Getting the month of June all planned ahead took a lot more effort than I had expected. If you want to see how our schedule looks here it is. This is what works for us, but you can download the calendars for free and plan a calendar for you and your family that works best for your schedule. I’m a planner and although it always takes a lot more effort to plan ahead, it’s just nicer to have a plan with kids. Notice that my plans are broad because with kids you also have to roll with the punches because you never know what the day may bring but you don’t want to wake up with them full of energy and you’re on empty trying to rack your brain of how in the world are you going to entertain them when all you want is a large cup of coffee (or is that just me?). Also I don’t see anything wrong with having them being a part of assisting in running my errands. The more they are involved, the less they are bored, and the more they see how much effort goes into getting what they want rather than being catered to.
The week of June 11th is my son’s last day of school and that week we will be doing some projects that we can utilize throughout the summer. Originally I wanted to purchase posters, interactive calendars, and other materials to use for daily activities and then I figured I could kill two birds with one stone. So on the first week we will be making all of our own posters and boards that we can refer back to. The following week of June 18 is when we’re going to attempt on having somewhat of a routine.
In my previous post I addressed how we’re incorporating math & numbers but I wanted to give a quick overview of how we’re incorporating science/animals/nature and geography/history. I’m going to make a page that will have links to blogs and pages about such specific topics. I try to find hands-on projects and arts and craft, simply because that’s what my kids finds fun and I’ve always learned best that way.
A simple thing that we are going to be doing throughout the summer is learning all the states of the United States. A bit of an overachiever you say? No way! It’s not like I’m expecting them to memorize the states and spell them. My husband is one of those people who can sing all the states in alphabetical order so he will be clearly helping me in this area (no, I admittedly can not). I got a great idea from someone who had glued a map to a magnet and then cut it along the states and made it into a jigsaw magnet puzzle. That alone is a great project where your child can keep playing and familiarizing themselves with the states on the fridge. I took that idea and literally amplified it so that we can do one state each day because my kids are small and I think we need to focus on a couple of states each day.
We already had this wonderful jigsaw puzzle from one of my previous “purposeful toy purchases” and I figured we’d amplify it with our projector. I know not everyone has a projector, but we do a lot of projects and I got this one from Amazon – it works great and its super kid friendly! If your child is older you can go into state capitals, historic dates, etc.
As for science, animals and nature we’re going to be doing some gardening, outdoor exploring, and learning about life cycles. I have this simple worksheet that you can reuse for the life cycle of anything of a seed into a tree to a tadpole into a frog.
This worksheet really works for a broad age group. If your child can’t draw yet you can find look-alike objects and simply glue it and add some color, whereas if you’re child is advanced you can have them elaborate in writing about the metamorphosis of a butterfly. Also don’t underestimate your little one; if they watch Power Rangers they’re already familiar with the word metamorphosis so why not elaborate on it. Ultimately, it is what you make of it.
Also make sure to utilize the resources you have near you. Farms, zoos, aquariums, whatever it is. We have a lot of farms and we’re really close to Six Flags & Animal Safari so we have season passes… there will be no shortage of exposure to science, animals, or nature unless I choose not to connect the dots for them. As parents, sometimes we get lazy, or we forget that we need to connect those dots. At least I do, I’ve never really talked to my kids like they were babies, never did the goo-goo-gaga thing, and they’ve always really understood things really well, but now that my kids ask the infamous WHY every opportunity they get… it’s my opportunity to teach them.
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