Summer is creeping up on us and I’m trying to figure out what it will bring my family this year. Pretty much every single plan (vacations included) I had has been cancelled for one reason or another (mostly one reason), so back to the drawing board I go!
My list involves things like finding out how much my local public pool costs and when it’s open and trying to get in to the things the library has going on (our library fills up crazy fast!). I’ve got some other fun activities on the list, like bag ice cream and teaching the kids how butter is made and cookouts and scavenger hunts. But my kids aren’t the tiny tot crowd any more and keeping their attention away from electronics and focused on things like books and crafts seems to get harder with every passing year.
A friend of mine said she changes her wifi password and keeps her kids DSi’s in her bedroom, and while this would work for my two younger kids, my oldest has his own computer that has an Ethernet directly into the router. Sure, sure, pull the cable – trust me! I’ve thought about it! – but then he can’t do school research or access his email and whatever and it marries me to the damn router with all the plugging and unplugging. It’s almost easier to tell him he can’t go to his room.
So far I have mini marshmallow shooters planned – from engineering the design to putting them together to testing and see if they work. Oh yes, there is a lesson in everything! I had a request for frozen banana pops already! I’ve written down coffee ground fossils, so I better start opening up and freezing my Keurig cups now! Painted rock monsters, berry picking, origami, learn about sundials and make one, my list goes on and on.
I lifted a lot of it from The Confident Mom (not an affiliate link). I buy her summer calendar every year and adapt it to our needs, but this is the first year I’m using it so extensively. Usually it’s filler, not the main course!
We also need to touch on summer reading, both of my boys have to read a book for school, and I try to encourage summer reading for joy. My almost eleven year old is plowing through the Harry Potter series right now, so that may carry him through on its own. My almost thirteen year old needs to figure out what interests him and get into it. That isn’t the computer or whatever game has his attention this week. My eight year old is easier to compel into reading, not by much, but enough.
I’m hoping our bikes see some use this summer. I may pull down our swing set that they don’t use anymore, sell the hardware (it’s a wooden DIY set) and set up the above ground pool we got a few years ago and I then realized the only place for it is exactly where the swing set lives. That sucked, by the way.
So you can see, so very much to plan, and time is running out! June 6 is their last day and we’re doing the year end whirlwind that leaves no time for anything at all. I so should have started this last month, but last month we were already busy through the middle of July!
I’ve filed this under a new category, Summer Projects, as I hope to be on top of all of our plans and remember to blog the directions and how it worked out and how much fun we had! It’ll be a fun series to grow <3
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