We have just been through our speediest summer yet. School has been in session for a week now. This was the first year ever that come August I didn't start anxiously anticipating the beginning of school again. We worked out a nice system this summer and I have enjoyed having my children at home with me.
In all honesty, it didn't start out that way. At the beginning of the summer there were tears on my part and a realization that I don't like summers! Enter prayer and listening/researching different ideas for how mothers make it work and love it, and with some tweaking we were able to figure out how to not only get along this summer but to enjoy being together! Some things we did:
Family song, prayer and scripture was at 8 am every morning. Before then the kids and I pretty much left each other alone. I did lots of 6 am walks with a friend, yoga, and home chores. It worked best when I had the chore lists out by 8. I found that our days went smoothest when I looked at all of the work that had to be done that day (typically by me) and divvied it up. Watering the planters, yard work, tidying up after breakfast and lunch (or occasionally assigning out making breakfast or lunch), tidying, vacuuming...we all shared the load. I think it worked out pretty well. I know I liked having more time to spend with the kiddos. And after Tyler and I went away for almost a week Jacob expressed relief that we would be having daily chore lists again - he liked feeling productive!
Quiet time was supposed to go from 1-2. Drew and Jacob were supposed to read and the little ones were supposed to play quietly so that I could nap and have some down time, and then we were all supposed to gather together to watch a documentary. It was nice when it worked. When the summer got really crazy it turned into cartoons for the little ones and whoever snuck in to the room to watch with them while I took a nap, but I did make sure I kept some down time for myself in the middle of the day and it was wonderful.
Dinners continued to be very late, starting at 6:30 or 7. Not my favorite thing, but I do like it when Tyler can be with us for family dinners so we often wait for him. Or I am just plain late getting food to the table. That puts bedtimes late but I stopped worrying as much about late bedtimes and went with it - it was summer, after all. After our Month of Company in July it was a blessing to have late afternoon swimming lessons these last two weeks. I'd make dinner earlier in the day, and at 4:15 the little ones and I would all go swimming for about 90 minutes (their lessons were staggered so everyone got in some free swim time and some lesson time except Emmie - who just splashed her little heart out). When we got home they'd pajama and eat dinner and then often they would be ready for bed, or at least quiet reading. What a great way to get ready for real bedtimes again for the school year! It was also a super fun ending to the summer to swim almost every day for two weeks.
We tried to get to the library once a week. This was a beloved activity for all involved and it was always such a peaceful day after we got home and everyone had their nose in a book (or two or three). Loved that!
We did Park Day with neighbors and friends for the first month. It was pretty fun, but then we had family visit and went on a trip and it fizzled. Oops.
We had a Bucket List. Loved that. Didn't get to all of it but enjoyed some of it. It will get it's own post.
We had a no video games rule. Loved that - didn't have to fight the battle of constantly being asked "can I play the Wii?" I am not saying we never turned it on - it did go on while Tyler and I went away for 6 days, and there were a couple of times that I let the Wii be the babysitter for the boys while I was away and the girls didn't want to actively tend - but it was only a handful of times in 12 weeks. I loved it that the kids did lots of outdoor play, our board and card games got a little bit of use, and it was fun to see games of four square going on. Definitely need to repeat this!
Mostly I am just grateful at where I stand now, versus where I was at twelve weeks ago. I am so thankful that with prayer and research and inspiration and hard work the answers came that helped me to not survive but to truly enjoy the summer with all of my children home. Maybe summertime is a school of it's own for mothers.
No comments:
Post a Comment