Our Summer Schedule
Our Summer Schedule
In my book, summer is all about having fun and making memories. One of the reasons I love being a stay at home {work at home} mom is that I get to choose my own schedule. Since my husband is a pastor, his schedule is flexible, too.
Well, having said that, I should point out that being a pastor is not all fun and games. Like this week he had to do two funerals and make lots of visits with grieving family members. So a lot happens that is unexpected and out of his control. And pastors work really hard. Pastoring is about much more than planning a weekly sermon. My husband works really hard and I don’t want it to sound like I’m saying he doesn’t.
But, despite the sad and unexpected and all the work he does, we are able to plan our days to include my husband because he can be flexible as to when he works. Which is great!
Daily Schedule
Our daily schedule is flexible and changes often from day to day. But, when we are home, we do have a laid back routine. It goes something like this:
- Wake up. This morning I woke up around 7:30. My husband was already gone from the house to get some things done and the kids were still asleep. We had agreed they could sleep in this morning because we decided to watch a movie late last night. So, I decided to get a little blog work done before they woke up.
- Breakfast. Most days, I usually make a simple breakfast like oatmeal. But today, I might make a batch of biscuits to eat with this jar of peach jam my daughter bought for me. And some scrambled eggs.
- School Work. I usually get my writing/blog work done when we’re home. So, if we are home in the mornings, I’ll work on my stuff and let the girls work on some school work with me. Yes, I know it’s summer, but we’re trying to finish up a couple of our school books. If we plan to go swimming, we’ll clean the house in the morning before we go and I’ll pack a lunch for the pool.
- Lunch. Yesterday we had to attend a funeral so the kids made their own lunch while my husband and I were gone. But most days I’ll prepare a quick lunch or pack one for our day out/ picnic.
- Chores. If we’re home, we’ll spend a couple hours cleaning the house in the afternoon. We’re usually home in the afternoon two or three days during the week.
- Free Time. Sometimes we’ll watch several episodes of our favorite You Tube channels or we’ll play a game or the girls will make a video for their You Tube channel. Or they can make a craft. Or we’ll take naps.
- Supper. I typically make a hot meal for our supper when we’re home. If we’re at the ice rink for the day, we usually eat at Earth Fare next door.
- Movie Time. So, when we’re home for the day, we’ll often end the night with a fun family movie on Netflix or Amazon Prime or from the Redbox.
We typically go to the pool twice a week {or three times depending on my husband’s schedule}. We like to go to the pool at Natural Tunnel State Park in Virginia which is a fairly close drive from our house.
I love take the kids to the lake on Sabbath afternoon or sometimes during the week if the whole family is going. It’s just so much fun.
And we usually take my dog, Caroline. She loves the water.
I often pack a picnic lunch/ supper for the ice rink, and always for the lake and swimming.
Our favorite summer activities:
- swimming {twice a week}
- going to the lake
- going on picnics {at the lake or park}
- traveling
- camping
- watching movies
- taking walks
- berry picking
- sleeping in
- going to the ice rink {weekly}
- summer camp
We began the summer with two camping trips. One with the whole big, extended family and one with just me and my girls. Camping is just one of our all time favorite things to do. Unwind. Connect. Explore. It’s really perfect.
We try to plan at least one day every summer when we go berry picking or peach picking. My daughter Hannah ice skates, so even in the summer we try to give her a day each week to practice and take lessons. Hannah and Laura are also beginning a weekly private gymnastics lesson so that will be added into the mix. I try to keep all of our music and gymnastic lessons on Tuesdays, and choir practice is on Tuesdays, too.
That way I know that Tuesdays are lessons and Wednesdays are for ice skating. That leaves Sunday, Monday, Thursday and Friday for things like going to the swimming pool or just hanging around the house.
For our summer plans, unless we’re traveling, I like to have at least two in between days on being home all day to rest, catch up on things, and just enjoy our house.
This year the girls aren’t going to summer camp even though they had wanted to. Which makes me a little sad. We had plans for traveling during that time that ended up falling through. But next year they’ll definitely be going to summer camp!
Other plans we have for this summer include: a trip to King’s Island in Ohio and possibly a trip to the Creation Museum. Also, I’d love to take a trip out west this August {or to Disney World}, but I’m not sure if that’s going to work out or not. It may end up happening later in the year. Here’s hoping!
So, really, this is more of our summer routine than an actual schedule. I will spend some days in June and July planning our upcoming homeschool year, purchasing books, and working on our fall schedule which will be a little more regimented.
