The Change Of Seasons | Summer Rhythms
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Ah summer, you are so very delicious.
You start slowly around here and as you ripen you provide lots of joy and light and opportunities for connection. Thank you for reliably coming around again.
As we dip our toes into summer around here I've been spending a bit of time thinking about how I'd like to experience the next few months.
I want to live the length and the width of my life. (referencing this quote from Diane Ackerman)
Some people talk about surviving summer. My approach is this: how can I really be present during the summer? How can I take advantage of the things that are really special and unique to this season like longer daylight hours, fresh foods, kids out of school, etc? I want my kids to grow up knowing the deliciousness of summer.
Life is so different during these months of the year - I want to give myself the gift of full participating in and enjoying the next couple of months.
Here's some things I'm hoping for myself for this summer:
Eat lunch outside. Get away from my desk and into the light.
Work smarter to finish up what I need to earlier in the day to open up more family time in the afternoon and evening. This is the biggest challenge for me and also the biggest reward. If I'm here a bit less know that it's because I'm living up to what I set out to do this summer - live the length and the width of it.
Handwritten notes. Build in time for writing notes - to grandparents, to friends, people who have done something nice.
Support Chris on his quest to master the BBQ (maybe "become proficient" is a better term than master).
Help Simon learn to ride his bike. He was doing fine with training wheels but once they came off it became a lot scarier to him.
Generally go slower. Ride my bike (loved how we did that for date night last week). Go to the pool. Sip instead of gulp.
Instill a sense of love and wonder in my kids about the outdoors. Go on hikes. Take walks around the neighborhood. Camp. Be outside in the evening. Lay in the grass and look up at the sky (Simon is awesome at that).
Keep up the garden not out of a sense of obligation but of love. The veggies are coming along great. The sweet peas are amazing. The sunflowers are waist high.
A few weeks ago I also mentioned that we were turning off the TV for the summer. We are following through with that and have found what seems to be working for us: no TV or computer movies during the day with one movie at night as an option depending on the plan for the evening.
So far that's been going okay. Except for that time last weekend when I was out for a bit and Simon & Anna carried my laptop upstairs into Simon's room, closed the door and proceeded to start watching Dora after Chris had reminded them about no TV/computer. Not good...but I do kinda love that they are developing that special sibling bond.
Really what it takes is a bit of planning on our part to have suggestions and ideas for them when they start getting bored and start asking to watch a movie. Here's the list of activities and options (that I'm going to make into a printed list that I can tell Simon to go check out) that I'm encouraging:
Legos.
Swimming.
Letter writing. I've got a list of people they can write notes to - family and friends and a pen-pal that Simon is overdue on writing back.
Go outside. Mess around. Turn on the sprinkler. Climb a tree. Chase each other around. Jump on the mini-trampolines
Workbooks. These can be puzzle books like dot to dot or word searches or some other academic workbook. Something quiet, at the table, that engages a different part of the brain for a bit.
Read.
Play cars on the front porch.
Color or paint or draw or make a treasure map.
A trip to the library. Or maybe play library with the bunches of books we have here.
I know I'll think of other things as soon as I hit publish.
In our living room we've got a closet on the other side of our couch that holds games, books, a couple baskets of Anna-sized toys, some legos, etc. I'm using that as a command center with baskets for the different themes (one holds workbooks, one holds art supplies, etc) which makes them easy to grab. Getting that set up is in progress - I need to take some time later today to remove the toys that are now too little and add them to our donation pile.
Have you thought about what you'd like to see for yourself or your family this summer? Do you have a list of activities for your kids when they start getting antsy?
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87 comments
Inspiring Ali. I'm half way there to living the entire length and width and life. Still working on that end goal. Great reminder though.
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For the last few summers, I've had my kids create "I'm Bored" lists.
They have to create a list of things to do at home and they can't cost money...ride bikes, paint, build a fort, play guitar/piano, create a play, puzzles, do some pages in a workbook, read, etc.
We then decorate them and put them up on the wall in the kitchen.
Then whenever they come and tell me "I'm Bored," I remind them to go look at their lists. Works like a charm!
By the way....deciding on lunches in the summer can be challenging as well so we do a similar lists to help. I have the kids work together to brainstorm a list of lunch foods they really like. Then when it's lunchtime, they look at the list. (Kind of like a menu at a restaurant!) It also helps me with grocery shopping as I look at their lunch lists and use that to prompt things I need to add to my grocery list. (I also have them rotate with a different child selecting the lunch menu for each day. Otherwise I'd end up making three different lunch selections.)
These two ideas have helped a lot at our house!
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Hey Ali! Great lists! I have a delicious recommendation for Chris...the Weber Cookbooks (by Jamie Purviance) are fantastic! The recipes are yummy and the instructions are easy to follow. They even include sauces, veggies, side dishes and desserts...almost all made on the grill.
Happy Summer!
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I am also attempting to take the tv out of our daily life for the summer. I want us to be more active and engaging with each other!
- Library for sure
- swimming
- Play at the park
- Farmer's Market trips (we have 1 somewhere every day, just have to travel some days)
- Regal $1 movies on rainy days
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I have 4-6 kids here everyday during the summer so I create "themes" for each week. This weeks theme was 4th of July/ America. Everything we did or ate was centered around red, white, or blue...we had so much fun but learned a bunch too.
Since I know Simon is a huge lego fan I thought I'd share with you a tip that I have been doing with my kids/nephews/and daycare children. When I am preparing lunch I give them a specific task with the legos. This week they had to work together to find all of the red, white, and blue blocks and come up with a plan to create a flag. ON another day they had to create lady liberty with the green blocks. It was amazing that there were no fights and they were all so proud of their finished creations. I am writing more ideas for specific lego creations on popsicle sticks so that they can pull one out of the cup when they are bored:) Happy Summer Edwards family!
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I have the best memories of summers with my kids. Popsicles, slip n slides, crafts etc. I think you have a great list and will have an awesome summer because you are so mindful of it. I have one child left at home who is almost 16 and this summer still does not compare to those sweet summers when kids were little and up for anything. One treasured thing I did with my two oldest was a shadowbox. I got a 12 x 12 at Michaels and they picked out the background paper. All summer they collected little bits of things, rocks, shells candy wrappers. Whatever they wanted and glued them down. I stll love looking at what was so important to them at that age. TIme flies, enjoy your summer.
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Hi Ali :-) As a homeschooling mama I've had to come up with many ideas for our kiddos to do around here when we have spare time. I took photographs of every activity they could do that I could think of; activities that were easy to access in baskets in the learning room or lounge room. I printed off mini photos, wrote labels and laminated them. This had helped our family (and our autistic son) immensely. You can check it out here: http://homeschoolingmamalusi.blogspot.com/2011/01/one-way-to-stop-im-bored-theres-nothing.html
We are in winter over here but each year we've sat down and written out 'our Winter Wonderful' or 'Sensational Summer' list full of brainstormed ideas by the whole family on what to do and where to go these seasonal holidays. Makes our holidays fun, intentional and helps ensure we all stay living in the moment!
With love,
Lusi x
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I haven't read through all 84 comments, so I apologize I this is a repeat. I have 2 children, each a bit younger than yours, and two things on my list include building a fort with blankets and havin the older one build an obstacle course for the younger.
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one Summer we saved up empty grocery items, combined w/ our plastic food and had a grocery store in the living room, we have a pretend cash register, cart etc, give them some bags to fill etc...this year we have out all the hotwheels and tracks so far...this is always a time to look at our toys and summer started w/ the neighborhood garage sale so that was good. And we saw cousins to hand down toys to too. Chalk on the driveway and bubbles are always popular too.
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PS there's tents inside on raining days, tunnels whatever you have....
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