Summer Schedule

I love schedules.  I love knowing what to expect for the day and when.  I had so many plans for last summer, but alas I was so stinking sick being pregnant with Miles that it was all I could do to get off the couch.

This summer is going to be different.  This summer is going to be the best one yet.  No newborns, no morning sickness, just good ol' fashioned summer.  I decided that we would have some goals for the summer and create a general idea of what to expect on any given day of the week.

Here is the list the kids made with minor suggestions (thank you pinterest!) made by yours truly:

• go to the fire station
• go garage saleing
• visit Stuhr Museum
• Visit each park in Grand Island
• Play tennis
• Microwave a bar of soap
• Explode pop
• soap mud/ clean mud
• sidewalk paint
• visit the farmers market
• see the animal shelter
• pick up trash in our neighborhood
• make rock candy
• make flubber
• playdough

I have some other tricks up my sleeve that I'm hoping to incorporate such as solar oven s'mores and a trip to the mushroom farm.  Pinterest keeps me supplied with an endless barrage of ideas.

The flow of our days is the same.  There have been protests to having to get up at a regular time and do chores before playing, but I haven't met a kid yet who doesn't do that.  I'll take the quick protests over the whine of boredom, which honestly to me is a cry of having too many choices without the ability to select one.  

7:30am--wake up

get dressed, eat breakfast, have devotions, make beds and do a quick clean

9am--scheduled activity

free time

11:30--lunch

quick pick up of living room, story time

1:30-3pm-- quiet time

olders clean up from quiet time and then do little chore if not done

3-5pm--swim

5:30--dinner

big chores, free play

7:30--get ready for bed

unwind activity

8pm--tucked in and lights out

Our scheduled activity is themed for each day of the week.  

Mondays--art and crafts

Tuesdays--outdoors (such as tending garden and yard)

Wednesdays--Library for golden sower program and new books

Thursdays--Science experiments

Fridays--playdates and parks

Most of our friends and family look at me like I'm crazy to hang on to a regimented schedule during the summer.  I prefer to think that scheduling keeps the crazies away.  Plus when we engage in extracurricular activities such as camping, it's a treat to abandon the schedule and not watch the clock.  So there you have it, my plans for (what I hope to be) a successful summer!