The Summer of Mom...

Learning to Sew

I was reading the Sonlighter Club Forums today and this idea caught my eye. The ladies were talking about taking a semester off of all extra activities for their children and one mom said she has declared it, "The Summer of Mom." No lessons, so sports, no regular activities, no running around miles and miles a day to get to some activity or other.

It is the Summer of Mom--lazy days at home.

Family Summer Vacation

I love it! Most of our summers were that way when our kids were growing up but as I look around me it seems that there are not very many families who choose NOT to engage in lots and lots of activities. As I read the forum it was interesting to read all the activities that these homeschooled children engage in.

Here are a two examples:

• Sometimes I would love to cut back, but I'm not exactly sure how. My dd [daughter] absolutely loves her voice lessons and gymnastics. My son adores gymnastics and cubs. He takes piano, too, and they both take a French class, and I also have them in swimming. 
• We have at least 12 places to be every week. We have co-op 2x a week, guitar, son's discipleship group, small group, park day, skating, a lot of church meetings for the plant (up to 3/week), and Keepers at Home. I try to keep reducing activities but more just seem to come up.

Older siblings reading to younger

I had friends years ago that had schedules like this.They have four children and each one was in several activities, plus they went to public school all day and were very involved in their church. They ate supper in their van 5 nights a week as they were racing from one event to the other--many times Dad and Mom going in opposite directions.

I asked my friend why she did it. She looked at me like I had two heads and said, "Jill. There is so much bad in the world these days that if you don't keep your kids busy they will get into trouble. "

Working with Dad to build a play house.

So, in her case it was fear.

But what about burn-out [kids and parents]? What about kids having time to find their own fun, beat their own boredom, discover their imagination and work out their own rules in games and sports? What about not being "activity dependent" and always wanting to be organized and entertained? What about family meal times and down time after supper to chat?

Those things are very intangible. You can't measure them by wins and losses or recitals--they are not quantifiable so are not considered important.I think that is so sad. I can not imagine rushing around all the time. It must be exhausting.

Learning to do outdoor cooking.

So, if you find yourself snowed under by a myriad of activities, lessons and scheduled "fun" and you would like a break. I recommend to you "The Summer of Mom." Kick back, turn on the sprinkler, read aloud to your kids in the evening, eat dinner together, have a picnic for lunch, play games, sing songs, nap, take walks and let the kids use their imaginations to create and to dream. I think you will all be better off for it and when summer ends, re-evaluate your activities to determine what is worthy of your time and what isn't. I think the "Summer of Mom" might be the best thing you have done for your family in a long time.


Take care,
Jill

I'm bored...

The most dreaded words in the summer vocabulary.

And I wonder, how could a kid be bored in the summer? I can't ever remember saying those words in my whole life-and certainly not in the summer. Maybe because if I said them out loud as a child I would be given chores?

I was reading a Sonlight Forum post on this issue, and I loved what Merry said. It went something like this...

If my kids say they are bored I say, "Well, go outside and play for a while and when you come in I will have a chore for you to do." Amazingly, they play for hours outside and never remember they are bored."

I think some basic play equipment is very helpful to beat boredom. Depending on your living situation, some of these may be practical and some may not:

• swing set
• sand box-the bigger the better, you can't have too big of a sandbox
• various balls
• bean-bag toss game
• basket ball net
• soccer goal
• tether ball
• play house or designated play area in the shed or garage, if practical
• hammer, wood, nails
• perhaps a small wading pool
• a pet
  
• wagon
• old stroller
• bikes
• chalk
• paintbrushes and water [to paint on the sidewalk]
• bubbles
• sticks
• own garden area
• rope [jump rope]
• pogo stick
• mini [or full size] trampoline
• camp in the backyard

For indoor boredom busters--my first and best advice-limit TV/Computer time. Maybe they have to read an hour a day and then they can play video games or watch the TV for an hour a day. Be careful with this, though. If you have multiple kids they may play the computer for 30 minutes, then watch their brother play for 30 minutes, then watch their other brother play for 30 minutes and now they have used up 1 1/2 hours with the computer. [Ask me how I know about this loop hole in the computer time rule!]

Use a timer and limit the time to something reasonable. For TV, we had a rule, no TV during the day. Then at night we would watch some show or DVD for about an hour. I have a friend who lets her children watch 60 minutes of cartoons in the morning, then the TV is off all day unless they watch something together as a family. Just find something that works for you.

In my experience the more computer/TV time children have, the more easily they are bored when the TV/Computer is not in use.

Now, for indoor boredom busters:

• board games
• card games
• making forts under tables or on couches
• puppet shows done behind the couch, any type of puppets, socks work great
• making movies if your kids are old enough to use a video recorder. We have some awesome ones that the kids made that make us laugh every time we watch them
• blocks
• action figures/dolls
• child kitchen
• child workbench
• match-box cars
• Legos
• play mobile
• reading [you might want to require so many pages/minutes a day]
• cooking/baking
• science experiments
• dusting
• vacuuming
• doing laundry
• straighten room
• sweep floor
• empty dishwasher or wash dishes
• camp in the family room-my dad actually pitched a real tent in the living room once!
• water plants
• draw, paint, color, stickers
• play an instrument
• sing
• dance to music
• have a tea party
• dress up--keep a box with dress up clothes
  
• etc.

Perhaps make a card with something to do on it and train your children to pull a card if they can't think of anything to do.

Perhaps ban the words "I'm bored" or "There's nothing to do," and instead teach your children to say, "I am looking for a job to do." My guess is, this will eliminate the need whine around and will encourage them to entertain themselves. :0)

Also, you may want to have some sort of summer schedule. It can be loose, but something like:

• Monday-Laundry, everyone get their laundry to the laundry room, clean your room, vacuum the living room [each kid a different chore] then you can have free time.
• Tuesday-Lunch at the park, or a nature walk day, then to the library [make sure they have their library books in a bag to take back]--maybe invite a friend
  
• Wednesday-Laundry again, and cooking day. Have kids join you and teach them basic cooking, or maybe just make something fun like ice cream
• Thursday- Shopping day, maybe take in a movie or play in the play place at a McDonalds while you drink some iced tea!
• Friday-Tidy house and do laundry so the weekend can be relaxing. Do crafts, or maybe this could be Science Day. Lots of folks like to do some science in the summer to lessen the school work in the fall. Family movie [DVD] tonight or maybe a family game night, make popcorn and enjoy each other.

You also might want to let all the kids sleep out in the living room one night a week. You might let them have a friend sleep over once or twice in the summer.

I hope this helps make your summer fun and productive. Also, I was talking to my cousin this weekend and she mentioned that is hard to read all the Sonlight read-alouds during the school year so they save many for summer and read them daily. She said it is so much fun and takes some of the pressure off during the school year. You may want to try this, whether you homeschool or not--read your kids great books this summer, a chapter or so a day.

Please, let me know if you have suggestions to add. I would love to be able to share more ideas.

Take care,
Jill

Photos
Top: morning at the mini-park
Middle: Scotty learning to cook outdoors
Bottom: Chad and Scotty at zoo