Sunday I went visiting teaching and the sister I was visiting asked if I was excited about summer break. I had to really think about it and decided a was a bit nervous. I've never had to deal with this before. Kindergarten was the first time that any of my children were away from me for a prolonged period of time and I'd gotten used to it. What would I do now that everyone was home ALL day? This sister I visit is brilliant with children. She is the resource teacher at one of the elementaries schools is Spanish Fork and she was Ian's primary teacher last year and Wesley's teacher this year. She is an incredible teacher. She shared with me what her mother used to do for the summer.
Monday was CLEANING DAY, getting the house back in order after the weekend
Tuesday BAKING/COOKING DAY, making special treats for daddy or cooking dinner
Wednesday is PARK DAY, visiting parks throughout the county & finding new ones
Thursday will be SCHOOL DAY,the day to practice some school work and keep all that precious knowledge from oozing out in the heat of the summer sun
Friday FIELD TRIP DAY, a day at the zoo or maybe a waterpark?
I LOVED this idea and I implemented it this past Monday. The kids were really excited too and so far they've had a great time. Monday we got 3 rooms straigtened, vacuumed, dusted, windows washed and sheets changed before they headed out the door to play in the sunshine. Yesterday we made pretzels. I've been wanting to try this recipe for soft pretzels forever (http://familyfun.go.com/recipes/scrumptious-pretzels-687097/) & just never had a real reason to do it. The pretzels turned out pretty good. We had to eat them while they were still warm; Austin's pretzel was pretty tough by the time he got home to enjoy it. Today we went to the park and played all morning, then we made a quick stop at the library before we headed back home for lunch. The kids are a little reluctant about SCHOOL DAY tomorrow, but I'm trying to come up with some ways to make it fun & only plan on actually working on homework for a short time, then playing some learning games together or something.
I want to try fitting in a ART CRAFT DAY as well. I'm feeling really good about how this is going and feel like I'm spending great quality time with the kids as well as giving them lots of play time to just be kids and allow myself time to get things done, too.
I'll keep you posted on how this goes as we keep going through the summer & catch some pics of our adventures. I wish I would have thought to get picks of the kids rolling out their pretzel dough, it was hilarious and flour was everywhere.
3 comments:
I did this idea last summer and it helped the kids to know what to expect day to day and. Also a great idea we do not just in the summer but on sick days or bored days with "learning" is to set up different stations. For example a writing station, art station, computer station, music station, activity station (I had Ty make baskets in his hoop from different places on the floor) and a learning station (Ty had to find different countries on the globe with clues I gave him). Also a fun thing my kids love is to do the letter of the week. They pick things out of a box that start with that letter, we read a book about it, do an activity page and go on a hunt to find things that start with that letter outside/inside and eat a snack that starts with the letter as well. Just some ideas to help! I know Isabelle loved her stations and stayed at the music one playing instruments and dancing the majority of the time. We'll have to meet up for the "field trip" day!
GREAT ideas!
Our "summer" is only three weeks, but it'd be great to impliment this on our off-track times. That'd lower the whine quotient around here.
We would love to pitch in and help as well as join you on Art craft days, park days or field trip days. You and Shaylynn gave me great ideas, thank you!
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