My friend Michelle once told me it always took her kids 2 weeks of crankiness at the beginning of summer to get used to being together again. I have to agree with her, because the last 2 weeks have gone much better than the 1st two. We've gotten a good schedule going, and everyone has responded well to it. Plus I'm happier because our house is cleaner and our days feel more productive.
We start our day with morning chores. In past summers I've had a set chore schedule for each day (for example bathrooms on Monday, windows on Tuesday, vacuuming on Wednesday, etc.). But this year I've just looked around each day and seen what needs to be done the most or what is bugging me most and start assigning.
When something is part of the daily routine, they just accept it and generally don't complain. For some funny reason, cleaning toilets is the job they all want the most.
After chores the boys alternate between piano practice and school. I found an awesome website called http://www.softschool.com/ that I use to print out worksheets. Mostly we've been doing math. I got all excited when I found an algebra section for Spencer and found out he hasn't learned it at school yet. So I taught him the basics, and it was so much fun. He thought I was pretty funny - he had no idea I was so into math. And algebra is one of my favorites.
After school and piano they play outside before it gets too hot. Then they can play a video game or watch a movie. I've also been reading big books to them, which is one of my favorite summertime memories growing up. So far we've read The BFG, and we're halfway through Ender's Game. Does anyone have any other good recommendations for their age? Some days Dallin and Brennan play in the hose while we sit in the shade and read. Then we go to swimming lessons, and occasionally we'll stop and play at the Children's Museum on the way there.
Of course I have to be flexible with the schedule. For a couple days it was supposed to get over 100, so we went to the park first thing in the morning before it got too hot. And the other day I was just too tired to do anything, so the kids got away with all kinds of things. Like playing video games without doing chores or piano and snacking all day. I was just too tired to care. But the day definitely runs smoother when I'm on top of things and stick to the schedule. And most importantly there has been a huge decrease in fighting and irritability, so it's totally worth the effort on my part.
4 comments:
A good book series that we are doing for our summer big read is "The A-Z Mysteries" by Ron Roy. There is a book for every letter of the alphabet. My kids try to solve the mystery as we read.
Love it Hilary! You inspire all of us. All of my book recomendations are too girlie.
I like the Time Warp Trio for boys, but they're not big books. Some adventurous books are My Side of the Mountain, Summer of the Monkeys, and Hatchet. A silly book is Sideways Stories from Wayside School. And one of my favorite Roald Dahl books is Danny, Champion of the World. Have you done any of the Narnia books?
ps Hatchet is a survival book, so you might want to preview it before reading it to the boys. A fun one Mom read to us was Ben and Me, about Ben Franklin from the viewpoint of a mouse. Perhaps they're still a bit young for the Redwall series, but if Ender's Game goes well, maybe they're ready. I wonder if they'd like Tennis Shoes Among the Nephites?
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