Two years ago, almost exactly to the day, I wrote a post about our weekly summer schedule. That post is the most popular post written on my blog with over 42,000 page views. That post gets high traffic this time of year, but since things are looking a little different this summer, I decided to adapt the post a bit for you, and give you some ideas on how you can make the most of this summer for your children, even with the current climate in the world.
I want to preface all of this with the fact that I don't think you need to do one of these things every single day. If you find yourself bored and want to do something, use this as a guide. I honestly don't believe in over structuring summer. How many of us look back on our own childhood and think, "I'm so glad my mom used a block schedule the summer of 1999 and that I learned about the Spanish Inquisition and long division..." (Not throwing shade at people who LOVE doing this kind of thing, I'm just not that kind of mom, and know I don't have the energy to keep up with anything like that!)
I'm all for routine, and finding a natural rhythm and pattern in our days, but I think the second we start telling ourselves life has to be done one way, and it needs to be that way every single time, it's when we find ourselves burnt out, stressed out, and disappointed by false expectations. I hope this post can serve as a great guide to help you with ideas of things you can do with your children, but in no way make you feel pressured to do any of these things.
Make it Monday:
Monday's are a great time to get our crafting on! We're fresh from the weekend and feeling fun and motivated right? I love getting little paint kits from the Target Dollar Spot, or Dollar Tree. I also love just getting a bunch of random crafts supplies like paper, paint, beads, string, glue, popsicle sticks, and letting their imaginations run wild!
Learning Tuesday:
I am not a workbook/school work every day of the summer kind of mom. However, you could take a day a week to do a fun story time or music class with your kids. Let them pick a topic that they want to learn more about and make a mini lesson on it. If your child struggles with a certain subject, you could take 20 minutes a week to work on that with them. In our house it would be numbers with Kinsley and writing with Kyle. I don't want them to lose a lot of ground in those subjects over the summer, so those might be the things I decide to work on IF we are feeling up to it.
Water Wednesday:
One of my very favorite things to do with my kids is fill up a kiddie pool with water, throw them and their plastic toys inside of it, and let them have a ball for hours in the backyard. I plan on doing this weekly when we move. Other fun things could be water blobs, water balloons, squirt guns, running through the sprinklers, slip-n-slides, and any other water game your children love!
Adventure Thursday:
Adventures are harder this summer with splash pads likely staying closed. Things I hope to do are hikes, nature walks, nature scavenger hunts, scenic drives, and any other thing that gets us outdoors and exploring!
Foodie Friday:
I really want to get Kyle cooking more in the kitchen this summer. We bought him a kid's cookbook, and are working our way through it currently. You can cook with your kids, go out for ice cream or shaved ice, or do a family date night and eat somewhere new you've never been.
Super Saturday:
This is a great day to do something as a family since the work week is over. Go on a camping trip, to the drive-ins, have a BBQ, game night, or sleepover in the backyard. The sky is really the limit. Whatever you do, do it together as a family!
Sundays:
I did not include this on my graphic, but Sundays are a day where we go to church (depending on when they open again), or we do church at home with our kids. Then we just relax and spend most of the day at home laying pretty low. It's a reset day for us where we just take time to be together as a family with no real agenda.
What are your plans this summer? Do you like doing small things with your kids each day, or stick to a more structured schedule? I'd love to hear what works for you in the comments!
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Is there a printable for this schedule? I love it!
ReplyDeleteThere is not a printable, but you can easily save this to your computer by rick clicking and saving it, and then you should be able to print it from there. It's 8x10 size!
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