The past few days have shown me the need for a summer routine. Usually we school through the summer, but after this year we needed a little break. We will probably pick school back up the first week of August, so until then we need to find something to do with all of our free time. Well, I don’t need to find anything to do with my free time, I have countless sewing projects, emails to respond to, bills to pay, rooms to paint, clothes to sort, furniture to paint, boxes to unpack, shelves to build, blogs to read, school planning to do, and a garage to clean. My kids however, don’t seem to have anything to do but to get into trouble.
So I have decided to start a little summer routine.
- Wake up
- Check email
- Make breakfast (I hope to start the older kids making breakfast for the family at least a few days a week by the end of the summer)
- Get dressed
- Go to the park
- Leave the park and go on a walk
- Come home, eat a cookie on the front porch
- Color/ draw
- Eat lunch
- Toddler Naps
That is as far as I have planned out my routine. In the evening Dad has been coming home and either taking them to the pool or the park to wear them out before bed. It is working. The kids love this routine so far because they know they get to play at the park and the big kids know they will get to hike. My oldest is also earning some P.E. hours because she has been playing basketball during our park time. The other benefit is that I am getting some exercise pushing the double jogger all over the base.
Here are some pictures from our park/hikes this week.
I hope I can keep this up throughout the summer, the kids are behaving much better and sleeping soundly at night.
Buildeth Her House says
Yeah I agree that you have to fill your summer with some sort of routine ~not that I’m good at doing that myself : ) But it seems if you don’t chaos reigns.
I would love to see the pictures on this post but their taking for ever to download…guess that’s how it is when I have dial up.
Miss Jen says
Summer schedule seems to be critical at our house too! Too much unstructured time seems to lead to trouble! Good luck!
Christine says
Summer schedule sounds like an oxymoron but you’re so right about the kids needing it! We take school off in July but our June schedule is much more slimmed down. I can’t do the hiking, however, since I am incredibly sensitive to poison ivy! I just got done with a big round of steroids…
Enjoying your blog! Came here from the group blog you are involved with…
Alisa says
Sounds like a fun summer so far. You’re already doing more than we are here. We’ve just been hanging out and relaxing after all the business of school coming to an end and baseball season. I’m figuring sometime next week I’ll need to start our routine going.
Kelsey says
What fun your so much better then us because we have no schedule at all haha
World's Greaetest Mommy says
I’m creating some routines, too. Without them, summer would quickly turn from fun to frantic!
Lawanda says
I adore summer, because the kids WEAR themselves OUT! hehehe
You have some beautiful kiddos there!! Sounds like they are going to have a lovely childhood summer! 🙂