I know we all do fun things, and I'm sure we could give each other great ideas. The cousin swap was a great one!!!
Just to inspire you all, I'll tell you what we have going this summer.:) I wanted to focus on penmanship, art, German, babysitting skills, typing, outdoor recreation, and scripture memorization. I know you are all impressed with the scope of my plans.:) So here's how we do it - The lessons are 10-20 minutes long. Sarah teaches German on M/W; Miriam teaches babysitting T/Th; Rachel teaches art history and has made little sketchbooks for everyone to sketch in on T/Th; Daniel is in charge of an hour of outdoor game time everyday; Eve gets out the penmanship books on M/W; Ruth gets out the scriptures for our daily scripture chase/marking class. Jared and I made up a family scripture mastery list and the kids all have memorization goals; each goal reached = a pudding cup. I found a great free typing program online with a timed test and several games. The kids get a pudding cup for every increase of 10wpm. The kids all have a summer process chart with all their jobs. At 5pm Bekah brings me the "bank" and the kids bring me their process charts. We go through them and they get Mama Money based on what they got done for the day. The money goes towards computer time with a list of acceptable sites (Hooda Math being the most popular). Our "5 o'clock" is also when the kids should be home and ready to be a family for the evening. We're in the market for an outdoor dinner bell.:)
On a side note, last summer I was swamped and overwhelmed with moving so our summer school consisted of getting out a game every day at 9am and playing as a family for an hour. The end. Jared and I were concerned about sportsmanship. The kids thought it was the best thing we had ever done.
In case it wasn't obvious, the number one tip I have learned through the summers of kids home from school, is to make it easy on myself - and realize that 90% of the energy I have the first day of summer will be gone by the second day of summer. I finally have kids old enough to teach. They love it and I love it.:) Pretty much all I have to do is gather and sound enthusiastic.
So what is everyone else up to??
Love,
Rae
I love these ideas! Can you share your Mama Money document and your schedule? Also, a list of your recommended websites. Thanks, Rae!
ReplyDeleteThis is fantastic! Our goal for the summer is to successfully add a third child without neglecting the other two too badly... :)
ReplyDeleteI've been hesitant to post our summer plans...because I'm not sure if they will work out or not. :) But, here goes...
ReplyDeleteWe are planning on doing NOTHING this summer!! Besides the fact that I am not feeling well, there is another reason for planning this for our summer.
Last summer, we had big plans. We had job charts that were filled in each day, rewards, Mama money, and I had a whole bunch of projects I was excited to have help with from all of the kiddles. Well, by the end of the summer (maybe much earlier), I was exhausted. Following through as the mother with ONE child's list of chores was significant...let alone six others!! NONE of my projects got done, and I finally decided to tackle them once school started and I had some extra time on my hands. :)
We've been struggling with our children getting along with each other. As I was at the temple a month ago I had this idea come to me and thought it might really help our family attitude/atmosphere turn around in a positive way. So, here goes a BIG, HUGE experiment!
We announced at our last family council (right before school got out), that there would be NO jobs for the summer. Of course, the kiddles are expected to get dressed and make their beds in the morning before beginning their play. They are also (the oldest 3) expected to practice the piano. Hannah also does the chickens...as she is earning money from the eggs right now...and she plays her flute every day. After meals, everyone clears their own dish. Those are all the requirements.
We explained that our goal is to work on building positive relationships with each other. Soooo, the only catch is that if someone is caught NOT being nice in any way (including tattling), then Mama hands them a slip of paper with a job assignment on it. I like this approach because it keeps my mouth out of the argument. I can take a stand against the "meanness" without getting involved in a verbal battle. The kids were so excited about no jobs that they readily agreed to accept my (or James') judgment on any given issue. If they forget to readily accept the slip, then they are handed another one.
Another emphasis this summer is on going the second mile. I told the kiddles that I would ask them to help if I got in over my head...ie. needed to get dinner on quickly, couldn't get the dishes caught up with, etc. We also invited them to be more observant of what is going on in the home and be actively engaged in doing what needs to be done. So far, we've had really good experiences with this. I like this approach because then they are choosing to do jobs of their own free will. It isn't every hour that I notice kids chipping in, but we've had good response from this invitation.
Soooo, so far, so good. We handed out a quite a few slips the first few days (as I said before, it really was a growing concern to James and I...the way our kids were treating each other), but today I handed out only one slip!! The kids have been really enjoying the relaxation, and also finding lots of good things to fill their time. We have some Harry Potter readers, Hannah has composed a piece on the piano, Hyrum is really into the gardening, and it is neat to see the kiddles' interested start to peek through when they have time to spare.
So there it is, for what it's worth! We'll let you know by the end of summer how it all turned out. I will say that our bathrooms are in DESPERATE need of cleaning, but that's okay. They'll get done eventually. :)