Summer School

I'm a big supporter of letting kids play as much as possible during the summer.  Yesterday was our first official day of summer.  The kids played hard.  The house felt way too quiet.  I will have to get used to that.

I am also a big supporter of giving kids responsibilities.  Kendi has a chart that she has to complete everyday before she can play.  If she finishes before noon then she gets to pick an activity for us to do together.  There are hundreds of fun summer activities to do with kids on Pinterest.  We make our own huge, long list of activities to pick from.  

You can see her chart on the fridge in the picture below.  The four things she has to check off are: get dressed/comb hair, clean bedroom/living area, do a lesson/read scriptures and have a happy attitude.  Quite often Kendi doesn't want to do any responsibilities until she is compelled to.  Almost everyday a friend will knock on the door before she has done her checklist and I have to tell them to come back later.  Sometimes I think the kids on the street think I'm mean, but I don't nag Kendi to get anything done.  She knows what she has to do everyday.

 Kendi writing in her Journal about the scripture we've been talking about.

Everyday Kendi gets to pick what lesson we do together.  On the magnet chart below she can pick from four things.  Reading, Writing, Math and (other) Subject.  We are missing our M and W in the picture.  When she picks one of the subjects to do she puts the corresponding magnet on the "done" side and picks from the "do it" side the next day.  That way we rotate through all the subjects every four days.  We also have a list of four or five things for each subject that she gets to pick from.

I'm the kind of person that would let my house be a mess rather than nag and yell at my kids.  BUT, I go crazy if the house is messy and I don't have the energy to do it all by myself.  This system keeps everything pretty cleaned up and I know I'm spending quality time with my kids.  Today, we played hopscotch for an hour and we've gone for ice cream cones earlier this week.  I have to limit the kids to eight dollars a week on activities or they would want to go to the pool everyday.  haha.  I'm very happy and excited for summer.