Question: What about summer, Auntie Leila?
I love your philosophy on homeschooling. It is always encouraging. Could you post ideas for homeschoolers in the summer?
My little ones and I have just finished our first official year of homeschooling. And now I'm not quite sure how to maintain sanity and structure with my boys (5, 5, and 3) and girl (21 months). Do you have tips for ways to sneak in enjoyable educational activities for the summer months- while giving ourselves enough of a break that we feel refreshed to come back to it?
Thank you!
Naomi
Dear Naomi,
I don't know where you live (or anyone reading this for that matter), so my thoughts will be based on my own experience of summer with my kids in a “humid continental” climate, with “with warm summers and cold, snowy winters.”
That translates as, “we cling to our too-short summer with all our might, ignoring that it can be a bit miserable.”
Anyone with some different climate, consult your own collective memory and maybe stay in the AC doing schoolwork until such time as you can find relief.
Still, my love of summer is tinged with the recollection of living for six years in the endless actually torrid summers of Washington, DC — those summers that begin in late February and end after Halloween.
I get that it can stretch out interminably, and remember the panicky, almost choking feeling of contemplating being home with little children under those circumstances. Maybe the money or the schedule won't allow for a long vacation.
Are you there? Are you beyond there?
I used to feel a bit sorry for myself until I realized how enjoyable summers with the kids can be.
Let's plan an old-fashioned summer with some low-key expectations where the children can look forward every day to simple pleasures: a few chores (because there can be pleasure in knowing you are all in it together), many books, and lots of play.
Ideally, you will have at least a bit of a vacation. Even a day trip here or there works. Obviously, we all want six weeks by some shore, but even a garden hose or kiddie pool provides an unexpected amount of satisfying water fun — and doing something watery is how I define summer fun!
Which brings me to the question of activities.
Precondition to all I will say: Ban all screens. Hide the remote, close the computers, ditch the tablets. (Even in the car: instead, listen to good music including sing-along songs that you will all then know forever. Or, just sometimes talking things over — it's nice.)
Try it. The silences of summer, punctuated by crickets and cicadas and birds (try opening your windows when and if things cool off), are its pleasures. Reading a book (or looking at the illustrations if the child can't read), coloring on the porch, playing cards on the deck under a tree, playing in the sandbox… your children will only do these things if there is no screen to tempt them. Don't use them to bribe — just ditch them and be free! (It's fine with Auntie Leila to have movie night, but you get what I mean here.)
Naomi's children are quite small — many of my suggestions here are for when they get bigger, although many can be implemented even with younger children. If yours are older, have a little meeting and let them know how things will go, especially about the screens if you have gotten bad habits. Let them talk to you, but be quietly firm about your goals and hopes for this time. Every once in a while, our children need the experience of having to give up.
Once they give up, magical things happen to their time!
1. Just playing. Let them play. Their play will be fueled by their own imaginations and the books they read (see below). Give them the necessary “tools” of play, if we can use that term: a sandbox, an outdoor mud kitchen (see this brilliant post by Ginny), board games as age appropriate, balls (including whiffle balls and bats), a basin of water, a bucket of plastic army guys, dolls and carriages.
2. Swimming lessons. Highly worthwhile. It's worth figuring out how to pack sandwiches and juggle naps to give the gift of knowing how to swim. Plus, it wears them out. Plan on plenty of high-calorie snacks, big sandwiches, big suppers, and early bed.
3. Camps that last for only a few weeks. I don't mean send-away camps, I mean little neighborhood camps that give the kids a fun skill. Our older kids and their friends have actually stepped up to providing such camps as teenagers, after attending ones given by kids who were older than they: drama camp, fiddle camp, boating camp, Gilbert & Sullivan camp, tennis camp, baseball camp, basketball camp, art camp — you name it, they can go to it and then give it. Your children, Naomi, are still young, so you have a little time to identify where these activities might be offered in your area. If you don't have a group (how about a St. Greg's Pocket? your homeschooling group?), join your Nextdoor network and look in the local library for postings.
Camp gives a nice structure to a short part of the summer, which allows your children to have a good balance between having somewhere to be and enjoying endless days of “doing nothing” (only they will do plenty, as you will see!).
4. Chores and work around the house. And service. Most families do try to have some sort of garden. Towels have to be washed and hung out! There is still the matter of keeping the house, and once a week you have to give it at least a full morning. (Pro-tip: if you aren't in your house, it stays cleaner! Go to the zoo! Go to the museum! Anything to not have to clean!)
With those boys, dear Naomi, you want to be sure that you have lots of good solid hard work for them to do. Read them stories in which little boys do lots of work! Give them big holes to dig way in the backyard (if you have one!). They can literally swab the decks and everyone will be better off.
There's hardly ever not a project going if you actually own your home. Children can be workers. They can be in charge of picking up nails, of bringing you supplies, of washing up outside afterwards. They can pull the baby in the wagon while you do your work. Soon they are old enough to take over.
Meals are simpler, but still have to be prepared, eaten, and cleaned up after. The start of summer is the perfect time to give out new chores and work out new skills around the house. Neighbors still get sick and have babies and need their lawns mowed. Send the children out to help with these things — they are your little ambassadors and if they do a charitable work, it certainly gets you a check mark! I'm counting on this myself.
I recommend challenging the children to do their big chores very early on in the day while things are still cool. If you are heading out to swim lessons or camp, now is the time to share with them the satisfaction — the downright pleasure — of coming home to an orderly house after a day spent away. Trust me, they will get it.
5. Reading. Plan a day each week to get to the library (if yours has good books — if not, perhaps swapping with friends who have good collections or getting to a used book sale near you, or “shopping the house” for a rotating crate or shelf of books). For a long time we were lucky enough to live within walking distance of the local branch. My kids would take a wagon full of books (and they'd pop Bridget in there too sometimes) to and fro. They could also ride their bikes. In any case, there's nothing like a pile of tempting books — fiction and non-fiction — from the library to keep everyone enchanted for a while on a hot summer afternoon.
If you guide them wisely, you will find that these books provide all the “educational activities” necessary, when taken with conversations with you and others, long periods of quiet in which they can think things over, and the gift of that “unstructured play” we are always hearing about but never know how to implement.
This is it! Summer! That magical time when, if you have a question, you are blissfully free to read about the answers in a book or ask someone who knows. Summer! When you have the whole day and week and month to try building, making, doing.
A great book: The Boy Scouts Handbook. Be sure to get the original edition, and be prepared for your children to build traps, light fires — safely, one hopes, and make their own fish hooks. At least they will be leaving you alone!
Dover Thrift books in general (who publish that reprint of the Boy Scouts Handbook) supply so many hours of good activity for the children.
There are coloring books of birds, fairy tales and butterflies and you name it, paper dolls, toy theaters, and all sorts of things like magic tricks and stickers.
If the children have done chores in the morning and had swim lessons before lunch, they will be ready for some quiet time with their books, after which you can read a chapter of an especially fun one — reading aloud is also such a treat after the baby is in bed but the sky is still bright.
My favorite read-aloud of all time: Dangerous Journey. Here are other suggestions. Read all the Library Project Posts.
6. Praying. Any change of season is a good time to inaugurate a better prayer time, as I explain in my book. Summer is the perfect time to use the nature table to transition into a Little Oratory (I explain how in an appendix chapter of the book). When you are all together at breakfast, you can say a little morning offering together. Your gratitude at the more relaxed pace can overflow into the habit of praying grace over meals. The long summer evening is the perfect time to start the Rosary — even one decade is lovely. Perhaps with everyone getting up a bit earlier with the sun, you can make it to morning Mass.
7. Back to summer evenings. If you can have your supper relatively early, the family can enjoy the hours of daylight afterwards, especially if Dad can get home to toss a ball in the driveway, take a walk with the family (and maybe some homemade ice cream cones), visit with neighbors on the porch, or have his turn with a chapter book. Those evenings also lend themselves to having friends over for bonfires, s'mores, games of ghost in the graveyard or horseshoes or what have you, and singalongs. Older children like to put on little plays too!
So you see, even in summer, it helps to keep a schedule of sorts where you do divide the day into periods of activity and periods of relative inactivity. A rhythm.
If you remember that rhythm is your friend, you will avoid that sense that the day stretches out with no relief in sight — it's just that you have to be rather firm in keeping the schedule and the freedom in that good tension that helps you, not going too far from one extreme to the other, but knowing just how to hold the reins.
Within that good, helpful structure, just let them have a good old-fashioned summer.
Finally, before you tuck them in, wash your children's faces and feet — do not let your children go to bed with dirty, dusty feet. You want their sheets to escape actual downright grubbiness and you want the children to have the enjoyment of lying in their beds with tingling toes. Try it yourself — it's delightful.
Above all, do not make the mistake of thinking that unless you purposely include so-called educational activities in there, they won't learn.
They will be learning very well. Let's take a break from trying to make everything educational, while having lots of great books to read and music to listen to and materials to make things from. With less stress in that area, you'll find that you yourself will feel renewed. You could get to a project of your own (maybe during the baby's nap?). You could read a book! When the children see you doing any of this — and most importantly, enjoying yourself! — they will themselves figure out what they want to do.
Many blessings as you plan a summer where every day is just a great summer day — a real, old-fashioned summer! Enjoy!
Lots of love and a big hug,
Leila
Julie says
Our girls had this adorable cookbook for their mudpie kitchen:
“Mud pies and Other Recipes: A Cookbook for Dolls”
By, Marjorie Wilson
You can get it for a penny plus shipping on Amazon now!
It is adorable.
Leila says
Oh my, that looks incredibly charming!
Donna L. says
Thank you for this Julie~I ordered it for my little daughter…she will be enchanted!
Jessica says
Thank You!
Amelia says
Since the best thanks for good advice is to be asked for still more…Do you have any suggestions for when we combine vacation with driving in the car? As in, very soon we’ll be doing a ten-hour drive each way with a 3-year-old boy and a 9-month-old for a week-long vacation. The 3-year-old is language delayed, so conversation or audiobooks still go over his head. I am dreading the drive! Any tips, big or small?
Leila says
Amelia, the cure for language delay is to listen and talk!
It’s not true that conversation goes over his head (I mean, you know your own son, but I want to encourage you to think about this) — it’s just that he can’t quite yet respond. Talk to him as much as you can. You can talk to him about the scenery, about what he should be looking at, about cows and all sorts of things.
It’s a good idea to have nursery rhymes to tell him that relate to all sorts of things he might see — nursery rhymes are important to language development. So often moms don’t have time to repeat such things — what better time than stuck in the car!
If you need to watch videos to keep your sanity, decide beforehand which ones and for how long, and stick to it. (We have a post here with great comments and suggestions for good ones: http://www.likemotherlikedaughter.org/2012/10/10-survival-tactics-for-rescuing-bad-day/)
Be sure that the videos are calm and don’t move too fast.
Do follow the links in the post here for suggestions of songs to listen to in the car. On the one post, I do explain how it is that singing helps children learn language (and helps anyone learn another language).
Singing together in the car is real fun, but you have to start them off with it young — now’s the time! He can sing to the baby, who is likely to need his help there in the back seat, somewhat out of your reach.
Especially look for patriotic songs and silly songs (the old-fashioned kind) — and traditional American songs like Oh! Susanna and When Johnny Comes Marching Home Again.
A 3 yo isn’t too young for audio books… you just have to get the right ones! How about these:
http://amzn.to/1UcS6Ap
http://amzn.to/1rbNsqL
http://amzn.to/1UDFmS0
You get the idea. The key is to read the books beforehand, at home, enough times so that he knows the story pretty well. Then in the car he can follow along. Why is this better than a video? Because it requires active participation from him, and because you can say, “Now you just look at the book, Daddy and I want to talk. We’ll listen to the CD later.”
Have a hamper full of snacks — pretzel sticks, tortilla chips and hummus, nuts, carrot sticks, cheese cubes, and cut-up apples.
Make strategic stops where you can really let him run. Maybe Dad can think of some activities to do for the rest stops that, as we say here, “get the ya-yas out”!
Don’t be afraid of some crying times or some fussy times. It’s okay. Not a big deal. It doesn’t mean you are a bad mom — it’s normal! He’ll get over it and mainly you will all have fun together.
xoxo
Melissa D says
If you’re driving in the South (and possibly in the north?) almost every town has a courthouse square with a green space to run around in, and usually the best lunch spots are also as close to the courthouse as possible. Big cities that have expanded usually have a few courthouse squares located along a well-traveled axis. (If you’re near me in ATL, try the Marietta or Decatur squares.) Alternatively, a college campus has great green spaces as well — we would let our toddlers run there and push their own strollers around! Great for a quick game of catch, too.
We bought a few little pieces of fairy garden furniture and found some large flat baskets at Goodwill, and put together little fairy gardens. The basket makes them portable — just lay plastic bags in the bottom to keep it from rotting out from the rain. Just about anything can be useful– old mirrors or metal dishes can be fairy pools, ugly little miniatures turn into garden sculpture, etc. Kids who are super handy can wire together or glue sticks to make handmade furniture.
We also bought a bunch of PVC pipe and connectors for $20 from my neighborhood google group, and my 3 kids (G10, G8.5, B6.5)use them to put together huts, forts, swords, and more. Endless fun! My oldest girl bought a bunch of duct tape and made duct tape armor from a book, using thin plywood for the shields (there are Greek, Egyptian and other similar books) after studying Greek myths. Sometimes we take them to a nearby small forest and have battles.
Shannon says
My absolute favorite videos for little kids ( and, according to my husband, likely the best show ever made) are reruns of Mr. Rogers’ Neighborhood. They are slow-paced, sweet, imaginative, informative, and my kids never tire of them. As a parent, I feel I’ve learned a lot myself from Mr. Rogers’ ways of being with children.
The newer cartoons of Daniel Tiger’s Neighborhood are, judging from the single episode I’ve watched, nothing like the old MRN, unfortunately.
Shannon says
Another audiobook idea, though maybe for a slightly older kid, is Winnie-the-Pooh. My son has been listening to that and The House at Pooh Corner during his rest time everyday for months now and adores it. We borrow the versions read by Peter Dennis from our library via an app called Hoopla.
Donna L. says
Hello Amelia–it may be tough, but an idea when we traveled with littles…pack a “Mom and Dad Sanity kit” a smallish box with gum or a lollipop, bubbles to blow in the car {our baby loved watching them} stuffed animals and hand puppets and large chunky crayons with paper on which to draw..we would also ask a ton of questions for our kids, and look for different colored cars, the biggest trucks and other things out the window
Although it would add to the length of the trip, we would stop at a couple of parks that had big trees with shade, grass in which to run and chase, a ball to kick or roll and a blanket where baby could be our of her car seat and stretch…After about an hour of this *wiggle time* feed baby and burp her well, pop them back in the car then the kids would often sleep for a blessed hour! I know that some say to pack a picnic, and that is good, too. I always felt that the kids could nibble on snacks in the car on the way, which also took time, and could be a relaxing way to travel~
Jamie says
So depends on the kids in my experience with 5 kids! My last long road tripped ended in us driving through the night once the baby fell asleep! She doesn’t travel well! Be prepared to sit with the kids. Brings lots of stickers, special snacks, fruit loops to thread on pipecleaners, etc. Check out some fun kid music from the library. Glow sticks can be a good distraction for kids who won’t sleep in the car and you are stuck in traffic late at night!
Dixie says
Why have I never thought of the marriage of cereal and pipe cleaners? Jamie, you are brilliant!
Jamie says
I never buy fun cereal, except for embarking on driving from the Midwest to the East Coast! I saw the idea somewhere myself and it has become a favorite.
Melissa D says
glow sticks!!!! GENIUS.
Andrea says
I have done that long with three little kids and it can be hard. We don’t eat in the car, due to messes and they were terrible chokers. Too much anxiety for me. We try and stop at a fast food place with a play structure. Rest stops only work well with at least 2 adults. Some smaller highways have nice city parks or elementary schools we have stopped at to get the wiggles out every few hours.
We can generally go 5 hours before a movie is pulled out. Pipe cleaners make good toys to do art in the car. Or buy small things at the dollar store, wrap them and give presents every so often. I’ve heard of making kids a map to follow along with stops marked. Put together music you like that is family friendly and do one kids album, then adult music rotation.
When all else fails, try taking the driving shift when they would likely be in melt down and let Dad handle it. My second child got motion sickness from riding rear facing after 9 months and cried after 2 hrs in the car. We all survived somehow.
Taryn Beachler says
I have a weird trick for when the baby starts screaming. Try rolling down the back windows. This will often make them stop. When they start up again, roll them up again. The change in atmosphere seems to startle them out of their fit.
I highly recommend those Color Wonder markers for the 3 year old. We have also had a lot of success with a toaster oven sized cookie sheet and some magnets.
On the subject of day camps- these are crazy expensive around here. But we have found a great free substitute in the form of Vacation Bible School.
Dixie says
Turning on static on the radio also sometimes works.
Rosie says
Amelia, we did the California-Oklahoma drive when Pippo was about 2.5 (and he was a late talker, so conversation wasn’t really that rewarding, though we did pull out those Curious George audiobooks and he L.O.V.E.D. them). It’s a tough age for those long-haul trips! In addition to the good ideas above, I’d add that we have two little secret weapons that we pull out for long trips — our magnadoodles (we have these: http://amzn.to/24xPFty which are big enough but not too big and don’t have any pieces to lose) – the kids draw on them for ages, then we pass them back and forth with me drawing funny faces/trains/trucks/trucks on trains and them laughing and erasing them. Good times. They also love their Water Wow coloring/painting pad thingies (http://amzn.to/28j12uf) which truly are no mess and they do over and over again.
Elizabeth N says
Love this post! ” Let’s take a break from the purposefully educational!” Yes! We ended school early this year knowing our baby was coming, and since then we’ve done “nothing ” except library trips and coloring and walks and swimming and playing in the back yard…my oldest son has made puppets, cards, a joke “book”, treasure maps and about 1,000 paper airplanes. He’s been reading about trees and random animals…so yes, I totally see your point playing out in my home. We do watch tv,but it’s mostly baseball and they do get Ipad time…15 to 20 minutes each while I make dinner,too, some nights. We will start school in August because it gets. So. Hot.here. but we’ll have slowed down enough, I hope,that by then we’ll be recharged and ready for another school year.
Jamie says
Auntie Leila, This post is so encouraging and just so very practical! Thank you! Did you make your kids do flashcards and practice spelling once in awhile in the summer? Or is that just too “schoolish” for you?! I would love to just completely let go, but I get these feelings that my soon to be 4th grader has rather far to go in these areas. So far we’ve been doing 10 min. of flashcard practice on a fun little device (the flashmaster) and then just a bit of spelling. Plus of course the summer reading program at the library so we can earn a free children’s museum ticket!
Leila says
Nope. Nary a flash card. But it’s funny how when you need to — NEED TO — write your own book, suddenly you get a crash course in spelling. Or when you play certain board games, your math expertise goes way up and you master your addition/subtraction facts.
It’s also funny how when there’s a spelling workbook in amongst the Dover coloring books, it has to be done while the children play “school.”
Instead of spelling flashcards, in the fall, do some MC Plaid workbooks that teach phonics rules. You can find those at Pearson Learning — choose the older editions. Then simply give a list of words that don’t follow the rules, have her study them, and give occasional tests on them. You can easily find such lists in a google search. Many usage books such as Warriner’s have such lists in the back of the book.
Robin says
Also: Yahtzee. If you can handle that noise of dice crashing in the cup, constantly, it’s sneaky math practice!
Robin says
And, duh, Scrabble! My older ones usually get distracted by the other entries in the dictionary while looking up words to use up that one letter! Hello, lateral learning!
Jamie says
Thank you for answering my question! I took your advice earlier and used McPalid for my going into 4th grade son and going into 2nd grader girl the past couple years. They are very nice workbooks. My daughter picked up on reading very easily I’m sure partly because of them and is zooming along. My son needs more though for whatever reason. He does the worksheets just fine and dandy but it doesn’t seem to “stick” at all. We started using the All About Spelling program which is very phonetically based for him along with the workbooks you suggested. Time to get out the Yatzhee I guess and make myself have the energy for a few games!
Kasey says
I also live in a climate where the summers are short. I have always loved summer vacation, but I find the older my kids get the less I enjoy it. My oldest two are are fifteen, a boy and girl, and they are the two I struggle with this most. They are outside of the age of being happy with a sprinkler, sidewalk chalk, and things that are easy to do at home. What is your advice for that awkward age of fifteen for the summer? And thoughts on electronic devices for this age during the summer? I would love to put them all in a drawer and lock them all up for the summer, or even beyond, but I know my husband will not go for that. And despite my dislike of electronics, it really is the way kids communicate and make plans with each other anymore. They both already do basic chores, and I plan to have them help with meal prep this summer. They will also help mow the lawn and garden, but they will still have a lot of free time! Any advice for 15 year old children during the summer would be GREATLY appreciated!!!!!
Leona says
I would be curious what Auntie Leila has to say (I only have a baby yet so no experience to speak of), but when I was 15 not ALL that long ago, I was working during the summer. In my family, 14 year olds must find summer jobs. For me it was babysitting and house cleaning; my brothers did (variously) farm work, lawn mowing, pet sitting (for families on vacation), and bagging groceries. Once we were 15 or 16 I worked as a nursing assistant at a nursing home and they did construction or factory work if they could get it, or the lawn mowing and grocery store work if they couldn’t. Friends gave piano lessons, cleaned, bussed tables, etc. I worked 20-25 hours/week as a 14/15 year old; 25-40 hours/week as a 15/16/17 year old. I’m not sure I will encourage/require my children to work *quite* that much during the summer, but they will certainly be expected to find some kind of part-time employment for themselves.
Kasey says
The plan was for them to each have a part-time summer job. However, it would seem that 16 is the minimum age most establishments world like you to be before hiring. We do have a therapeutic horse farm near us where they are going to volunteer, but it is only Saturday mornings for a few hours. I am finding 15 to be a tough age. Last summer when they it 14 was much the same.
Melissa D says
15YOs in my neighborhood are being mother’s helpers, babysitting, helping organize, or pressure washing or digging gardens/holes for planting. Flexible hours, and they make around $10/hr at least. The boys usually team up to do the harder labor stuff. My dirt is red clay so I am going to hire the boys to dig!
Kelly says
I have twin 15 yo sons and I can sympathize (commiserate?:) with Kasey. 15 is hard, y’all! Too young for a job but too old to just go out in the yard and “‘play”. My boys will be serving as jr. counselors for a one week day camp at our church, we have a bb net, pool, volleyball net, bikes available to them. I’d love to have a productive summer, one of rest and recharging for the new (9th grade!) school year but not a waste of time either. Any suggestions?
Rachel says
Wood-burning kits!
Weed-whacking!
Do you “need” a fire pit built?
Do you “need” some raised beds put in?
Do they have anything to aim at a target (bb guns, bow-and-arrows…)?
Some cheap PVC pipes and a drill can make cool bike sprinklers (you ride your bikes through them) or other cool paraphernalia…but the most important part is having THEM make it (they can even make it for someone else)
That Boy Scout book will go a LONG way towards giving them ideas…
Leila says
Kasey, I sympathize. It’s a hard age. I like the others’ ideas — mainly, you need to view them as free labor for all those things that need to be done around the house that you can’t get to. They can do heavy lifting. They have the time to paint, caulk, dig, etc.
And the flip side is for them to offer these qualities to the neighbors for whatever (low) fee they can command. Yes, it’s hard to get regular employment at this age. But they can go weed, mow, and dig for others.
Finally, remember what I said about camps! These kids are the best for leading camps. Surely they have something they can offer neighborhood kids, if only supervision at the playground for a “mom’s morning out.”
Jamie says
Here are some ideas of some resourceful teens in my neck of the woods – Lego Camp for boys, Dance camp for girls, Guitar lessons where the teen comes to your house and teaches! I signed my kids up for all these things…If a teen would offer a reasonably priced Mom’s morning out I would totally take them up on that idea too. I’ve also heard of Sewing Camp. Brilliant ideas! In my experience the kids who have run these types of things do a much better job than the park districts plus they are reasonably priced. I feel like I’m helping good kids save for big things like college or a car, etc. and when I figure the cost of just babysitting alone these things seem great.
Abby says
This is our fourth year doing a summer camp co-op with other moms from our parish (we have a mom’s email group list which helps with initial co-ordination). Since it wasn’t my idea I can say that it’s brilliant! We meet twice a week for four weeks mid June to mid July, usually about 10-12 with the option to pack a lunch and stay and play awhile after. Each mom is responsible to plan a day’s activity, with a little bit of a free pass given to families with new babies. No drop offs, every mom helps each day, but you only have to PLAN one day. We have done nature scavenger hunts, beach relay races and sandcastles, fire station tours, berry picking, museum free days, low tide ranger guided beach walks, watercolor landscape painting, and so much more! Our activities are aimed at kids about 18 mo-7 years (often splitting into bigs and littles) but families have come just with babies and last year we had some 9, 10 and 11 year olds who helped out.
It’s been the perfect way for us to get out and do some things, see some friends and not be going going all the time.
Mari says
This is how we spend our summers! A simple idea for small kids: get too buckets, fill one with sand and the other one with water. That’s it! It amazing how much fun little kids can have only with that. Works even in the tiniest garden.
Briana Hatcher says
Any suggestions for summering with a newborn? I just brought my newest boy home last week. We have 5 boys all together ages 7- brand spanking new!
Dixie says
I had a newborn two summers ago — it was amazing how much he enjoyed just lying on a blanket under a tree looking at the leaves. With 4 others, I’m sure you’ve had experience with this before — but seriously, we did that for a couple of hours every morning that summer, and it really helped. I sat or lay (or nursed) with him while my older one ran around or sat beside me while I read books to her. In this way you can get double mileage out of the exact same activities — you would still be reading, nursing, etc., if you were inside (and you will indeed do it again later in the day, when it’s hotter) — by just doing it outside in the shade. Do the same things as usual, but in a different location. And in the shade I didn’t have the dilemma of whether or not to put sunscreen on a baby that young.
It also helped to do it in the front yard (our street is not too busy), where we saw neighbors walking their dogs, the mailman coming by, the trash truck, etc. Make it “watering time” and give the other kids all watering cans to water things around the yard. Another day each week, give them a bucket and sponges and let them wash the car. They can’t make it any worse, right? Another day, it’s the kiddie pool or sprinkler. And then have snack on the blanket, and you will get another half hour out of them.
And all the while, YOU are resting on the blanket, drinking from your water bottle, eating your almonds and M&M’s, and the baby is learning about breeze and beauty. But THEY think you are doing super-fun outdoor time with them.
I also found that once the baby would tolerate a carrier, I could walk in circles at a shady park playground while the 3-year-old played, and sometimes the baby would nap in the carrier.
Dixie says
Also, get a reliable baby monitor with a long enough range that you can take it outside of the baby miraculously happens to be willing to nap somewhere other than your arms. That way you can go out in the yard with the other kids while he sleeps inside.
Dixie says
*if*, not of
Kara says
Summer babies are the best! I kept a basket stocked with all the things I might need outside (clean burp clothes, diaper, wipes, sunglasses, book for me, etc) so we could get out the door quickly without my having to hunt for all the little things I might need and I wouldn’t have to herd children to the porch if I needed to run in for something.
Leila says
Brianna, I like Dixie’s ideas.
One thing I think is fun about having more children is you start to realize how portable babies are. Sure, for the first couple of weeks you stay put. But then, you’re off. That baby just goes wherever you go — and you’ve taken care to make things simple like I’ve outlined in this post.
If you can get a nice old-fashioned pram, you basically have a portable little place to put the baby in when you are not nursing. Dixie’s comment about looking at the leaves reminded me that my own mother put me under the tree in a pram all the time (my birthday is in the middle of May) — one day she came out to find a goat using the bed to get to the leaves of the tree! I survived 🙂
One thing I noticed with my warm-weather babies is that newborns do not like the wind. So at the beach, you need a basket or something with sides if you are putting the baby down — just laying the baby on the blanket won’t work, because newborns are equipped with instincts to protect them from the cooling air — they are too young to maintain their own body temperature, even when it seems hot to us.
But that’s easily solved.
Make sure you have lots of whatever you like to drink — don’t get dehydrated when you are out and about! And be sure to set yourself up where the baby can sleep and nurse.
Ashley says
The washing of feet before bed! This is one of my fondest childhood memories (traditions?) of summer. My dad would lift each of us kids up to sit on the bathroom counter and wash our feet in the sink. I still wash my feet before bed to this day. My husband thinks it’s weird so it was very validating to read that I’m not alone!
Also as an adult looking back I see in that simple action how my dad was modeling Christ, who washed the feet of his disciples.
Emily G says
Ashley, I always wash my kids feet before bed on non-bath nights in warm weather, too. And my own, when my bedtime comes. It’s a good time to check for foot wounds if you allow bare feet, saves your sheets, and it feels so good to hop into crisp cool sheets with your clean feet. Mmm.
Lynelle says
I am just now reading Charlotte Mason’s book (The Outdoor Life of Children – $1.99 on Kindle) on the importance of kids being outside and ways that we can facilitate learning just by exposing them to nature. It’s short and very insightful with lots of ideas!
Katie says
What can we do about neighbor children who are looking for playmates and pounding on our door every single morning, noon and night?
Jamie says
I have this too! Just recently it began for us. Depends on how well behaved the kids are I think! We have 1 little girl who is regularly over every afternoon. She rings the doorbell and asks if the kids can play. I think establishing that Mom has to be asked first is good. Also I prefer that they play at my house so I can actually supervise as I don’t know if her family is trustworthy at all. They have to play in the yard and I call my kids in to do their work or just to have rest time or dinner as needed and then she gets the hint and heads home. I often than say something like..”Hope we get to see you tomorrow!” to make her feel welcomed. I think it’s great to have neighborhood friends though it is something for mom to keep a close eye on! It is very one sided in our relationship. I am offering all the play time, snacks, and fun and have barely met her family. But that is also a sign to me that the little girl needs someone who loves Christ in her life. I can’t imagine that I would let my daughter spend so much time with a family I barely know. It’s also an incentive for kids (and let’s be honest..me too!) to get our work done early before she comes over or just to occasionally head out for something fun and just us.