaning. And believe it or not, all these years of having my kids do chores are starting to pay off. My teenagers are pretty decent housekeepers if I keep my finger on them. I like to remind them that the maid isn’t coming today (I’m still waiting for her), and I can’t do it all, so they have to pitch in.
- Cooking Day: it’s important to me to teach my kids how to cook good food. Cooking day consists of all of us making a recipe together. Sometimes it’s basic, like bread and sometimes it’s fun like caramel apples. But we have a lot of fun doing it and I hope they are learning skills for the future. Oh, and everyone helps clean up.
- Outing Day has been as simple as a picnic at the park and as complicated as riding the city bus into town and window shopping for the afternoon. (Try it—your kids will love it) My kids like to give suggestions and I make the final plans. Some fun things we’ve done include touring local businesses (candy factory, honey/beehive business, dairy), hikes, visiting dad at work for lunch, making boats from recycled trash and racing them in the stream at the park, and eating out.
- Movie Day: we watch a movie, sometimes in our pajamas, complete with popcorn and other treats. Make sure you turn off the ringers and don’t answer the door.
- Friend Day is when each child gets to schedule a play date with a friend at our house. This is usually reserved for those friends not in our neighborhood—you know the ones that you actually have to call beforehand.
- Library Day: we’re big readers at our house and we go to the library regularly. Library day serves two purposes: to remind me to get us there often, and to keep the kids reading--if they know they have to return a book on a certain day, they'll make sure they finish it before then. We also participate in the summer reading program so the kids are motivated to go and redeem prizes, etc. Usually I schedule library day before movie day so we have a few movies to choose from.
I hope you send your summer
activity ideas my way so I can add to this list. Next time, look forward to a post about how
I get my kids to pitch in even more.
This goes way beyond chores.
