What to do with my kids in the summer?

Summer is here and you might be asking what should I do with my kids in the summer?  Summer activities for kids are great, but creating a schedule of what to do when really decreases on the “whining” and “what’s next” phenomenon.

I-yi-yi!  Kids are everywhere and you feel like you need a family summer plan?  Or a family summer schedule?  The spread-sheet woman is here with help!  Because if it doesn’t have a spreadsheet accompanying it — why do it?  Am I right?

Hello summer!  Arizona gets out CRAZY early from school (seriously, last week) I am staring summer square in the face.  HELLO SUMMER!!!!  Good to see you, all that time to mold my kids into what I want them to be, without turning into mold myself.  Am I right? 😉

I always have a summer schedule.  If I blink lifelessly at a full day of “nothing” with my kids I start to have a seizure, so I need to do something. Here it is, you can also download it as a bonus to my newsletter

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**After reading this post – -check out my 2015 version!**

I also talked with a friend of mine recently on my podcast about making this fun for MOM as well.

Alright, let’s talk about how my summer schedule works:

7:30 — Wake-up.  In the school year, my kids have to get up at 6:30 — so this is a nice change for them, also I don’t love them staying in bed all freaking day.  AND, once a week we don’t really adhere to this schedule (we likely take a field trip), and they can sleep in on that day or the weekends as late as they choose {within reason, and honestly, on those days they’re often up earlier}

8:00 — Breakfast, most of them make their own, we don’t do anything big.

8:30 — Outside play has to happen early around here, and likely late June this will disappear altogether and we will maybe switch that and extra job, and do Just Dance or something instead.

9:00 — Workbooks.  I love a good workbook, it keeps their brains engaged.  Conner has a computer class he needs to complete to stay in his chosen math class next year, also I want him to work on SAT/ACT prep.  There are a few websites that have “question of the day” that he can ponder.  Just getting used to how they ask questions.  Sometimes we do puzzle books too — workbooks come in many forms.

9:30 — Writing.  The elementary school is BIG on writing, and I don’t want to lose any of that during the summer months.  Below you’ll see the writing areas they do each week.  They only have to do it for 1/2 an hour and I will start P on this, this summer as well.  I am going to have Conner work on writing a blog, I think.  I have even considered him finding topics that he could post here and then maybe make some money off the pageviews?

10:00 Specials — we call them this because this is what they call them in school.  I don’t know why, but they are special. 🙂  One of the days we’ll head to the library which will mess up our schedule a bit, but don’t worry — on my copy, I have an alternate Tuesday schedule that moves practice where computer time was {because they play computer at the library}.

10:30 — Practice.  Self-explanatory — my kids all play an instrument.

11:00 — LEAVE. ME. ALONE. — we all get some “chill” time

12:00 — Each week has a “room” assigned to it that we will deep clean.  The kids will have an extra job assigned in that area.  the end.

12:30 — Lunch

1:00 Reading time, super important!  This summer we’ve gotten Scribd and it’s AMAZING.  SO many options, especially for older kids.  I have made each of them a reading list and the price is great (you can even get a free 60-day free trial through my link).  You can read my full post about audible alternatives (they have both audio books and e-books)

2:00 — The boys will switch off who gets to be on the computer first, because they ALL WANT ON IT, ALL THE TIME.

3:00 — Other child is on the computer, I will expect the other one to play with Princess P.

4:00 Electronics time (P can be on the computer if she would like, we haven’t really introduced that yet, or she can watch TV — it’s just whatever electronics they want to use, basically — TV, DS, wii, Kindle, etc.)

5:00 — Start dinner.

SEND THEM TO BED. 🙂  I wish!

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Related post: How to teach a child the piano

Anyway, that’s our plan.  I will admit this is a loose plan, and we also have a vacation in here that has no scheduled time whatsoever.  I just need a framework, on which to lay our day.  Honestly, a lot of it is for me.  See that “leave me alone” time — for blogging.  It will take up the entire day if I let it.  I need that to only be the hour, and I need to be thinking of activities to keep them engaged and interested in art and science.  I need to keep going.  They’re pretty well trained at this point. {unlike myself}.

Some other posts that might interest you:

• 5 Tips to planning your Disney trip
• Staying Sane in the Summer
• Summer Learning
• Bullying or Teasing?

Be sure to check out my summer printables to help keep your kids on track this summer!

This post was originally written in 2014,but has been updated.