Planning Summer: Playing, Learning, Responsibilities & Technology
Summer vacation is upon us! Plan and Prep for the extra hours they are home. Everything from coming up with a schedule/routine to filling them with breaks, learning, technology, time and chores/responsibility chart completion.
Schedule/Routine
You want to balance all the fun they want to do, getting exercise, seeing friends, getting break from friends, eating, responsibility, preventing the summer slide, avoid snacking all day long, and when is appropriate times to be on technology. It is a lot to juggle and while I do not expect you to follow my schedule, I HIGHLY encourage you to look at your life and expectations and make one that works for your family. I only provide my family schedule as a sample and starting point.
Summer Schedule
Print a summer schedule to help guide the day and help reduce the million questions of “WHEN IS…..” Includes samples of our schedule and blanks. This is a digital product, no product will be sent
Friends
Our kids have it pretty established of whose house they can go to and when. I have all the parents phone numbers. That being said, I just want to know which house they ended up at. This year, while I was on a work meeting my son knew not to interrupt, he went to a well established always ok if you go there house–but I couldn’t find him. So when he came home I whipped up these little “I am going to” cards, laminated them and put them and a dry erase marker on the door. Write down where you are going (Do first sound of their name if you cant spell), flash it to me if I am working, and go. Erase when you return. Now I can know where they are quick glance!
Learning Time
The “Summer Slide” is when kids fall back on academic skills from lack of practice. To help with this, we encourage learning activities: art projects, reading, fine motor skills, math skills, games, etc to keep skills in use.
Summer learning time: what where and how
📚Get a break from the sun (planned at hottest time of the day), friends (helps with “getting sick of each other”, and craziness
📚Help keep the skills they gained & need
📚Can be structured or not
📚Be lenient on your definition of learning time. Social skills, fine motor skills, and thinking/strategy skills all count.
—> games, puzzles, blocks, Magnatiles, STEM toys, art activities and play-doh, etc
📚Keep it fresh.
—> Don’t put it all out at once, keep adding to make it new. Maybe a couple surprises each year. Toy rotations may also work great. Make new “rules” for previous activities
📚Use high interest
—> favorite characters, themes, and topics
📚Make it easy to grab and able to get comfortable
📚 Whent hey know when, how long, how to do it, and can have fun—it is less of an argument, it prevents the summer slide, and great skills in the lazy hazy fun days of summer.
📱Tech Time is earned by completing their list of responsibilities (including learning time)
Tech Time
I know the kids enjoy technology time. I do think that it is fun for them and they should be able to do things they enjoy on the summer. That being said, we want to establish 1: time and place 2: limited time and 3: being responsible and completing responsibilities in order to earn it (it is a privilege not a right).
Want Tech Time? Earn it. SUMMER
Prepare for summer break and make sure what you want done before they earn the tech time. Our personal example and then blank. You will see in our sample the day before tasks (that happened after our tech time) so there is follow through for tomorrow. There is also a plan for missed tasks & our Chore/responsibilities. This is a digital product for download, no physical product will be sent.
Responsibilities/Chores
It is important that responsibilities and chores are taught to help see the home operate as a team. Giving age appropriate responsibilities that support you and the home is a great way to do this. If you take the One Job A Day approach, you can take what you do and have them prep the day before or do the same thing on the same day. Another great way to reinforce TEAM.
Responsibility Chart (summer & school year)
Teach responsibility with age appropriate responsibilities/chores to approach helping the house as a team. If you take the one job a day approach, have their responsibility support yours either working on the same area that day or the day before to prep your area. Summer and School Year Headers. Rainbow and black boxes, samples included. Printable PDF (no physical product will be sent) for a responsibility/chore chart.
Charts
You will see “morning chart”and “bedtime chart” listed on our responsibilities. These are our picture schedules in which we put the order and total number of items they need to complete before bed. Clip art works great, but photos of the area that is completed helps them have a visual of what a it should look like when they are done. We have a combination of both of these. (In school year we have a packing up chart as well-this can work for sports activities and such in the summer).
Picture Schedules, Editable Printable
Printable, editable picture schedule for morning or bed routine. Give your child the opportunity and responsibility of getting themselves ready.
This is a digital product, no product will be sent.
