Summer plans

So I decided that this summer would not be wasted on sleeping in and pretending to not hear the kids fight while watching television. I have a grand view of getting things done, making my kids smarter and getting ready for the baby. My sister, Mandy, wisely said, "that's great, you should post it on your blog!" So once again, she is being a good example and I will share with you what we are doing so that the great ideas I found can easily be used in your home too!

Countries of the world...it is the nation wide theme for libraries to use as their program and Michaels craft store has joined in. Go to the store and pick up their booklet of 18 countries in the Passport to Fun book (for free). We picked out 10 countries for our 10 weeks of summer. Michaels has a schedule of their craft times when you can go (don't know yet about registration and costs) and do the crafts there or follow the online instructions and do it at home. One project is to make a different little "hat charm" that you pin onto your World Hat...one charm for each country you study. We will use the booklet's info for a starting point and find snippets about animals and landmarks. We will also eat something from that country for lunch or dinner that week and on Fridays see if we can find a movie in their language or that takes place there. All informational, but with a fun summer twist! (Also, I'm assigning Germany and China to the two different sets of grandparents for the week that we see them each!) I also bought the blank Dr. Seuss books for the kids to work on writing their own silly books (2 in a kit for about $5).

My wonderful neighbor found bookadventure.com, a free (Sylvan sponsored so I expect adds) service. I registered, then I registered each kid. Their account is linked to mine so I can see their progress and personalize rewards! The kids can get a list of suggested books to read or type in a book that they found on their own and see if bookadventure includes it too (I have yet to type in a title that they do not cover!). Each book has a quiz with 5-10 questions about it (depending on reading level). They answer the questions and get points for correct answers. They can redeem their points for prizes offered on the site (rocky mountain chocolate and tattoos are looking fun) or print certificates for redeeming at home (I offered a movie night date or buying a brand new book from a store...they always want star wars kids books)! E has already racked up 680 points in one morning and both have selected the types of books they want to read so we have titles to look for on our next library trip! (They also connect to funbrain.com for fun educational and free games and a kids almanac for free so we have another easy C.O.W. resource.)

We also have flashcards for subtraction, addition and telling time thanks to Grandma Elinor and her bargain shopping at teacher garage sales! We will cover science through kits and free online suggestions (I love familyfun.com and stevespanglerscience.com). I will also incorporate piano 3 times a week and see if we can get that interest going again! Dinner will be more fun because they each get a night to be in charge of cooking :) Go to spatulatta.com for videos of kids teaching kids how to cook! They have yummy simple recipes for the kids to learn.

Last, but not least, are the workbooks. I bought comprehensive workbooks for each kid so that I just have to tear out a few pages each night for the next day! (I found ones from: Kumon, brainquest, brighterchild and schoolzone (which often comes with coordinating software).) I also have "This is not a book!" by Keri Smith for the fun experiments (check her out!!!! The explorations look awesome!). I also have a money workbook and a fake, but realistic, money set for lots of practice in counting and making change. From the fabulous Mrs. Monteleone (E's teacher) I have a binder of all tests, spelling, blending and unit studies from the year for reviewing so that E is perfectly ready for next year and A gets a mini preview of his next year!

Sounds like a lot, but it is broken down in bite size pieces along with the kids helping out with my flylady.com household keep up (check her out if you feel like you can't keep up with the home). All should be done by 11:30 am so that we can pack a lunch and head to the lake for the afternoon or enjoy friends outside (gym class)! I've promised that rainy days and WAY too hot days are set aside for lots of movies and wii time so they seem happy about that. There are camping trips to take, vacations, my brother's wedding with built in reunion, outdoor movies at the lake, soccer...there is so much to do that sounds like so much fun! I just want to make sure that it doesn't all slip away from me! So here's our schedule:

Daily: Journal, worksheets, 15 minutes of reading and then E has blending and spelling while A has handwriting and writing to 100!

Monday: Country of the Week (C.O.W.) into, flash cards, silly book, piano, E cooks
Tuesday: $, This is not a book!, A cooks
Wednesday: C.O.W. food and art projects, piano
Thursday: $, This is not a book!
Friday: science, flash cards, C.O.W. movie, piano
Saturday: make up day if we need it along with a library trip to prep for next week!

I have it all laid out on the schedule and calendar and all the books and tools are in one spot so that it is ready to go...we begin on Wednesday since that is the first day of summer!

Wish me luck and enjoy any of the resources I found to make your summer program as easy as possible! And remember: it is all supposed to be short lessons that are fun and enjoyable! I will try to remember to blog along the way...maybe Mac will fix the iPhoto so I can start including photos again!?!