Tuesday, June 2, 2009

Summer school?

I am often asked if I school through the summer, or if I school year round. My answer to that is no, mamma needs a break too! But that doesn't mean I don't use a summer routine. I first learned about it from a book called Sanity in the Summertime. Here is what I do:



Make a list of what I want to accomplish this summer. This may be school-related (drill math facts), spiritual (memorize scripture) and fun (make pretzels). I start by making my list


Here is what is on my list this summer:

Kids:

· Scripture memory
· Science experiment: corn and beans
· Sustained Silent Reading
· Read-Aloud (RA books from SL)
· Music practice
· Read: Do Hard Things
· Go to IMAX movies
· Start girl’s club
· Camps? Possibilities: volleyball, soccer, sail, art, surf, church

Sheila:
· Read: Senior High: A Home Designed FormULa
· Look into Power Serve
· Look for requirements at universities
· Look up Bright Futures
· Set up record-keeping for HS
· Zone work: declutter/clean
· Look up CC’s transcript service
· Plan Essentials


After I make my list I then create a summer calendar on a sheet of foam core (my husband brings them home from work so I recycle them by using the other side.) Then I add in dates we'll be gone and fill in the days with the things we want to do. I have a weekly template that this year looks like this:


Monday-Stay home and work! (I'm heavily decluttering and deep-cleaning by zones. More on this later).

Tueday-Cooking day (where we make fun things like pretzels, donuts, ice cream sandwiches)

Wednesday-Beach day (we invite friends to join us so it's more fun)

Thursday-Field trip day (free movies, IMAX movies, parks, zoo, etc) This used to be craft day at my house but my kids are getting bigger and want to be on the go more.

Friday-Youth group activity day (I have 2 kids in youth group this year. They have activities planned such as rock climbing, baseball game, etc).

Here is what this year's calendar looks like. We keep adding to it as things come up. It helps the kids to know what is coming up in the upcoming weeks.


I am using Flylady's zones to focus my deep cleaning and decluttering. If you haven't met the Flylady (Marla) then you need to! We are trying to get the house on the market so I want to be able to make it shine and look less crowded.

2 comments:

  1. Great practical advice Sheila--I love the way you give examples. This is very helpful--oh, ad I really enjoyed having lunch with you when we were in Florida. It was one of the highlights of our trip.

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  2. I like your idea of a big whiteboard calendar, so that everyone can see what's coming up. I have things planned, but sometimes I forget to communicate!

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