How I’m Planning Summer 2021
As summer approaches, I’ve been looking for a few activities to plan to enjoy with my children. I’m a stay-at-home mom and we homeschool according to the typical school year, so we’ll have two solid months at home without homeschool on the agenda. I can’t wait!
Without a plan, I know we’ll just languish all summer - likely involving a lot of screen time, which isn’t my preference. However, it’s also easy to get overwhelmed by all the options for goals, trips, activities, and ideas, especially this summer, since it feels like we missed out on so much during Summer 2020! I want to have enough to keep us busy but not so much that it feels like we don’t have any free time… so I’m trying to keep things simple yet fun.
I started by making a list of things already on our calendar, like swim lessons, Junior Rangers at Oak Glen, Forest Home Family Camp, a road trip to Northern California, and a few events for our homeschool co-op.
Then each of my children chose one individual thing they want to do:
Two kids were super easy and chose simple recipes they want to make (chocolate pudding “dirt” cups and homemade ice cream).
One child wants to visit the San Diego Zoo and Safari Park (reasonable since we already have passes).
My 4 year old son has been talking for months about making “a beach in our backyard,” so that went on the list for him. (I’m not quite sure how we’re actually going to execute this, but it appears to involve our kids’ pool, a bucket of sand, and I-don’t-think-they-exist remote controlled seagulls.)
For the record, I was willing to let the kids sign up for a class or day camp at some point, but no one was interested, which is just as well for my budget and chauffeur duties!
Beyond that, I have two goals for this summer: read lots of books and spend lots of time outside. (These are basically my perpetual goals for our family.) We’re going to do our library’s summer reading program (read lots of books - check!) so that leaves outside time, which is where my Southern California Summer Fun List comes in. Every week or so, we’ll choose one of the places off this list to visit. I’m looking forward to using it myself, and I hope it helps you, too!
You can learn more about the summer fun list here. Here’s to a great summer!