Most of the time I don't think I'm a very good "summer mom." I usually have big (often Pinterest fueled) plans for the summer that never quite work out the way I want.
In the past I've tried keeping a weekly schedule, with certain activities on certain days and regular projects or school work with only moderate success. Those daily activities I'm going to do with the kids don't happen. I just can't bear to take five non-swimmers alone to the pool like I had planned...or to any number of fun places. And then there's the horror that is grocery shopping with five kids in summer time. ((Shudder)) Yes, sometimes momming in the summer is just a survival situation.
But, for whatever reason, things are going great this summer! My kids are a little older, a little more water safe, more mature in the grocery store, able to do some work (and play) on their own and I plan out what I'm willing to do so everyone knows ahead of time what's happening. And I've lowered my expectations a bit - I've scheduled in lots of down time...for me. Here is our sort of current summer schedule.
Monday: Grocery shopping (with all the kids)
Tuesday: Outings or Stay Home
Wednesday: Pool
Thursday: Library or other Outings
Friday: Pool, Movie Night
Saturday: Family outing or Down Day
Sunday: Church
Here are some of our summer successes so far.
Swimming:
I signed the kids up for swimming lessons. We got through half the session before they were canceled for ongoing pool contamination. Luckily we got a refund and spent the rest of our time at the community pool. In the past I have always been very nervous about going to the pool with five kids (who aren't strong swimmers) alone, so we didn't go much. And because we didn't go much they couldn't practice swimming and get better. Vicious cycle. Last year in Utah I went to the local pool more, often with all the kids. Having a zero entry pool is great for those little ones. So even though we didn't get a lot of swim instruction this year, we're getting lots of practice. We have a pool pass. I plan ahead with the kids that we are going to the pool twice a week for a couple hours at a time. We go as soon as the pool opens when it's less crowded and that leaves the late afternoon for me to cook dinner. It's working out great!
The zero entry local pool with play structure in the background. Having a great local pool is so awesome. This one is at the newer high school in town. They also have a big, deep pool with diving boards. Anna and Matthew have both passed the swim test to swim in there. Scott has even been able to go with us a few times and the big kids love having him help them practice their skills. A few snacks are a must at the pool (usually a few sleeves of Ritz crackers) but we only stay about two and a half hours (none of this four and a half hour business) so when people get too hungry, it's already time to go home.
Emma and John like to stop for snacks
And the three younger ones have all been discovering the fun of swim goggles.
Jobs and Homework:
Over the summer I have the kids do a couple daily jobs, a math page and a writing assignment before they can do their (hour or so of) screen time. During the school year they only get to do 30 minutes a day. They have to do more jobs than during the year but they've been working hard to get things done. Here's Grant working on the laundry. One great thing about front loading machines, a six year old can do his own laundry. Grant, Anna and Matthew have been doing their own laundry for most of the year now. Good job guys! It saves me a lot of laundry work.
Ok, its not always smooth sailing. On this day Grant was crying because he thought his writing assignment was too hard. I let them write about pretty much whatever they want but he was having writers block and didn't like any of my topic suggestions. Poor Grant. He eventually got through it - I suggested writing about his trouble thinking of something to write about. He wrote something like: I can't think of anything to write. I feel sad. I cried.
Matthew doing some screen time
Some of the kids doing their screen time.
Most days the screen time of choice is Minecraft.
Reading:
I was a little disappointed with the library reading program here. It's pretty basic. You read five books and you get a pass to a local museum. We're still doing it but the kids read their five books in no time. So I decided to supplement with our own family summer reading program. Grant wins the award for most motivated reader. He wants those prizes and has been reading up a storm. Which I love.
I just made up a chart for each kid with the rewards being things I wanted to do with the kids anyway (summer fun things). Every 20 minutes they read they get to fill in a square and at the end of 7 squares (or a week of reading 20 minutes each day) they get a prize. I think Grant went through four lines in the first few days. I waited until everyone got to the prize and then we went on an outing. At the dollar store they each got to pick out 2 things. We went to the local frozen yogurt place, sonic, they got to pick a new book from Barnes and Noble. The back of the chart has prizes too like getting donuts, getting a "no jobs" pass, $1, a trip to Jamba Juice, getting a personal pizza etc. I told Grant (and all the kids) if they get to the end before summer is over, I will make another chart with more prizes. And we're already talking about an end of summer trip to Chuck E. Cheese to celebrate our reading. :)
This program is certainly not low cost for me - a trip to the frozen yogurt place for five kids set me back over $20, but its all stuff I would have done with the kids during the summer anyway plus its helping to get the kids more excited about summer reading. And I've been happy with how its working out so far. We end up doing about one activity per week.
Here we are at Barnes and Noble after the kids earned their free book prize.
Today the kids earned their McDonald's prize. We got Happy Meals and ice cream cones.
Plus everyone had fun playing at the play place.
No one's cone even fell on the ground!! This is both unheard of and amazing!!
Emma did give up on her cone part way through. Grant volunteered to finish it and then felt sick. But no throwing up!! And he felt better after we got home. Hooray!
I even got all the kid's orders right (Scott usually orders for us if we ever eat out and he is great at it). Each kid wants different condiments on their burger. Oy!! So hard to keep it all straight.
Projects:
The city had all these fun camps for the kids. And we signed up for none of them. They were either way too expensive or interfered with our preexisting vacation plans. One that everyone was kind of interested in was the sewing class. They even had sewing projects geared for boys. I'm not great at sewing but I thought I could walk the kids through a few easy projects. Grant, John and I made pillowcases. They helped me cut, pin and sew the fabric. John loved his pillowcase.
Grant liked his at first but then said it didn't feel soft enough and didn't want to sleep with it. Maybe if I wash it a bunch? We have a few other projects planned but we'll see if we get to them. I've got some shirts to tie dye and a multipack of painting canvases for all the kids to paint.
I've also started working on a quilt for Emma. I've made very little progress. But here and there I find time to do something.
This is not a kid project but Scott also made cherry and strawberry jam. He is the jam king and I help him. Good jam!! And in the cooking department, Matthew made crepes almost all on his own one morning. I assisted with getting the stove turned on and selecting the pot and then showing him how to safely flip the crepes, but he made the batter completely on his own and cooked them all. They were good too. He also is a regular smoothie maker. He has a few favorites he likes to make and then share with all the kids. Good job Matthew!
Matthew made balloon animals for the kids one day. He has a book with some directions and everyone had fun with that.
Another non-kid project but Scott helped hang some curtains I'd been wanting to hang.
Nice!
Outings:
Normally I don't like to have too many outings planned but since I am not pregnant and all my kids sleep through the night I'm back to getting a normal amount of sleep and not feeling tired all the time. So I am more open to going places with the kids. I still don't like to have too much scheduled in one day. I like to be home in the afternoon to regroup and make dinner. So planning ahead and going out in the morning works for me. And I don't have to have a fun outing or activity planned each day. Its fine for the kids to have down time or even be bored. That's when they find good ways to entertain themselves.
But sometimes we go somewhere. To the library or one of our library prize outings. Or a park. Here we are on a small hike at a local park. Matthew hiked here for a school field trip and was eager to take us all on a little hike.
Some people got a free ride part of the time.
We had some nice views
And we've made a few trips to Gilroy Gardens - a small, local amusement park.
On this day it was almost 100 degrees. I should have checked the weather before making plans.
We always have fun there.
Then there's the beach
I'd rather go to the beach with Scott, but I don't mind going by myself that much.
Toting the gear is the hardest part. We made some sand castles and pits on this day
Sand pit
And sand mermaid
Sand dollar
Having a water balloon fight at the local park with some church friends.
Emma sat this one out.
Some other things we've been doing...
Matthew has some books that spark his interest (The Dangerous Book for Boys and This Book Made Me Do It). He's also been reading a lot of the 39 clues series. And he's become interested in cooking more lately (I mentioned the crepes). He also rides his bike outside and has lots of water gun fights with the neighborhood kids. In our neighborhood the lots are small and the houses are close together. Also there seems to be a disproportionate number of kids, which is great. We think our town draws larger families who work in Silicon Valley. If you have one kid you can squeeze into a tiny house in San Jose. If you have four or five you gotta move farther out to get a bigger house. Anyway, there are almost always kids out playing on our street. It's great. Matthew and Anna have a great time running around with all their friends. The younger kids love playing out front too.
Anna has been working on sewing, rainbow loom crafts and planning plays and talent shows with her neighborhood friends. She helps me with the plants.
Grant is reading a bunch and spends a lot of his free time making Lego creations or building with one of the block sets.
John likes looking at books and playing with cars or the train set.
Emma plays pretend with her ponies and "babies" that she carries around.
So our days are full of plenty of fun and activity and I even find some down time to relax here and there. Ok, maybe not relax, but time to make dinner and load the dishwasher. :) At the end of many summer days we see this...
Ok, usually its just Emma and John that drop from exhaustion in the late afternoon, but Grant also crashes regularly. I just don't have pictures of him. Oh well. I think it's always good when everyone is tired. More summer adventures to come.
