Summer Goals

I noticed this morning during school time that we only have 22 reading lessons left to go, much less on math, and are completely done our hand writing.  Not bad considering all the yuck, broken arm, and move our family had this past school year!

That has me thinking about our summer plans.

While we do take a break from "formal" school, we also think that learning is life long and more learning happens away from the school table than at it!  However, we also know that we have to be deliberate to challenge and stimulate our children each day - it helps them so much, especially in behavior and being kind to each other!  There is definitely a link in our family.

So my plans for this summer include reading that will actually follow the Rod and Staff introduction to science and social studies, drawing, and lots of reading!  This is in addition to lots of playing and just having fun, of course!

I also made some key goals for the summer, things I have been meaning to get back on track, and things I know will help us tremendously in the fall if we already have them in place!

1.  Read Aloud Time - this has completely fallen apart.  We love this time, and we know it is important!  My plan is to re-establish this time into our day.

2.  Chores - our girls want jobs around the house, and we certainly encourage them to help, even Baby wants her own jobs!  We have tried chore charts, and that just isn't working for us as the jobs needed change every day, and let's face it, I don't have napkins to fold every day!  So now that we are in our new house I am going to get my housekeeping binder updated with a cleaning plan, including daily jobs for the girls.

3.  Scripture Memory / Children's Catechism - we are doing this, but not consistently.  Actually, we are doing a fairly good job on scripture memory, and a terrible job on the catechism.  My plan is to get back to doing scripture memory each morning after Breakfast Bible time (instead of just 3 or 4 mornings a week).  I don't know exactly where to slot in Children's Catechism, I just know it is important to us and I need to find a place.

4.  Personal Bible Time - Miss Pear is turning into an excellent reader, and she loves God and His Word, so we want to encourage her to being a quiet time of her own.  I am thinking this will start at our table with the two of us having a quiet time together, we will see.

The last thing is that my husband and I are planning on studying James together this summer.  With the yuck we are off to a bit of a rough start, but hopefully we will be able to start this weekend.

What great habits are you trying to establish this summer?