Summer Fun Schedule

I have a lot to catch up from the past 2 months, including the recent birth of our baby girl on May 15th.  However, before I do I want to share with you a fun way to spend your summer vacation with your kids.  I was recently looking on pinterest for fun things to do with the kids.  There are hundreds of ideas and so little time to do them in. I was trying to think how we could implement these ideas into our summer.  I am hoping to have our summer be fun, educational, simplified, and relaxing.  I came upon to summer schedules that can help with this.  However, I am not going to force myself to stick with this schedule 100%.  A brand new baby, and three other siblings definately alter schedules all the time. But with these fun schedules it gives us something to build upon this summer. 

Make it Monday: This can be anything from building with the Kinex and Legos, Craft projects, Baking, you name it. 

Take a Trip Tuesday: There are lots of fun places to visit where we live, whether it be somewhere outdoors, or just a walk to the park.  You can visit the library, a museum, the pool, or  grandma's house. The kids are always asking me if we can have a bike ride.  I think there will be lots of these (whether permitting) this summer.
Time to Read Tuesday:  This was another great idea.  I really am hoping that Lil' E can continue to practice his reading this summer in a fun way.  This would be a great time to take a weekly trip to the library to choose books to read during the week. 

Wet Wednesday: Around here this is subject to change all the time.  Obviously if it is great weather on Monday and the kids want to go out and run in the sprikler they can.  If you live somewhere where the weather is always sunny you could easily make this a set day.  You could take a trip to the pool, get the sprinkers out, or have a water fight.
What's Cooking Wednesday:  This is more realistic for us.  Lil' E and Razy love to help me when I am in the kitchen and they are always asking if they can help.  Whether you choose to make cookies or have the kids help with a dinner or lunch menu they would have a blast doing it. 

Thinking Thursday:  I really like this idea.  Lil' E was really into science this year and I found some fun experiments to do with the kids.  Thinking thursday would be a great day to do those.  You could also use this day to learn a new skill or learn about something you have been interested. 
Be Thoughtful Thursday:  I also really liked this one too.  Today could be used as a day to get to know your neighbors by taking them a goody that you made on Wednesday.  Or maybe write a letter to a friend or teacher.  There are endless things to on thoughtful thursday.  Today could be used to focus on service and kindness.

Friend Friday: The kids love playdates and after talking with JBody we have decided that we would much rather have friends come over to our house than have our kids go to friends houses.  This way we can control what they are learning and taking in.  Yes this potentially means 3 more kids every friday, but sometimes it is easier to get it all done in one day and use the rest of the week to focus on family time.  Besides have you noticed that sometimes it is easier to have extra kids at your house because they are the ones entertaining you kids instead of you?

Now that I have put up our not so much set in stone schedule, let me also tell you what the kids need to do to earn these fun outings and activities...Bedrooms and small chores need to be done before hand. Yep that is all I have asked from the kids.  So as long as they get up and make their beds, and make sure their playroom is clean they are good to go.  They do have other small chores to do throughout the week, but those are on a need to do bases when mommy asks. 

I have also set up a system for them to earn tokens that can be redeemed for Kinect and TV time.  Every day the kids have a list of things to do each day.  If they chose to do them they get a token and those tokens can be used to go for tv time and kinect.  This list includes:

Reading: Atleast 20 minutes.  If they choose longer they can have more tokens.  Reading can be done alone, or with a sibling.  Asking mommy or daddy to read to you also counts.

Writing: Every day I would like the kids to write in their summer journal.  For the little ones this could mean drawing a picture and dictating to me what it is they drew.  They can write about whatever they want. 

Physical: They can do this alone or with their siblings.  They can ride their bikes, or take a walk, play tag, or just play outside. 

Practice: This is a time to practice a skill that they would like to.  This could be reading, baseball, riding a bike, music, ect.  Any goal that they have chosen. 

Home: If they would like to earn extra tokens they can ask me for a chore that needs to be accomplished.  The skies the limit on mommys choosing.

They can earn extra tokens for doing extra time in each of these areas or by taking time to help eachother out.  I am hoping this not only helps our summer run smoothly, but that the kids will get along with eachother and learn a little extra something before school starts again.