Summer Activities

The boys have 2 weeks with no camps planned. To prevent them from saying, "I'm bored!" I've given them plenty to do. Each child has a backpack stocked with activity books, pencils, snacks, fiction and non fiction book, their kindles, and a portable DVD player with a few movies. They each have a schedule that includes brainwork like writing, math, reading comprehension, and just plain reading.

They read a fiction book one day, and a non-fiction, or something close to it the next.

Isaak now reads chapter books! Right now I'm pushing for Isaak to read The Magic Treehouse series. I want him to be excited about reading. Mica loved the series so much that we have most of the books. I'm also starting him off with the Who Was... series.

Mica's trying to get through A Series of Unfortunate Events. He's read all, but 3 this year. The movie is on hold at the library. Travis got him a children's book on government and another on economics. Exciting I know, but things he should learn about.

I pick the pages in their activity books, and go through how to do what they need to do. Mica has a reading comprehension workbook. I got it for Isaak, but it was too hard for him. Mica also has a standard workbook, and a history workbook. Isaak has math sheets his teacher gave to him, a critical and creative thinking workbook, and a standard workbook. I was finding that Isaak and Mica would just plain skip their work if they didn't understand the instructions. I happen to love the one below, but the boys think it's hard because it does make them think. That's one I go over.

I learned that Mica rushes through his work to play on his Kindle, which is supposed to be their end of the day activity. Travis started checking their work more carefully. That's when we found out that Mica was rushing. He'd give short answers instead of backing himself up. *Sounds like something my students would do. Isaak - the one I envisioned being the rusher actually wants to follow the schedule. Then he gets flustered because his big brother is playing away on his Kindle. I think part of that is their ages. Mica's entering the preteen years.

I also informed them that the whole summer isn't going to be like school.

The boys have outdoor time as part of their schedule. Mica basically needs to be kicked told to play outside. Isaak on the other hand loves to be outdoors.

What are some things you do/have done to keep your kids busy? My husband and I don't remember our parents giving us much we just loved playing. I played with Barbies and dolls, and read. My husband hung around outdoors for hours on end. Correct me if I'm wrong, but I feel like this generation seems like they need things to do, and get bored really easily.