Tuesday, May 31, 2011

oh what do you do in the summertime? seriously.


a couple of summers ago.

no. really. what do you do in the summertime? when all your kids are out of school?
don't get me wrong. i love my kids. so much. and i love the summer. but sometimes it can be a little bit overwhelming to try and think of ways to keep them entertained for hours on end.
i was making my own list when i saw this great post on sugar city journal with a lot of great tips. check it out if you want. i put up my idea in the comment section, if you're interested!

2 comments:

Nat said...

Your kids are just so, so cute! As are you.

Okay, so, summertime for us: swim lessons, and lots and lots of free time and playing outside. I've been blessed with self-entertainers that love to hang out with each other, so they make up games and what-not together. Today they've been playing "Dandylion Store" outside, which speaks about both the state of their imaginations and the state of my backyard. They also love to ride bikes.

I love your idea of the anatomy poster. Too cute! And I'm sure my kids will love that, as they all love to draw and color. I will definitely have to do that.

This is my philosophy: yes, absolutely have constructive things for kids to do, especially when they're bored. BUT. Don't overschedule your kids so that they can't just BE KIDS, you know? They need to be able to explore and relax.

My goals this summer: go to the library every week, have my older two boys read and do a math-ish worksheet every day (which should hopefully take just a few minutes-this is so they don't lose what they have learned), and work on letters and sounds with my younger boy, and have someone read to Ivy every day. And then swim lessons at some point. The learning stuff shouldn't take too much of their free time, nor will swim lessons.

I also want to do some sort of "field trip" idea every week or so, like go to a park, or somewhere different like harriman state park, or the zoo, or craters of the moon.

Summer is my break time, too. This summer I want to read under a tree at the park while the kids play. I want to work on some different projects.

Sorry my comment is really long, and very scattered. Also, it's really not full of good ideas, either. Doh. Mostly because I'm not crafty. But hey, if you want to do a non-crafty thing with me, like join me for one of my "field trips", let me know, because that would be fun.

jo said...

nat,
i love your comment! and i totally agree with your philosophy. i'm of the same mind. the only thing we have scheduled this summer is m.'s ballet for six weeks, and we might do swim lessons later. but i like to take it easy too, and for the most part my kids are extremely good at entertaining themselves. but i guess i like to have one or two simple ideas of things for them to do ready at hand everyday, especially on windy cold days like today, so that when they start bickering i can give them constructive things to do. i love lists and having a lot of things to choose from.
p.s. we would LOVE to join you on a field trip, hooray!