One of my goals for the month was to come up with a plan for these kids this summer. It’s usually a rough time for me because I work from home, the kids are always here, and my husband works late so there’s no downtime all day. Plus, the summer camps I’ve looked into are prohibitively expensive. $350 a week for ONE child and no sibling discounts or scholarships or loans or grants or refunds or coupons?
No. No. No.
Normally, I whine and complain all day and we just take turns getting on each other’s nerves. That has not worked well for the past two summers.
So this summer, I’m getting proactive. I’ve got three goals (goals on goals on goals over here!):
- Keep my daughter’s skills sharp and get my son ready for kindergarten
- Give us a schedule to keep the days from feeling so crazy
- Give all of us a daily dose of something fun on a budget
Motherhood has the tendency to overwhelm me if I’m not careful, so I’ve developed a routine that *should* eliminate most of my stress and give the kids good quality time with a not-so-cranky mama.
Weekdays – Monday through Thursday
Morning
Wake up, wash up, get dressed, eat breakfast
Cleaning. Laundry, dishwasher, clean kitchen. Kids do their chores.
Outdoor activities. See, I discovered I hate the park because it’s so darned hot and there’s no shade. But my kids love it. So my compromise is that I’ll take them first thing in the morning when the sun is not so fierce and they can play without me fussing about my skin being on fire.
Snack break + art activities. My daughter is so darned creative it scares me. I want to give her a daily outlet for that imagination of hers.
Afternoon
Lunch + rest time (Mama’s working time)
Homeschool. Work on weekly writing/math lessons for my son; math/science/reading lessons for my daughter. I stocked up on a few workbooks and have been pinning ideas on my Pinterest board for months now. Time to finally put them to use. I’ll also try to do a bit of client work during this time if the kids are occupied by themselves.
Downtime for the kids. Cooking dinner.
Enrichment activities: My son has karate lessons. My daughter? Piano.
Showers, storytime, goodnight to the kids.
Do client work and blogging for the following day.
Fridays
I’ve decided we will have one day a week where we have a field trip. Tentatively, this will be Friday, but really could be any day of the week. Here’s the field trips I have “scheduled” so far:
- Natural History Museum
- Children’s Museum (going on a Monday for free admission!)
- Stonehedge bowling center
- Akron Zoo
- Akron Art Museum
- Lake Farm Park
- Cleveland Botantical Garden
More will be added to our summer of fun as I find interesting events, places to go and things to do. Mainly, I’m looking forward to a slower pace (yes, even with a daily schedule). I’ll keep you posted on how it goes. 
Even though my kids are not in school yet, I’m with you on planning something for summer. I don’y usually have down time, but this schedule is a great way to work everything in.
I try to keep the kids busy over the summer too, mostly to remain sane and to keep from hearing those two dreadful words… I’m bored. I like your idea of a field trip a week. We go places at random and try to find anything free or cheap!
I actually have “mommy camp” in my mind for this summer because Amani is starting 1st grade in September. I just want her to be preapred in all the academic subjects that will be taught in her new school. I’ll post her activities on mommyincolor.com as they come to me!