Surviving Summer- Shed the Mom Guilt and Enjoy your Kids!
I've heard it many times over the years; "Summer is coming! What the heck do I do with my kids?!"
Not always-there are plenty of moms who love having their kids home, but even they want new ideas on how to fill the long days. Ways to get the kids off devices, learn together and no get on each others nerves.
As a homeschool mom, I wonder about these things every day, not just in the summer. So I thought I'd share with you four things we do in our home-no matter the season-that have brought joy into our home and brought us closer together. My children are 5, 3 and 15 months. Take these ideas if you like them and form them to your family and kids ages!
1. Morning Time. In a nutshell this is gathering everyone together at the start of the day to study beautiful things such as scripture, art, poetry, nature, music, reading aloud, before the day gets crazy and everyone does their own thing. "Morning" time can be done any time of day, and for as long as you'd like. We do ours when the baby is sleeping and it lasts anywhere from 30 minutes to an hour. It's as simple as reading a picture book, looking at a piece of classical art and discussing it. That could be it! Or you could throw in some poems you like. Listen to a ballet or other classical music and paint with water colors (or do playdough!) while you listen. Then you converse. We love morning time, and its a sweet way to start the day. For excellent resources on morning time you can check out Pam Barnhill's Website.
2. Read Aloud!! My biggest life saver. I LOVE reading aloud to my children. If I'm having a crazy "I'm putting you up for adoption" sort of day-don't judge, we've all been there- I plop down on the floor and open up a book. It saves the rest of our day. Audible totally counts too! (and did you know there are audio books on youtube?)We read at snack time, before bed, during morning time, and any time we need/want it. You can check out the Read Aloud Revival blog for ALL the info-including free book lists, ideas for activities to do while you listen, and how to read to certain ages. Reading aloud is one of THE best ways to cultivate lasting relationships with your kids. Promise.
3. Poetry Tea Time. This practice is probably the highlight of my kids week. Once a week in the afternoon we gather at the kitchen table with fancy china and lemonade (hot chocolate in the winter...though it's really chocolate milk or 'cold chocolate' because my children panic at anything over luke warm). So we get good drinks, yummy snacks, and we just read poetry while we munch. Not into poetry? Find some good rhyming stories (The Seven Silly Eaters is a must!) or start with Mother Goose-poetry is good for your brain and important for your kids literary skills. Plus it really is fun and inspiring. You can check out the Poetry Tea Time Blog for great ideas and a free guide.
4. Afternoon Stations. Afternoon stations was born from a need for me to have one on one time with my kids, and to get them to stop asking me to play with them all.day.long. I'd be in the middle of doing dishes and they'd ask me to play, but by the time I was done drying my hands they had forgotten all about me and whatever game they wanted to play, so I would go back to cleaning. Then at night I would realize I really hadn't played or interacted with just them all day! Good dose of mom guilt there. So afternoon stations came up. It takes us an hour, gets my kids to stop asking me to play and gets me to actually play with them. Win! This is also done during nap time. I start one kid on the ipad and set the timer for a half hour. Then I take the other kid and we do whatever they want. Read a book? Sure. Play the same dollhouse game for the 10th time in a row? You got it. It's their time.
So now during the day my daughter says; "Mom! Play dolls with me!" and I simply respond; "That sounds like a great afternoon stations idea!" and she grins and says "yay!" or you know, something like that. Then she goes about playing independently, which is required in my house. Then I actually get something done! I don't have another blog to reference for this idea, I got it from my SIL, who would do it Sunday morning with her kids before church. Their rotations included journaling time, reading, and one on one time with mom and dad. Whatever day you do it, you generally need as many stations as you have kids. If you want more ideas I can do another blog post on it!
There you have it! Those are our four things we do that my children love, and bring us joy in our day. Not every day is perfect-there have been fights about who sits in moms lap, throw up at tea time (true story), and tears about the wrong color plates-everything that comes along with little minds. But for the most part, with these four things life is sweeter and less chaotic. It encourages childhood, which is important to me in a world of rushed youth. If you give any of these a try have a lot of grace and trial and error to go with it-its all worth it.
Not always-there are plenty of moms who love having their kids home, but even they want new ideas on how to fill the long days. Ways to get the kids off devices, learn together and no get on each others nerves.
As a homeschool mom, I wonder about these things every day, not just in the summer. So I thought I'd share with you four things we do in our home-no matter the season-that have brought joy into our home and brought us closer together. My children are 5, 3 and 15 months. Take these ideas if you like them and form them to your family and kids ages!
1. Morning Time. In a nutshell this is gathering everyone together at the start of the day to study beautiful things such as scripture, art, poetry, nature, music, reading aloud, before the day gets crazy and everyone does their own thing. "Morning" time can be done any time of day, and for as long as you'd like. We do ours when the baby is sleeping and it lasts anywhere from 30 minutes to an hour. It's as simple as reading a picture book, looking at a piece of classical art and discussing it. That could be it! Or you could throw in some poems you like. Listen to a ballet or other classical music and paint with water colors (or do playdough!) while you listen. Then you converse. We love morning time, and its a sweet way to start the day. For excellent resources on morning time you can check out Pam Barnhill's Website.
2. Read Aloud!! My biggest life saver. I LOVE reading aloud to my children. If I'm having a crazy "I'm putting you up for adoption" sort of day-don't judge, we've all been there- I plop down on the floor and open up a book. It saves the rest of our day. Audible totally counts too! (and did you know there are audio books on youtube?)We read at snack time, before bed, during morning time, and any time we need/want it. You can check out the Read Aloud Revival blog for ALL the info-including free book lists, ideas for activities to do while you listen, and how to read to certain ages. Reading aloud is one of THE best ways to cultivate lasting relationships with your kids. Promise.
3. Poetry Tea Time. This practice is probably the highlight of my kids week. Once a week in the afternoon we gather at the kitchen table with fancy china and lemonade (hot chocolate in the winter...though it's really chocolate milk or 'cold chocolate' because my children panic at anything over luke warm). So we get good drinks, yummy snacks, and we just read poetry while we munch. Not into poetry? Find some good rhyming stories (The Seven Silly Eaters is a must!) or start with Mother Goose-poetry is good for your brain and important for your kids literary skills. Plus it really is fun and inspiring. You can check out the Poetry Tea Time Blog for great ideas and a free guide.
4. Afternoon Stations. Afternoon stations was born from a need for me to have one on one time with my kids, and to get them to stop asking me to play with them all.day.long. I'd be in the middle of doing dishes and they'd ask me to play, but by the time I was done drying my hands they had forgotten all about me and whatever game they wanted to play, so I would go back to cleaning. Then at night I would realize I really hadn't played or interacted with just them all day! Good dose of mom guilt there. So afternoon stations came up. It takes us an hour, gets my kids to stop asking me to play and gets me to actually play with them. Win! This is also done during nap time. I start one kid on the ipad and set the timer for a half hour. Then I take the other kid and we do whatever they want. Read a book? Sure. Play the same dollhouse game for the 10th time in a row? You got it. It's their time.
So now during the day my daughter says; "Mom! Play dolls with me!" and I simply respond; "That sounds like a great afternoon stations idea!" and she grins and says "yay!" or you know, something like that. Then she goes about playing independently, which is required in my house. Then I actually get something done! I don't have another blog to reference for this idea, I got it from my SIL, who would do it Sunday morning with her kids before church. Their rotations included journaling time, reading, and one on one time with mom and dad. Whatever day you do it, you generally need as many stations as you have kids. If you want more ideas I can do another blog post on it!
There you have it! Those are our four things we do that my children love, and bring us joy in our day. Not every day is perfect-there have been fights about who sits in moms lap, throw up at tea time (true story), and tears about the wrong color plates-everything that comes along with little minds. But for the most part, with these four things life is sweeter and less chaotic. It encourages childhood, which is important to me in a world of rushed youth. If you give any of these a try have a lot of grace and trial and error to go with it-its all worth it.
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