Summer Bucket List and Camp Mom 2013

Today is the FIRST offical weekend of the boys' summer vacation.  Cue the music...

If anyone knows me, they know I'm ridiculously organized and a helpless perfectionist planner.  So, I had to makes sure that we made the most of our summer vacation so that we had lots of fun, made lots of memories and were able to keep our minds active.

Because I like to keep things on a pretty rigid schedule, I had to do a full-on daily planner.  You see, just having a three-year-old like Benji tends to lend itself to its own sort of challenges, so, keeping him on some sort of a routine helps the entire day flow much more smoothly.  My days will definitely not all be like this because he has summer preschool two days a week to enable me to get some things accomplished that I really like doing sans Benji (grocery shopping, meal prepping).  This is, however, a great way for me to keep our Monday/Wednesday/Fridays packed with fun and education opportunities all summer long!

Need a plan?  Break your day into thirty minute increments from the time you wake.  Mine looks something like this.

5-6:30            Gym

630-700          eat

700-730          prep breakfast for the clan

730-800          wake and eat

800-830          chores

830-900          Kitchen clean up – free time

900-1100        Activities or Park

1100-1130       Writing – every day must either write in journals with the prompt given

1130-1200       lunch, prep and serve

1200-1230       lunch clean up and finish chores

1230-130        naptime & quiet time / reading for Drew/Josh

130-200          naptime & quiet time / Spanish practice Drew

200-230          naptime & quiet time / Spanish practice Josh – lapbook for Drew

230-300           TV / Movie time and/or gaming time (depending upon behavior)

300-330           Science experiments

330-430           Craft time

430-500           Chores

500-530           Head outside

530-600           Dinner prep and cooking for mom

I took it a step further in that I created weekly themes for us to fill our activities around.  I also talked to the boys to find out what they wanted to do and learn about.  Josh (the 14 year old, doesn't care).  Drew, the 8 year old LOVES these themes so we're set.  Benji (3) doesn't get a choice.  

CAMP MOM 2013 THEMES ARE:

Week 1 (June 3-7):  Camping

Week 2 (June 10-14):  Space / Star-Wars

Week 3 (June 17-21):  Monsters

Week 4 (June 24-28):  Animals / Zoo

Week 5 (July 1-5):  America

Week 6 (July 8-12):  Pirates

Week 7 (July 15-19):  Beaches / Oceans

Week 8 (July 22-26):  Weird Science

Week 9 (July 29-Aug 2):  Dr. Seuss (though I may change this to Eric Carle)

Week 10 (Aug 5-9):  Dinosaurs

The boys will be keeping summer journals in order for me to keep their writing skills honed, help Drew with his fine motor skills and handwriting and also so that have a fun place to record all the cool "stuff" we will be doing.

Four of these weeks I will be following along with Summer Fun Camp 2013 because they will have some neat activities planned.  Most others are just me, searching, surfing, and planning.

And, then, without further adieu, here is our Summer Bucket List that I'm also sharing on The Happy Family Movement Summer link up.