As we finished school last week, the kids and myself have been discussing summer plans. They are each signed up for one activity over the summer, soccer and ballet that meets for an hour a week, but we’ve been talking about other things we want to do.  What do we want to do with our days so that by the time August rolls around, we can say we’ve had a great balance of rest, fun, and learning.  

Sometimes the summers sort of happen, I feel.  And there is definitely a place for no plans, time to be home, etc.  I’m a huge believer in that.  But there are also things that I want to teach the kids and do with them.  If I don’t plan these things intentionally, the summer will float by and I’ll wonder what we did with our time.  

Waiting for the ice-cream truck with their money

For example, years ago I started a toddler scripture memory plan with them – simple, short verses that coincide with the alphabet.  We have yet to finish that.  I think we ended somewhere around J.  I’d love to finish this by summer’s end.  I’m also trying to be intentional with some devotions or bible stories and am working them in to our read-aloud time each day.  Over breakfast and lunch I’ve found a captive audience, so I’ve started reading to the kids then and it works great.  

James is very interested in learning more kitchen skills and has several required chapter books to read before entering 3rd Grade in the fall.  Anna wants to learn a little piano with me and take her training wheels off her bike.  We usually visit the library pretty regularly, and make lots of time to play outside.  Kenny had the idea to have one morning a week called Field Trip day and plan somewhere to go once a week. The library, the zoo, a park/playground, a museum, swimming with friends, etc.  So, we’re making our list of fun things we want to do.  And, of course, the house still needs attention to run smoothly, so we’ll also be making time for the three of us to work on laundry, dishes, grocery shopping, and cleaning together.  

Ask any mom with kids home for the summer and I bet most would agree that this balance of structured time and time for the kids to play and even become bored is a little difficult. Too much free time and everyone starts to argue.  There is something to allowing the kids to become bored now and again, though.  When they get to that point, their imaginations start kicking in and I find they come up with their most creative games and play then.  Too much structured activities, running all over the city, doesn’t work either.  By August we will be tired and not rested at all.  

I may be overthinking this, but I’ve spent a fair amount of time praying about our summer and planning what the day to day will look like.  Of course, with any plan, if it’s not working for us, we scrap it and make a new plan.  We’ll see what happens.  I recently read an article titled 18 Summers: It’s All We Get which encouraged moms to make the most of the time with their kids.  We have 18 summers with them and that’s it! That perspective is what fuels all this thinking and planning.  

If you have kids home for the summer, what do your days look like?  How do you balance structure and free-play time?