Summer Schedule

(The Harbor in S. Portland, Maine)

This being our first week of summer break I have been working on a summer schedule for the children. I want them to feel like this is a relaxed vacation but I also want there to be some accomplishment of goals as well as upkeep on the house and yard.

My first attempt at the schedule was to give everyone a list of their chores, a time limit for screen time of the day and then let them schedule themselves. That did NOT work. Everyone procrastinated their chores and it really ruined the day. They had the chores hanging over them and I was frustrated.

So, today I told them we would start chores at 8:30 a.m. This worked much better. Except for rare occasions they are all awake and up by 7:00 a.m. so this gave them time to get ready for the day before chores. It also will get everyone done before we would meet with friends as we don't usually leave before 10 a.m. to visit with friends. We tried it today and it worked so much better. My goal, on sunny days is that they would have 30-40 min. of indoor chores and 20-30 min. of outdoor chores when need for a total of an hour a day of chores. These chores do not include cleaning up after themselves, folding and putting away their laundry. No, it includes cleaning the house but not cleaning up after ourselves.

So here is how our day should look:

7 a.m. Family Devotions

Clean up and get dressed.

8:30 a.m. Chores

9:30 a.m. Assigned summer reading and practice instruments.

Free time or leaving to meet friends.

When home, 11:00-12:00 pm Tidy up (picking up all that was used) and prepare/clean up from lunch.

Free time.

4:00 pm Tidy up room by room and prepare supper.

7:00 pm Tidy up.

Relax and bed by 9:00 pm for kids.

We'll try that and see how it works! I would love to hear/see what others do! If it is on your blog, feel free to leave the link in the comments. :)