Our summer

I wanted to do a post about what I HOPE our summer will hold ;) Eli's off from preschool for the summer and the inner teacher in me decided our summer should be somewhat scheduled to ensure certain activities are accomplished (or I should say attempted) each week. I want Eli to continue working on his letters and numbers and hopefully be able to write at least a few of his letters and numbers by summer's end. He can write his name and can copy numbers if I write them, so he can do some already. Also learning letter sounds and some very basic math. This also stems from our big boy's personality. He MUST be engaged in some guided activity several times a day or he literally just goes a little crazy. Especially with the "no parks" rule he has to abide by for now, we are doing a lot of inside activities...not to mention our heat wave!

With all of this, I have put together a "loose" daily schedule. Eric is home with the kids in the morning and then I am home with them from noon through bedtime. Anna currently naps twice a day, but they vary so much that they just happen when she is ready and our schedule works it in. I also made a visual schedule and put it up on our wall for Eli to be able to look at and follow along with his day. Outside time, free play, and creative/pretend play is indicated but really it is just to remind me to include a variety of activities, structured or not, each day. Here is our schedule:

-Breakfast & Cartoons

-Morning jobs: Get dressed, Make Eli’s bed, Brush teeth, Stickers on chart (for jobs completed)

-Activity #1: OUTSIDE PLAY/PHYSICAL GAMES

-Activity #2: ART

-Snack

-Activity #3: GAMES

-Lunch & Cartoons

-Activity #4: FIELD TRIPS

M: Paradise Park
T: Library (we are participating in the summer reading program and earned our first book today!)
W: Park/Mall/Playdate
Th: Errands
F: *Special trip* (Zoo, Powell Gardens, Water park, Nature Park, etc.)

-Activity #5: LEARNING FUN

M: Baking
T: Reading & enter books on log
W: Science
Th: Math
F: Language

-Snack

-Activity #6: OUTSIDE PLAY/PHYSICAL GAMES

-Activity #7: LEARNING FUN CONT’D

M: Job Chart
T: Character Trait (taken from www.hubbardscupboard.com)
W: Pretend Play
Th: Cleaning/Free play
F: Music (Music with Mar and other CD's/DVD's)

-Dinner prep (Eli & Anna independent play)

-Dinner

-Dinner clean up

-Baths

-Prep for bed: PJ’s, Brush teeth, Pick up toys, Stickers on chart

-Anna’s bedtime

-Read books

-Eli’s bedtime

Visual schedule for Eli:


Activity wall:

So, we'll see if all this continues on for the next 2 months but I hope it does. Of course each week is different with appointments or other special outings so our afternoons are often interchanged. What does YOUR summer hold??