I haven't posted forever; I read the blog everyday but never seem to have time or energy to write. I feel a little like the story "Henny Penny..." She does all the work to make the bread and then all the other animals want to eat it without doing their share...unfortunately I'm like the "other animals..." I love reading the blog but don't contribute much! Maybe I feel a little like I don't have anything worth saying...does anyone else ever feel this way?
The real reason I'm writing is because I need advice...I really want to stay sane this summer; in order to do that I need our day to have structure. I've thought a lot about schedule. I want to make a plan that is realistic and helps my kids to know what and how things are going to go each day. I know they do so much better when they have structure! What do your days look like? How do you get your kids on board to be excited about their schedule? What daily jobs do they do? Does anyone to a reward system...either for accomplishing something or for working on certain behaviors? (I could write a book on behaviors that need w0rked on:). I really want to keep my kids learning this summer...how do you do "school" in the summer? What are your resources for planning short lessons? Heather, I know you do this with your kids...how do you structure it?
Ladies, I need ideas and specifics! When I lose control of the kids it is CHAOS!! I want to have a fun summer, and I know it needs to start with a plan. Please post...
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Carie, hi, how are you? Sounds like you're having kid issues. I think things work differently for different people. I'll tell you my schedule, if you can call it that.
I've decided that I don't like to clean the house and I really don't have the energy for it a lot of the time. So before anything else in the morning, my children do chores. They cannot play, there is no t.v., occassionally I'll let them eat breakfast first, but nothing is done until the chores are done. And they do it all. But my kids are probably older than most, 10, 7, 5, and the 2 year old does very little. If you have dirty dishes, it's not just the dishes, it's the counters and the tables, if you have clean dishes you have laundry also, and if you have pick-up, that means every room, sweep, vacuum, and mop. Then when I feel like it, I add more. I give them nothing, there is no reward, it is their cost for living and eating in my house. Do I sound cruel? If they want a little money, they mow the lawn or scrub my toilets, or clean the garage.
How do I get them to do it? If they refuse they stay in their room until they decide to do it. After once or twice they figure out that it only makes it worse. And when they complain that they have more to do than someone else then they get chores added to their list. The key for me is to stick by what I tell them, if I make a threat, I follow through.
Scary, isn't it?
Hey Carie, I have no real structure. Mt kids clean their room 1 time a week whenever it gets to be a disaster. And they do a 10 second tidy before each meal and bed meaning all toys out of the living room as fast as they can. Cj my oldest who is 7 makes his own bed and takes out the garbage when i need and they get no rewards. I bought these big huge books at Walmart or target to keep them up on their school work Cj was in first grade so he is working on the 2nd grade book and tyhey have to do 5 pages a day. In the coloring book isle they have 300 some pages. Along with the books CJ is working on piano and Brenden who will be in Kinderhgarten is working on writing his name. We just fit it in when we have a lull or nap time because we go walking alot and out to the lake or a park atleast once a day. The longer my kids are outside the better. Everyday is different for me so it is hard to be on an exact schedule in the summer. I have a day for laundry and groceries I try to do one chore a week so I don't get ovewhelmed all in one day. 15 min a day sounds a whole lot better to me than a full day of cleaning and we never do chores Saturday or Sunday unless we are working outside. I do need to work on the chores thing. Lu what do you have your 5 year old do?
My 5 year old does everything the older ones do. He does dirty and clean dishes, vacuums, sweeps, does laundry. He's actually a really good worker. The dirty dishes take forever though and I have to get on him on that one as it is fun to play in the water I guess.
Nathan, my 2 year old usually helps pick up toys and he LOVES to clean windows with the spray bottle.
Lu, you have inspired me. Carrie, the key to my sanity is prayer....LOTS of prayer.
Thank you all for your comments! It helps me so much just to hear what everyone is doing!
Lu your 5 year old must be amazing because it is like pulling teeth to get mine to even clean his room. I think he tends to lean towards the hyper active side of the scale and so has a very small attention span and gets distracted easily. I need to work on him more. Maybe a new job once in awhile would hold his attention. We will try it out.
My mom always had us doing chores growing up - but she always made it fun. She would crake up the music so we could hear it through the house. Still to this day I like to clean with music going. I have to admit I am not that good at having my kids help me clean. I am kind of obsesive about how I like things done. They do clean their own rooms before lunch and after their quiet time and then again before bed time. We all clean the kitchen after each meal -the kids help by cleaning off the table. I always say thing are more fun when done together. Washing the kitchen floor without the kids probably be easier to do myself but the kids just love to help.
As for summer activities...I once again think back to my childhood. My mom always had us very organized during the summer. She each day of the week organized. One day we did school work, another was field trip day, then yet another was pool day, then another was beach day(this was when we lived in CA) Anyway this way we always knew what we were doing and what to look forward to. Summer was always a lot of fun for us this way. I do the same for my kids now. Since Anne hasn't been in school full time yet we do this year around. We do our errand one day to get them all out of the way, then one day to the beach. We have memberships to the zoo and we try to get there as often as we can. I try to do all these things in the morning so I can get home for quiet time for the kids and a much needed down time for me. Remember to get that for yourself too. Summer doesn't mean putting mom time on hold! Hope this helps!
Hi Carrie. The only way I keep sane in the summer is to have a pretty good schedule. The kids usually get up before me and get their own cereal. By the time their done eating I am telling them to clean their rooms and any other room that has been torn apart by them, including the kitchen. After that it is time for the gym. We spend an hour there and then come home for school. I wait till later in the morning for school so that Ira will be napping.
We start in the living room with a song and a prayer and the pledge of alliegence. Each child gets their turn holding the flag and saying "please rise for the pledge of alliegence." They love that. We then sing the ABC's. Then we move to the kitchen table and start the work. Brower is three and he just gets a notebook full of paper to draw pictures. I have a bunch of different sets of flashcards..... Numbers, ABC's, animals, words.
I went to Amazon.com and got some "Summer Bridge Activity" books. Each child has their own because it bridges them from what grade they are leaving, to which one they are entering. Every day their are a couple of pages of work for them to do that are just at their level. In the book there is an incentive program. You decide with your children what the fun activity you will do with them will be after they are finished. We are going to a water park.
They call me Mrs. Nickel and love that. They get recess. About 5 minutes to play outside and have a little snack.
Emma reads 30 minutes a day and Eliza 20. I like to read with both of them to make sure they are actually reading.
Field trips are fun too...the library, the park, the zoo, the pool, anything out of the house.
The library also has huge books that I bring home for story time.
There is also a day set aside for cooking. I will teach them how to make stuff from scratch. They LOVE that day. It really does teach them how to cook.
Just sit down one night and write down a schedule.
Decide which days of the week will be set aside for cooking and field trip. example: Tuesday is always cooking day, Thursday is always field trip day(even if it's to the library for story time every Thurs.)
I have a bag of skittles just in case I think they deserve a prize for anything. I just give them one at a time. Toss them out when they earn one.
Those little things keep them happy and attentive.
I hope something in here helped.
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