Summertime

Summer is here and to be honest the only thing I enjoy about it is the warmer weather. We are only a few days in and I can see that this summer is going no where good in a hurry, unless I do something to fix it. Hailey and Ike have been at each other's throats since the minute we picked her up from her last day of first grade.  When we picked her up we were greeted by happy excited children screaming about summer and how great it would be. Hailey got in the car with her grumpy face and quietly sat down. When Jason asked her if she had cheered about summer we got a cranky and firm "NO!" I knew from that moment I had my work cut out for me.

Tomorrow will be our first real day of summer since the kids spent the weekend at their grandparents. Tonight at bedtime we were talking about tomorrow and planning our day when Hailey asked "what about my summer school?" To explain, Hailey came home on Wednesday (I think) and cleaned up her craft table, put crayons and pencils in cute jars, made name tags for everyone, and a rewards card system, and informed us that she didn't want school to end and would be having summer school at the white table every day. Her question led me to searching pinterest for summer schedule ideas since she's made it pretty clear that she not only craves structure, but needs it. So tomorrow we will make a schedule. 

For those of you that know me you are aware that I'm in my pajamas all day unless I need to go somewhere, I am content to let the kids play and I prefer not to dictate what they do all day, apparently my kids need me to dictate a little more. I believe in structure, but I also believe that kids need to be able to entertain themselves, that they need freedom to explore, experiment, and cause a little trouble. I think maybe I give my kids too much freedom to do as they please and thus they end up claiming "I'm bored" 87 times a day. Hopefully making a schedule with them and planning our blocks of time with at least a category such as reading, outside time, computer time, etc. but letting them choose what they do in that time frame will help facilitate my easy going nature and their need for structure.

Let's hope and pray for a summer of fun and learning. I will try to update you on our activities and post pictures every so often. I love my kids and I hope that I can make this a summer that they will enjoy and remember.