Works for Me Wednesday

Summer survival with kids home from school.

Summer is almost upon us and with that comes no school and no school means children home with us ALL DAY LONG! Each summer my kid count goes up by at least 3 kids, many times 4-5 extras, so over the years I've found a few things that work for me making the noisey day much more bearable.

My two best kept secrets would be 1.) mandatory outdoor time and 2.) mandatory quiet time. When I throw the word mandatory in their I find there's less arguing or excuses. After breakfast I usually "kick the kids out", they have to spend 2 hours outside. This allows me to clean up, do my devotions if I haven't had a chance yet and prepare for lunch and the rest of the day.

Then usually around 1:00pm all the boys go down for quiet time. Quiet time consists of each child in their own space. I usually put 2 in the bedroom on beds, 2 in the living room on sofas, 1 in my sewing room, 1 in the lego room and I keep an area open for me- to sit and relax or even catch a little nap. Usually the first week or so is tough. They want to talk or move about. I insist on them staying still and quiet. I roam the house like a hall monitor reminding them the timer will start over if they can't stick to the rules. The first 30 minutes they MUST be reading and the last 30 they can read or draw or play quietly with action figures or whatever they want. I try to not allow music during this time.

Two years ago we participated in a contest to keep track of # of minutes spent reading, # of minutes being active (outside time) and # of minutes participating in a service project. I'm hoping to plug into something of this nature again this year.

So with summer around the corner and our days filled with kids all around- these 2 tips work for me!

~Michelle

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