summer already?

Posted on by Julie Stiles Mills

Yep.

One more full day of school (Tuesday) and two more half days (Wednesday and Thursday). That’s it. Then “Mayhem” is officially OVER for us!

Early!

So here, at the BEGINNING of summer are the:

GOOD THINGS:
No more crack of dawn alarm clocks!
No more struggle from bed to shower to breakfast to car every morning!
No more car line!
No more packing lunches the night before!
No more laying out clothes the night before!
No more packing backpacks the night before!
No more permission slips!
No more fundraisers!
No more check writing for this and that, and this and that.
(FirstHusband calls it the death of a thousand paper cuts.)
No more multiple trips to school in one day.
No more HOMEWORK!

Every summer, I like the kids to tackle LEARNING something. Because – if left to their own devices – they would completely VEG in front of video games and television while constantly complaining about how BORED they were. So here are:

THE PLANS:
Minimum of 1/2 hour of LEARNING every day
PinkGirl has decided to continue learning computer keyboarding and math everyday. We like online typing games. We also got our own copy of her 2nd Grade math book last summer and we are ordering our own copy of her 3rd Grade math book this summer.
FavoriteSon has decided to continue learning to play the guitar. I think he should learn something else too. Poor guy. He doesn’t know yet.

Minimum of 1/2 hour of READING every day.
PinkGirl has decided to start with her BoxCar Children books.
FavoriteSon has no preference so FirstHusband and I have picked some out for him to start:
The Case for Faith by Lee Strobel and Slaying the Dragon: How to Turn Your Small Steps to Great Feats by Michael Johnson.

Minimum of 1/2 hour of physical activity every day:
PinkGirl has the redneck pool (photo HERE), so that’s not usually an issue, except for rain.
FavoriteSon has some sports camps, but on the days he doesn’t, he has committed to strength training and basketball. I’m committed to getting back to a two minute plank before he can do one. He knows I can’t do any strength training until after June 16th, so he’s slacking.

So, learning, physical activity and reading. What else? Any ideas?

I’m thinking I might “strongly encourage” each of them to plan and cook a meal or two, or four per month. It rains every afternoon in the summer anyway, it’s not like we’ll be in the pool at that time of day.

Let’s finish up with a preview of a few GOOD things about summer being OVER:

I will be able to complete a thought.
I will be able to hear clocks tick in the solitude I will have been deprived of for nearly 3 months.

Find more ideas over at Works for Me Wednesday, hosted by Mary at Giving Up on Perfect.

Works for Me Wednesday posts prior to January 2015 are archived at We Are THAT Family

Works for Me Wednesday posts prior to February 2009 are archived at Rocks In My Dryer

8 thoughts on “summer already?”

  1. We still have two full weeks. Wednesday, June 3rd is our last day. Sigh. In past years, we’ve been out by Memorial Day, but thanks to the Texas Legislature, we had to start later and therefore finish later.

    I like your ideas. My kids are natural readers, but I do need to incorporate the 30 minutes of activity each day.

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  3. We finish here at the end of June, and return in September. When do your kids go back?

    Enjoy 🙂

    I like the idea of half an hour of reading, and half an hour of learning every day – may give this a go.

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  4. So glad to read you’re up and around. As for reading about the tummy tuck….all I can say is “wow”… that is definitely something to be jealous about. Now I’ll definitely have to get on the treadmill (I was considering skipping it). My cheergirl isn’t out of school until 6/11, then off to FTL for 2 months:( At least I’m going to Hawaii…yeah for me! Hey! Don’t over do it! you’re still recovering. I had a c-section and remember it too well. take care 😀 j

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  6. Half an hour of reading? My kids would throw a fit. They LOVE to read AT LEAST a few hours a day in the summer – usually laying a-bed in the mornings. We have 14 days left (not that I’m counting or anything!).

    Debbie – That’s MINIMUM! And often, PinkGirl reads in bed at night, but that doesn’t count. Both kids have a lot of camps this summer too – at least 5 weeks for each of them, some overlapping, some not. On those days, we will be out of the house by 8:30 a.m. (by JSM)

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  7. Each kid should learn one new kitchen skill a week.

    I have my surgery a week from tomorrow. School goes until the 16th here (snow days), so I’ll have about two weeks to heal before resuming mom-duties.

    Any advice?

    Suzanne – I like the kitchen skill idea, I’ll try to incorporate that as they do a plan for their meal prep. I emailed you on the surgery advice. (by JSM)

    Reply

  8. If you’re doing math over the summer, try http://www.ixl.com/math

    It’s a great new math site with unlimited problems, explanations, reporting–and very family-friendly 🙂 Even the 20 free problems per day might go a long way towards the half-hour of learning time!

    Debbie – Just clicked over – that looks VERY promising! Thanks so much!! (by JSM)

    Reply

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