Summer Plans.

With Summer coming on quickly I thought I would share this post from last June. 
I am still working on my plan for this summer.  
What are you planning to do with your summer??
~

Each year I say to myself....."This summer will be different!"   "This summer I will keep my kids reading and doing math a little bit everyday!"   "This summer I will do XY and Z with my kids!".    It never happens and by the end of each summer I feel like I failed my children.   So this summer I made a plan so by the end of our weeks together I can send my kids back to school knowing we made memories that will bring joy to recall!   I have had a few people ask for a list of what we are doing.    Here it is!

Weekly Themes:
"Let's Have a Ball!"  (Sports week)
Bowling/Miniature Golf/ Softball game/Dance Team tryouts/Soccer Sign up/ Sports Movie Afternoon and Write review.

"Splishin' and a Splashin' " (Water week)
Splash Pad/ 7 Peaks/ Water Fight/Wash Van/ SOS/Run through the sprinklers/ Movie Afternoon and Write review.

"All About Family" (Family History Week)
Make a summer album together/Visit Family History web site for youth/look through scrapbooks and photo albums etc/take trax to temple square/watch family movies

"Let's Go Wild" (Animal Week)
Zoo/Wheeler Farm/Dinosaur Museum/ SOS/Madagascar movie afternoon and Write review.

"Freedom Week" (America's Birthday)
Still in planning mode for this week.

"Book Week"
SOS:  Book donations to our library/Trip to riverton library/SOS story time for neighbor kids/write story together/Spiderwick movie  and Write review.

"The Great Outdoors"
Family Camping trip.

"Utah/Church History Week"
This is the place state park/Church history museum

"Hollywood Week"
Create a family movie/Movie Critic Activity/Go to a movie/Hold a Horrocks Film Festival/Rent a Redbox movie.

"Getting Away" (Vacation Mode week)
Trafalga/Play restaurant/ Swimming pool/ Digi Day/ Relax Day

"Back to School"
Hang up back to school banner/ Start prepping for school wake up time/ School clothes shopping

Explanation of some of the activities above:
SOS: stands for "Summer of Service"  So any week I have that listed we are doing some act of service.   Our Bigger projects are:  collecting preemie and newborn clothes and blankets for Utah Valley Region Medical Center's NICU and a book collection for our local library.  But we are also doing things like taking treats to someone in the neighborhood or helping in a garden etc.   I don't think it matters what the act of service is it is just good for kids to learn to do it.  :)
Movie Review: I have my kids (and I do it too) write up their own thoughts (review) about the movie and give it a rating 1 star being ok to 4 stars being terrific!
Movie Review Activity:   We hold our own "show" where we share our movie reviews and ratings.
Horrocks Film Festival:  Inviting friends over for an afternoon of movies and popcorn and hopefully lots of fun!
Digi Day:  Veg in front of your favorite tech gadget/tool etc.   So my kids can spend loads of time on the computer and they don't get in trouble (as long as it is mom approved content lol). 

Breakfast and Lunch Menu:
I got this idea from my creative friend Holly Moore.  Thank you Holly!!!!
Mondays:  Muffins/Mini Pizzas
Tuesdays:  Cereal/Mac & Cheese
Wednesdays:  Waffles/Dino nuggets
Thursdays:  Toast, Eggs etc/ Sandwiches
Friday:  French Toast/Out of a can
I make different versions of the foods each week so we aren't eating the same muffins each Monday (for example).

Reading to my children:  We are trying to finish 1 book a week together.....this isn't working so well so I have extended it to 2 weeks per book unless it is a really short one.   We are currently reading "The Witches" by Roald Dahl.   If the book we are reading has been made to film we watch the movie the end of the week.

Reading/Math through the summer:
My kids are working on 1 math sheet (front and back) a week and have read for at least 20 mins each day.  It has been easy and do-able! 

Cooking/Baking/Crafting with my Kids:
I sat down with my kids (ok actually I talked to them while we drove to Idaho in our van) and asked them what types of foods they wanted to learn how to make this summer.  So, for June when I made our my dinner menu before our big grocery shopping I included the dinners that they wanted to learn how to make.   To give you an idea this is what they are learning this month.
Brenley:  Barker pasta, salad and garlic bread/Chicken Cordon Bleu
Haley:  Meatloaf (picture to the left) /Tortellini soup
Camden:  Mac and Cheese/chocolate milk (seriously...this is what he asked to learn lol).
Spencer:  Mini Pizza's.
They all want to learn how to make cake/pies/candy/cookies/waffles and suckers.  Not sure if we will get to them all but I will try.  :)

My One Big Rule:   Be flexible!
This past week our water week kind of went out the window due to my allergies and Brenley's fever.   So we will add some of those activities to a slower week.