During the school year, I only have L and E. So, prepping for summer is a little different from our norm. Big Sis and Big Bro join us and after last summer (not enough structure, way to much freedom!), I really wanted to try my hand at structuring our summer a bit more! I worked hard to plan out the months that we had together so that we had fun activities, adventures, learning activities, chores, and free time. I wanted the days to be predictable but also flexible and able to work with camps and having friends over. I also wanted to make it easy for me to prep for the following week.
Big Sis and Big Bro both have a binder that contains their daily work, as well as a job chart that they keep track of their work and chores on. I use their chart to count up points at the end of each day. (They use their points to earn special activities and privledges).
Each day of the week has a (loose) theme.
Monday – Make it Monday (craft) and Library Visit
Tuesday – Adventure (Visit a museum, etc)
Wednesday – Water Wednesday (water game at home or to the pool) and Family Museum (we love it!)
Thursday – Thinking Thursday (science experiment and/or asking and answering questions)
Friday – Cooking
Friday – Cooking
The places, science activities and cooking activities are mostly from the list I had each kid make back in May. This way they were involved and are excited about the things they are doing this summer!
Below are photos of what we ended up with, and so far it is going well!
**Update: The kids had several back to back weeks of camp, and after they got back we have been doing less “binder” work and more adventures and laid back summer time. I still give them chores and assign them some work, but in these last few weeks of summer we’ve just been relaxing. Because they are used to the structure, it has helped us actually be able to relax and not just be bored and argumentative. **
Main Daily Schedule
We end up following this pretty closely most days, and it squelches the “What are we doing today/next?” question most of the time.
Individual Job Charts
I combined several ideas I found in my Pinterest research to make what worked best for us. The kids can earn points for each thing they accomplish. I laminated these so that we could use dry erase markers – makes it easy to adjust based on our day and to write in daily chores. The kids love to check off their work as they go.
Points Page
I keep track of each child’s points, and we have been brainstorming what to “buy” with our points in the space at the bottom of the page.
Individual Binders
Each kiddo has a binder divided into math, reading, and writing. They also have a journal (color cooresponding of course), that they use for their daily journal entry/writing. I jotted down on post its what was expected of them in each area, and now they just know and do it. I printed off worksheet pages for Big Sis and found a 2nd/3rd grade workbook that I tore pages out of for Big Bro. They are the least thrilled about this portion of their day, but it has gone over with a lot less whining than I thought! They also read for 30 minutes each day (and for “lazy days”, reading is the required minimum).
L’s Binder
I hope this has given you some ideas of ways to balance structure and freedom in your summer!
So far, we’ve had less fighting and more productivity than last summer! (yay!) …but it IS only the beginning of July…
What do your days look like in the summer?
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