Summertime Fun

As most of you know, I homeschool. So having my kids home for summer is no real change for me. But we do take the summer off and that means we have a large chunk of our time that needs to be filled. I know my kids thrive with routine. If I let them do whatever they want to, they would be sitting on the Switch or PS4 all day. And while that is fine every once in a while, I have one child who can not be on screens that much. He is definitely one of those kids that is over stimulated by them and it causes behavioral problems if we aren’t careful.

I also have promised myself and my kids that I would be more present. I know that is what they really need. But having a 9 yo boy, 7 yo boy, and 2 yo girl means I run the spectrum on interests and abilities because even the boys are on almost opposite ends. So I am going to share what we are going to do this year for our summertime fun! Most of these activities are easy. They may take planning but for the most part they will cost me less than $20 a week and will keep all of them happy and entertained.

So here is our basic breakdown (click the links to be taken to the post that breaks it down into weekly ideas with instructions and supplies by day)

Make Something Monday
Take a Trip Tuesday
Water Fun Wednesday
Theme day Thursday
Fun Food Friday

I know what you’re thinking! How could we possibly make so many things that aren’t a waste of money? I don’t need 30 pieces of children’s art covering my fridge this summer. How could we possibly take a weekly trip and not spend a ton with 3 kids? Not to mention hauling all their stuff by myself! Water can be stressful with multiple kids. It is hard to make sure they all are staying safe. And themed activities all day? You have to be kidding me! Fun Food Friday? I don’t have enough time to make sandwiches and now you want me to make it fun?

I promise it is going to be super easy, low cost ideas that can be used over and over again or at least that will last through the summer. Mondays will be useful things or be made from a lot of recycled materials or things you can get at the dollar store (and only 2 are artwork!). Most of our trips are local and have low cost with the exception of a few that we had already planned for. For Wednesdays, I invested in a new sprinkler and baby pool at the beginning of the summer and we will use those most of the time. Thursdays are themes based off movies or shows my children all love and are easy to do activities from minimal supplies we have lying around and Fridays aren’t especially difficult, just something different that we don’t do often. We will make a lot of things from scratch but only because Mama wants to use her new KitchenAid Stand Mixer!

I’ll be updating this all weekend with the activities so if you don’t see them come back and try again!