Summer Schedule & Curriculum

Summer Schedule & Curriculum
9 weeks (5-25—7-24)

Summer Goals:
Crave people, outdoors & knowledge
Independence through Habits

Rise & Shine
Me: Quiet Time & get started on A.M. Routine: check to do list & calendar, plan dinner, get ready, make bed, take vitamins, start laundry, empty dishwasher, check garden, reply to blog comments, 10 minutes on Pinterest & work on an upcoming post
Kids: Wake up slow

Breakfast
A good bit of family work is accomplished during this time (memory verses & read alouds)

Free Time
10-20 minute break depending on how late we started
Me: clean up the kitchen
Kids: play

A.M. Routines
Timer set for 15 minutes
Me: Finish up my list above
Boys: take vitamins, get dressed, dirty clothes in hamper, brush teeth & hair, wash face, make bed

Free Time
Timer set for 15 minutes
Me: 1-on-1 time with Little Miss in her room. I play her favorite CD and my goal is to get her to play in there contently for the whole CD, even after I leave. I find if I pour into her in the morning before I start with the boys, our day goes more smoothly. Also, I can get her interested in an activity and fade out when the boys’ timer goes off.
Boys: 15 minutes free time starts when the last boy is ready for his day. This rewards the fast movers because they can begin their free time as soon as they’re ready. 

Workbox Time
I rotate working 1-on-1 with each boy while the others play. If they can complete the task independently, I fold some laundry or load the dishwasher (they are working at the table in the same room as me). If the boys need help staying on task, I set the timer for 15-20 minutes per workbox to motivate them. This works really well because if they finish before the timer, they can spend those few minutes drawing or playing with toys at the table.

Non-Workbox Work
Yoga, Keyboard Lessons (look for a review on this soon!), BrainBeat, Roomtime & Spanish online. Yoga we do together via YouTube on the Wii. Roomtime will be its own post one day soon but for now I’ll just tell you it’s basically 1-on-1 time with each boy.

Boys’ Chore Time: rotate emptying their hamper, sorting clean silverware, and putting away their clean clothes

Free Time

Lunch

Boys’ Screentime & Little Miss Naps
20 minutes each unless they’ve earned bonus time or had time taken away during work time.

Free Afternoons:
Me: work, house stuff (cleaning/planning/bills/etc.), return phone calls, bake/food prep
Kids: play & creative time
All: library on Monday’s/errands/pool when it’s a good day to go

Dinner

P.M. Routines:
Me: evening walk with Little Miss & the dogs, clean up kitchen, set dishwasher, check garden, check planner for tomorrow, reset boys’ chore chart and workboxes
Boys: rotate cleaning bathroom counter & cleaning living room; swishing toilet & cleaning lego room; and feeding dogs & cleaning their bedroom (they all share one). If the house is really a disaster, they just all help clean the living room.

Free Time

Bedtime routine starts at 7:
Dad reads & mom comes in to tickle backs before sweet dreams 🙂

*******Disclaimer*********
If you’ve made it all the way to the end, you may be disgusted and discouraged by our seeming perfection. Please note that this is a Monday – Friday schedule, “Free Time” sometimes includes entirely too many Baby Einstein and Minnie Mouse videos, weekends are a free-for-all, and some days this gets altered or thrown out the window altogether (like that day I decided to alphabetize my book shelf…)

ON THOSE DAYS…I quickly realize how well we do with a schedule – nay, a ROUTINE – like this in place. Notice there are no times set because we do not believe in rigidly scheduling life.

Glad we cleared that up 🙂

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