Summer is here

So as we embark on the summer, what are your plans? Are you a go go go mama? Scheduling camps and fun activities for every day? Like, Monday is park day, Tuesday is craft day, etc. I've been that mom. Or maybe you are more of a relaxed and chill mama? Encouraging your kids to just play outside and relax, scheduling nothing? I'm striving for somewhere in the middle this year. If we get too relaxed around here I'll turn into the third kind of mama, the crazy one trying to stop to energetic boys from engaging in some fiasco or another.  For us, summer is a time for baseball, books, berries,  boredom and good old boy fun. Sorry I got carried away with the B words.

But really, what does this blissful middle of the road summer look like? The summer where we do "school lite", have fun activities, but still enough down time to recharge and enjoy ourselves?
Ah....I don't actually know! BUT, this is what I have for you so far.

SPORTS: One sport at a time. This is really our family rule period. But it is an important one.  Both boys will be playing baseball this summer so our swimming lessons will go on hold until the fall when the busyness of the local pools dies back down.

DAY CAMPS: Ah, there are so many good good choices to enrich our kiddos out there. This year my littlest is even big enough for some of these jewels! Yet, we all know that too much of a good thing is still harmful, so we limit these as well.

• O will be attending a week long Dino Camp, a couple of days for Scout camp, a baseball camp, and 2 weeks of VBS. As I type that out, it does seem like a lot, but each camp will only be a few hours of the day and we won't do much if any schooling on those days, other than reading, which NEVER STOPS! (Cue maniacal laugh) 

• C will be doing the 2 weeks of VBS and 3 single day workshops at the local zoo. C is a serious animal lover and at 4, this should be just enough for him to feel like he is getting to join in all the summer fun without overwhelming him. 

The beautiful thing about summer activities is that when one of the boys is engaged in a fun activity, I get special time with the other one. We treasure these special mommy-son dates.

SCHOOL: We will do school-lite during the summer. Basically this will include continuing with our reading and math. We will also be continuing with science investigations because summer is just too ripe with opportunity to cut that fun out! We will only do school as we have time. We've already accomplished our requirements for the school year, so I'm good with just hitting school a few times a week.

SUMMER READING PROGRAM: Our local library has a great summer reading program that my boys enjoy. This year it is super hero themed, so they are beyond excited. In fact, they are almost done with the first milestone and they have only had the card for 5 days! Check out your local library to see if they have something similar. There are usually fun themed events as well. It's worth looking into! If you are local to me, click on the picture and check out what we have going on!

SCREEN TIME: No screen time until at least 3 o'clock, and only then if they have played outside and read for the day. I want the boys to learn to self-regulate screen time, and I will do a post going more in depth with how we are trying to accomplish that sometime soon. Remember though, I said trying. They are only 4 and 7. It's a work in progress.

OUTDOOR TIME: We live in a small midwestern "city" where we have to be intentional to get
outside and explore nature. We have a small backyard so we frequently will head out to local parks and green-ways to be outside. Luckily we have an amazing park system in our city, so we have plenty to do. We will likely spend entire days at the park, going for hikes, doing our school, playing in the water, geocaching, and picnicking. They will also spend plenty of days just playing in the backyard too, creating their own worlds to play in.

That is basically it. We won't schedule anything else into our summer, other than plenty of time to play with friends and maybe a few camping trips! I want the boys to have plenty of time this summer to have fun, but also to just be bored. Yes, bored. In those moments of summer boredom come the most imaginative games and ideas. I want that boredom!

So, what does your summer look like?