Summertime Sanity Savers

This is our last week of homeschool to satisfy the 180 day requirement for our state. It could not have come at a better time, the weather is warming up and the boys are sooo over sitting still. I and am totally okay with having a break from lesson planning! I just keep telling myself, hang in there just a couple more days to go!
It seems like my friends who's children attend school are also looking forward to the summer break. No more begging them to finish homework, prying them out of bed in the early hours, or having to get them back in the swing after fun filled weekends. But it seems like all of those friends end up praying for the slow death that is summer to end, so they can put them back on the bus and resume sanity.

Well fear the summer no longer friends, for I have a plan! When you're a homeschool Mom the kids are going to be there no matter what, so the motivation is that they have something constructive to do and their brains don't turn to mush.

1.) Make a Schedule
Melanie Makes has this great idea for a summer schedule, something to do each day of the week, but with lots of summer fun flexibility. I have borrowed this idea and made you a little schedule you can print off. I would rather be stuck in a briar patch, than have children pulling at my clothes with distorted faces of agony telling me they're bored. You don't have to spend all day on these things, be flexible and have fun with it.

2.) Summer Bucket List

Sit down with the kids and create a summer bucket list. Fill it with places you want to go, activities you'd like to accomplish, things you'd like to see. Here are some ideas...

• Go camping
• See the moon from the beach
• Go geocaching 
• Feed a farm animal 
• Have a picnic by a lake
• Stand in two states at the same time
• Eat a worm 

The possibilities are endless. Make sure everyone gets equal opportunity to share even the introverts and littles. 

3.) Read

Every now and then you just need a little quite. If your local library doesn't have a summer reading program, make your own. If you have ones that don't care for reading, make it more exciting. My 5 year old, although quite skilled at it, does not really enjoy reading. So this summer for every book he reads he will get a dime and when he reaches a dollar we get to go to the dollar store. Last year we made a reading passport. It was a little book with different places to read (in a tree house, in a fort, by the pool, etc.) and they got to put a sticker on the page each time one was fulfilled. Show them that reading is an adventure not a chore. 

Here's to hoping your upcoming summer doesn't drive you to drinking! Godspeed!