We are officially 1 week into our summer routine and I love having a plan. I took an idea I used last year and tweaked it through an idea of a friend and planned our summer. I took montly calendars for June, July and August and first plugged in all of our set in stone plans like camping, vacation and special trips. Then, I took my bucket list and plugged in as many ideas as I could on free days (day's I don't babysit). Finally, I took the simple ideas like making lemonade and plugged those ideas in as well. Finally, I filled in the blanks with crafts, fun food to make and outside activies so we have lots to keep us busy. This is just a plan - it allows me to look ahead a few weeks and make sure I have supplies on hand to do the things we want to do; it doesn't mean we will do everything.
Besides my bucket list, I had two other resources that I have used to help make plans. One I found on Pinterest and is from
Modern Parents Messy Kids. It is a printable book called "Camp Mom" and includes so many awesome ideas that are easy and often use just items you have at home. There is a fee to purchase this book but it really is worth it to have everything in one spot. The other resource I used is called
GR Now for Kids and shows you how to "Map your way to 92 days of summer". This will only benefit you if you live in West Michigan but I wanted to share just in case any of my readers are planning a vacation to Lake Michigan - this would also be a great way to find things to do while on vacation! I also have various Theme Units and Crafts saved in Pinterest to use as well and promise to share any links of the items I use this summer.
Now, to share some photos of what we did this past week!
Our big event this week was a field trip with the homeschool group to our local airport. Josh was in his element and enjoyed every moment of watching the small airplanes fly in and out of that airport. We learned that there is a small viewing area (which is where the outside photos were taken) where anyone can come and watch the planes. I'm hoping for some "perfect" Saturday afternoons this summer were we can take a picnic lunch and enjoy the planes.
We didn't do anything else this week school related. My little guys played outside for hours and hours AND hours. I wasn't about to stop the creativity outside to bring them inside to sit at the table and do something. Not to mention this cold I've had has made me not want to do much either!! We are enjoying a very cool start to summer (which I LOVE) so, while the outside play time is good - I'm going to let them play. I'm sure that come July and August we will have some hot days and NEED to stay inside.
