Every summer (EVERY SUMMER) I make these plans - there was the Theme Summer, where each week was going to be a theme, like dinosaurs, or Egypt or blueberries. The entire week, we would do things related to that theme. I think we got half a week of that in. Another was Meals Around the World, so each week would be a country or area of food, and we would also learn cultural things. Not sure we even did more than a day on that one.
So this summer? It's the summer of Goals. It's just vague enough to maybe work. Smith is at an age where he needs to set goals for himself and figure out what things in life he wants to work toward. And it can be fun stuff, too - like my goal (every summer) of riding our bikes 10 miles up the bike path, having a picnic, and riding back. My big goal with Goal Summer is to show how to set yourself up to succeed on a goal, like the planning it takes and the bike rides you have to take to make a ride 10 miles away successful.
Some of their goals are fun things, like going to the zoo two times, geocaching more than once this summer, going to the pool 5-7 times a week. The big one I like so far is they are both doing either a poem or a journal writing each day, 5 days a week, that we can make into a book at the end of summer. (Tate was reading her 2 sentence journal writings from last summer and loved reading them, which is spurring her on to write more this summer.) Another is Tate's juggling plan - this week, she wants to juggle the soccer ball 100 times each day, her idea. Smith's goals are tending toward the "I would like to stay up late each night of summer" variety, but he's taking it seriously some.
The best part of this plan? I think my goal for success this time around may be met. Every time they come up with something they want to do, it reminds me that it's a Goal Summer, and I can remind them, and it looks like I've been
ON THIS all along. And THAT is one of my goals!
gratuitous puppy shot
Family goals:
Zoo
Downtown visits (various points of interest)
Local hikes
PICNICS
Pool
Camping
Poetry Books
Cooking projects
Riding bike to nearby town
Keeping up with math and reading (Tate especially)
Outdoor (fun) pool
Tate doing more knitting
Smith doing his models with David
Daily journaling/poetry
