Monday, June 6, 2016

Summer Plans

I've been seeing a lot of 'summer plan' posts popping up in various places on the internet.   I thought it might be fun to chat about that over here in this space too.  We are actually still in school mode here at our house, and will be until mid-July, and then will be traveling on the West Coast later in the summer.   So really…we don't really have the leisure of a long, lazy summer here.  That said, we are still in need of a little refreshment to ease the monotony that can lead to burnout.  
 
I don't make super-ambitious reading goals anymore, although I always have a running list of books I want to read going in the back of my mindThe only reading that I'm for sure going to do this summer is to keep up with the I Promessi Sposi discussion, because I'm co-leading it. (I'm also REALLY enjoying it, so no chore there.) I am also slowly reading Athansius' On the Incarnation as my theology pick at the moment, and would like to finish that this summer and move on to something else.  I'd also like to read Charlotte Mason's Volume 2, Parents and Children, which is one of the remaining two that I haven't read yet.  Truth be told, I will likely be reading novels and other lighter fare more than anything else this summer since I anticipate most of my reading time will either be at the pool while the kids swim or while traveling in the car which doesn't really lend itself to dense reading material.  So, we'll see how we go.

We had a very disrupted school year so are still in school mode until mid-July, like I said. We did 4-day weeks with a 5th day for co-op this past year, so we are keeping the 4-days schedule and plan to take that 5th day for a weekly field trip now that co-op is finished for the year. There are several museums that we'd like to visit, and I'd also like to take some longer, full-day type nature walks. I also set aside much of our normal morning basket fare and we will be doing Shakespeare's Twelfth Night, drawing, backyard-type nature study, and some hands-on things related to the topics in CM's Elementary Geography instead. Later in the summer we'll be travelling on the West Coast, mostly to visit family, but hopefully will get some good outings and nature journaling opportunities along the way. So really my 'summer enrichment' will be mostly things that I do WITH the kids. Shakespeare, drawing, nature walks, museums and afternoons by the pool are good for Mama too.

The one other thing that I'd really like to do is do some follow-up study and research after Dawn's Swedish Drill presentation at the Conference (and her recent Mason Jar podcast, and her series of guest posts over at Afterthoughts) and come up with a simple baby-steps plan towards being more intentional about physical fitness in our home after our travel break. So that's my 'something new' to learn about.
 
 
I'm also working towards better habits in the morning - we've been letting far too much of the morning slip away from us before getting going with our school work.  Currently, I'm in the brainstorming mode.  I'd love it if you'd share your morning routine with me in the comments - perhaps your routine will help me think outside the box for improvements I can make to ours.


And that's the plan. What about you?

3 comments:

  1. Hey - that's me again! I'm so glad to feed your desire to grow in this area, Jen. You know that's a huge passion of mine. I'm wondering if something like Family Time Fitness might be a good fit for you guys? Their Family Boot Camp program is being made available for free this summer via the Homeschool Buyers Co op and the pdf includes links to videos that could help you implement the program. I like what I see so far.

    I saw your request re: morning time routines on the forum, but since we ARE those people that are at the table eating breakfast and having morning time by 7:15 I didn't think I could offer any guidance. After breakfast the boys do chores, including piano practice, and then lessons begin. We have had great success this year, though, by adding in a morning walk after math (first subject to tackle) is finished so I think your idea of including one in your days is an excellent idea.

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    1. Hi there, friend. I guess I do mention you a lot in my blog posts, don't I? At least recently... I must really like you or something. :D

      We have done the morning walk thing two days in a row now and it's probably too early to say, but I *think* it may be having its desired effect.

      I will have to look into the Family Boot Camp and see if that might be a good fit for us. I also want to revisit one of your earlier PE posts about having a box of equipment available - now that we have a back deck, I think having something handy like that to send kids out between lessons or something could be a fairly simple thing to incorporate. We shall see.

      Hug!

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    2. It's nice to be liked:).

      Yes! Have fun building your PE box. My boys love ours.

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