Basic Joy

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And so it begins

Anne


Look who I found in the car today.
AND THEY WON'T GET OUT!
Not even when I pull up in front of the school
And open the door + honk really loudly

Yes, today is our first day of summer vacation. Officially. We had a sad little wimpy half day yesterday where they went to school and watched a movie and played games and then came home before lunch. Why the school district decided to do that on a Monday, I have no clue.

Since this is the first day of summer, it is also the first day of the Good Intentions Summer Program, version 9.0. {That's me, paving the road to hell with them, one year at a time.} But a couple of friends have asked what we do in the summer to stay occupied and out of the summer blahs. (And I have to admit, I'm very susceptible to the summer blahs so I need to have some sort of structure, too.) For those who are interested, here are the bare bones of our daily summer structure. It is oriented to the middle childhood/teen years:

Morning: Getting Things Done stage of the day
Afternoon + evening: Having Adventures, Having Fun, and/or Lounging Around time.

Four rules:
Do dailies before other things (room, practice, and weed your assigned plot).
Extra jobs can be done for $ after the dailies
Practice time earns computer time (i.e., 30 minutes practicing=30 minutes computer)
Fun will be had. I promise. No complaining.

Afternoons:
sometimes organized adventures, sometimes on-your-own fun

Library. Bookstore.

Bike ride.

Trip to the pond. Or one of our favorite beaches.

Logic puzzles (my kids love trying the kids' section of these)

Movie (oh, yeah...I'm always up for a good summer matinee)

Take Louie on a long walk (please!)

Six Flags (in a fit of I-don't-know-what we got season passes this year)

Make a treasure hunt. Or a map. Or an obstacle course and record everyone's times

Have a friend over

Do an art project (Maddy received* the Guerilla Art Kit by the lovely Keri Smith. We'll be using this for fun ideas throughout the summer, I hope. It's really fantastic.)

Read, read, read.(Sam wanted to start a blog about books for boys so he'll be adding to that throughout the summer. I think. Remember what I said about good intentions...and we're still putting it together. But here's the link: Kids Bookshelf).

Please, please, please. What are you doing this summer? Or in your growing up summers? Do you/did you have Good Intentions Summer Programs? How long did they last? I'd love to hear your ideas in a comment or e-mail or link to your blog. The summer blahs are riding on this.

*This is kind of a backdoor brag. Maddy received this award at school, one where the teachers choose a 6th grader who embodies the school values of kindness and friendliness and excellence. I'm sort of against awards until one of my kids gets one and then I'm all "well, she did kind of deserve that one." Go ahead and roll your eyes, I won't look.