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Thursday, June 27, 2013

Summer: To Schedule or Not to Schedule?

Now, let me first prep this blog by saying...

I do NOT have my stuff together.

And, after reading this, if you seem to think otherwise, let me again reassure you...

I do NOT have my stuff together.

I do, however, try to get-it-together as much as possible for my fly-by-the-seat-of-my-pants personality.

If it were up to me, I would just take each summer day as it comes. However, my two boys tend to gravitate towards electronics waaaaay to easily, so I have had to get creative in order to keep them from doing so. 

On top of that, I always have grandiose plans of teaching my kids fun facts about animals, the earth, and other kid-friendly topics. However, if I don't schedule it, I will get sidetracked with Facebook laundry, dishes and other household chores. 

So I decided to bite the bullet and try what all the organized moms were doing. Hey, you can't knock it 'til you try it, right?

I found an awesome Summer schedule printable at iheartorganizing.blogspot.com. Just click on her link to check it out. I played around with it, placed text boxes in it and tailored it to meet our needs. It turned out super-cute-o (and for this un-techy girl, that's impressive). Here is the original from her blog: 


iheartorganizing.blogspot.com


We have been following our little schedule this week, and though every day isn't perfect, it has definitely helped keep me and my boys on track. It forces me to keep track of time and see what's coming next. 

I even went through my calendar and placed one subject each week-day to spend a little time learning about. 

Nothing fancy, people

Yesterday, we learned about clouds. I found a YouTube kid's video for them to watch and then we glued cotton balls and raindrops on light blue paper. (And note they are cotton-rounds, seeing as I didn't have any balls...hey, work with whatcha got.)




Bam. Done.

And, might I add, that I had totally been getting my cirrus, stratus and cumulus clouds mixed-up over the years.

Oh, the HORROR!


Today's subject was "The Moon." We Googled to find a kid's video to watch. And then I proceeded to make a "moon" out of cornstarch, baking soda and water. Here's the recipe and directions to make the "dough." 


I took the top from a water bottle and let them "stamp" the dough to make "moon craters." Once it dries and hardens, they will paint their "moons."

It was messy. And I might have lost my Mommy-cool once or twice, (just keepin' it real, ya'll) but in the end we made the flippin' moon and even had some dough left over. 

I made some beads from the left-over dough for a jewelry craft to do another day. I figure they can paint the beads and string them on some yarn as gifts for Bible class teachers or something. 



We will see how long I can maintain this Summer schedule thang. Some days will just be play-on-the-porch-and-blow-bubbles kind o' days...and I am sooooo okay with that. 

Happy Summer Ya'll!

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3 comments:

  1. I love you and your blog! We dont get together enough

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  2. Love, love, LOVE the printable idea and the schedule idea and YOU! This is something I think even I could handle. Ha. You are a mom who tried her derndest to do WELL by her kids - and girlfriend? You are doin' it! You are already amazing. The end. ;)

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  3. I say if we all get dressed and leave the house at some point during the day, it's a win. ;) I like a general schedule, but not hour by hour. We have an 'op plan' every day though! :)

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