Summer Schedules

As I work on this year's Summer schedule I thought I'd share with you some of the ways we organized summer last couple years and made it easier (and more fun!) for all of us.

1. Team up!  I teamed up with my friend Dana.  You can just have something planned once a week with someone or do babysitting swaps so you can have some quiet time (to blog...).

Dana and Em

on a trip to Alaska

2.We chose a theme each week.  Our children go to public school and so we decided to emphasize a religious education during the summer (along with reading and math).

Dana, her daughter Mackenzie, Em and Bailey

We took the girls to tea as part of our "Virtuous Girls" theme

3. We had set items we did each week.  Monday we'd go to the library and the park.  Wednesdays we'd go to the beach or the pool and then have a movie.  Fridays we'd plan our field trips.  Tuesdays and Thursdays were free days for running errands or letting the kids run around in the yard.  We would add in different activities but the frame of the schedule stayed the same and we could dress it up (or down) as much as we wanted to.

Chloe at the beach

4. We had a set learning time every day, most of the time in the morning before we got going.  Some days we would do science experiments, other days a workbook, sometimes they would just read.  We also did do our journals every day.

5. Journal.  Our girls used an unruled composition notebook.  I would give them lined paper which they would write their story of what happened that day (or the day before).  It would be pasted into the book and they would then draw a picture to illustrate the story.  At the beginning of each week I would insert a page including the dates of the week, the theme, our scripture verse for that week, and a place to jot down note like what books they had read.

Making pine cone bird feeders on our annual camping trip

to Polipoli

6. Go through your craft books with your kids and mark the things they're interested in.  Pick a few and see if you can stretch it into one of your themes.  For instance one week our theme was Reaping what you Sow-we planted a miniature garden.

7. Blogs I always refer to when planning summer:

      Crafty Crow

      Make and Takes

      Pre-Kinders

      Family Fun

      DLTK bible activities
      No Time For Flashcards

8. Plan a trip.  We always go camping.  Sometimes we take a big trip to the mainland.  Sometimes we camp out in our front yard.

  

I'm planning on doing a few more detailed posts on our summer activities we've done in years past, including the themes, their activities, and scriptures.  Sound good?