Our summer plan

I like to put up schedules, charts, rules, etc up for summer.  It really helps us do all the things we wanted to do.  This summer's theme is "work hard and play hard".  I really want to start teaching my kids how to actually clean really well, cook, and just generally work hard and complete a task.  I also wanted to have a lot of fun.  With out a child napper the world is our oyster and we can pretty much do what ever we want when ever we want.  We have 2 more weeks of summer and we have stuck with it almost perfectly.  We have had a good summer.  A perfect balance of school work, chores, and fun.

I go running in the morning - any kid can come with me if they are awake and ready when I leave.  The girls come almost every morning with me - the boys hare awake maybe 10% of the time.

Our reading hour is wonderful.  I have a couple of stations around the house - they can pick a station and every 15 minutes we rotate.  You have to at least be with me reading for one of your stations.  We did this last year and it was exhausting for me to read with them for an hour straight - but this year they are all such great readers I am just listening rather than teaching - so its not so draining.

We officially started our Monday cleaning days (a tradition carried over from my mother).  The kids were better at this than I was.  Some Mondays I did not want to clean.  But before I even came down stairs the kids had already started their jobs.  I think becasue on Monday they get their weeks worth of screen tokens - but they can't use them until they are done with their jobs - so they are extra eager to clean.

We didn't hike or bike ride as much as I had hoped.  It turns out we have a pretty wide gap in abilities and makes things like  that hard still.  Madison is still in training wheels - but the other three are on two wheels so it is really hard for her to keep up.  I have a seat on my bike she can sit in - but I feel like I don't want her just sitting for several hours during our "activity" - also I got a hole in my tire mid June and have yet to find time or extra mula to get it fixed.  And we haven't hiked as much due to mostly laziness on my part.  Shame on me!

Friday fun is something we don't normally do like bowling, go to a movie, chuck e cheese, etc.  This one obviously cost more money - so we don't do it every Friday - I think we have done like 3 or 4 things this summer.  But it is nice to get out and do things we don't normally do.