There’s a part of me who knows that a little quite a bit of effort on the front end means a much smoother summer and less frustration all around. Having a loose structure and some activities all ready for when the “B” word breaks out keeps me liking my kids and them liking me. That same part knows that perspective is everything and seeing the summer as a canvas to paint a brilliant summer adventure is much better than seeing it as endless days with lots of kids and no breaks.
The other part of me (the part that never really accepts that I’m a grown, married woman with 3 kids) want to lounge around all summer near a swimmable body of water with a good book and get annoyed when my kids want my attention. Moms should get summer break too, right?
Well just in case the responsible “me” shows up before school’s officially out for the summer, I checked out these from our local library…
Last summer we did Science Through Literature. This summer (after checking out all these books) I decided to let PJ decide our “theme.” Using ideas from a new model of education Patrick and I previewed last week, I will plan hopefully painless learning activities around our theme. We talked about using sports, gardening, robotics, cultures and number of other things. He settled on cooking and baking. I’m excited because I can also throw in garden stuff and cultural stuff and he’s excited because he’ll probably finally get permission to use the toaster oven this summer.
Some of the ideas I’m tossing around for the cooking / baking theme are:
- Measurements which also incorporates fractions (math)
- Carmelization (science)
- Cooking methods throughout history (social studies)
- Cooking with garden foods (science)
- Foods from other cultures (social studies)
- Reading recipes (grammar, reading)
What else would you do?
My plan is to blog what we do and learn as we go along. I’m kinda excited (except when I think about prepping and occupying the little guys).
What are you and your kids doing this summer?
Yesterday, I was cooking with my nephew, William, and we worked on his colors with the food so maybe that would be a good way to incorporate Ty. Let him label the foods and what color they are. That will help with his language/speech development and then learning his colors.
Yesterday, I was cooking with my nephew, William, and we worked on his colors with the food so maybe that would be a good way to incorporate Ty. Let him label the foods and what color they are. That will help with his language/speech development and then learning his colors.