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"summer break" routine
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I was wondering what kind of routine/schedule everyone has during school breaks. I’m talking about longer breaks than just a week or so. We are about to “offically” start our summer break, and I know I need a good routine in place. Letting the kids play all day without any structure I have found isn’t a good idea! There ends up being too much fighting, complaining, and whining about what they can do. I’m not talking about not letting the kids have free play…but we still need a routine for family life to stay on the peaceful side!
I’d appreciate anyone’s feedback. Thanks!I understand….my kids would want to play all day with the neighbors, and I don’t want to have to be the ‘meanie’ every day so I’m planning on some guidelines. My plan is to tell them that they can’t go play until they do the following:
Devotion/30 min. of free reading/30 min. of something creative/30 min. of something physical. And any chores need to be done. Since it’s summer, I may attach a reward to this….but not sure. They don’t know it yet. Hope it works well:) Gina
P.S. On days we have a camp, playdate, fieldtrip, etc. I’ll probably just enforce devotion and chores.
I’ve found for summer break, I still like to have the girls keep up with math and reading, so we don’t lose what we’ve learned! After breakfast and bible reading, I let them play outside in the cool of the day, then when it gets hot, we can work on math and reading, lunch, rest then chores and evening routine as usual, sometimes including going back outside after supper when it cools off again to look for bugs and enjoy the stars etc. We try to make a once per week if not more trip to the park for picnics and playdates, bike rides every morning, and a couple days per week swim at the Y with their dad. OH and this year since we are studying insects next for 106 Days of Creation we are going add science officially in for some time. I hate to give up school entirely!
Tara
We try to keep our morning routine as much the same as possible: get up, silent reading time, chores, dress, breakfast, clean up. After that, I allow some play time, especially during the hotter months when playing out of doors is much more pleasant in the morning. We also keep a read aloud going, whether literature or just something for fun so that the reading habit does not fall by the wayside. We do join a local club so we have a nice place to go swimming in the afternoons. We probably swim 3-4 afternoons a week. If we’re not swimming in the afternoon, I require a rest time of at least 1 hour. Dd usually falls asleep; ds prefers to read quietly or play with Legos. They are still expected to help in the kitchen at suppertime and to help in the garden when needed.
I should add that although our morning routine stays the same, we don’t necessarily get up as early as usual. I love to be able to sleep in on days when I don’t have a lot to do, so summer is a great time for that. I’m looking forward to our month-long break in July!
Oh, Alice, you are so right – if left completely to themselves we would have chaos in just a few days in our home. I completely agree with the others about keeping the chore routing the same – we don’t want to relearn those good habits in the fall.
What I find so interesting from a Charlotte Mason perspective is that parents and PUS teachers were addressing the same question about 100 years ago. In the Parents’ Review articles, the gist on summer vacation or “holidays” is that
1)they are precious and should be both profitable and pleasurable
2)holidays and formal education each serve to make the other more enjoyable, and
3)parents are not meant to amuse and entertain the children.
So what do we do? This was accomplished by providing children with a multiplicity of interests, those suitable ideas that give a child freedom while helping them think and act profitably.
As for what our children will forget, each family will make their own prayed about and thought about decision for their summer and what works best for them. According to one PUS teacher, the qualities of a child’s mind are thus that a break of eight weeks are “sufficient for him to forget only very superficially the lessons of a term” and much prefers them to use the holidays to develop a child’s senses, observation and experience of life.
These are my thoughts in more detail with the Parents’ Review references in full:
Summer Break and Holiday Schedules
Summer Break and Suitable Ideas.
Like Lindsey, right about this time I start looking forward to summer break 🙂 Unlike Lindsey, I think my kids are up much earlier than during the school year but we are in Mass. where we’ve just been through a long, dark winter.
Best,
Richele
thanks for this post i was just thinking bout setting up something too! We do a weekly park,trial or swim date (that I organize) and a monthly field trip. Also, I just learned about a free bowling thing that many states have and I’ll post that seperately so others who might not read all posts here (really there are those who do that/?? LOL) can also get it.
misty
I school year-round, but much lighter in the summer. I will be keeping our regular morning routine (that stays the same always, every day, even weekends). I plan to do just a little schoolwork in the am before the dew is off the grass (maybe an hour or so?), then outside, then inside for lunch (unless a picnic day), then quiet time for about an hour or so, then a little bit of schoolwork for about an hour at most until the hottest part of the day is over, then back outside until dinner. Probably back outside after dinner, too. 😀 Chores are normally done during our morning routine, but if for some reason they don’t get done, they’re outside time is cut – chores before outside. Usually works, except on days like today. <sigh>
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