Day 1 - Summer of Learning and Fun!

SCHOOL IT'S OVER!! and yes I have to admit that I am not too happy about it, but to be fair the children do need some time off.  I always try to make sure that my children have a safe, healthy and fun summer.

When my big boys Tata and Nonny were small they used to go to daycare for summer camp since I was working outside the house, but since I started working from home, they were still doing summer camps, but more like sports camp and after the camp I used to take them to the local park and pool and in the weekend we will just have our family time.

Now that Bekika and Gordo are growing up, I want them to have fun but also I want to prepare them for the next school year. I am kind of worried because I don't want to overwhelm them, but I really want to help them to learn and have fun so I have decided to transform their little homework corner to a little summer learning corner.

Yesterday I sent my husband to the dollar store with a $10 budget and he spent $8.34. He bought: 2 poster boards, a pack of poster's letters and numbers, glue, a pack of good job stickers and a big marker (I mean don't you love the dollar store?!). We made 2 posters, one with the Alphabet and the other one with numbers and vowels. I am all about saving and recycling so I am planning to use the crayons and pencils they used to do homework and the clean pages from the notebooks they brought back home from school.

Now all I need is to set up a schedule, remember they are 5 and 7 years old.  I need to keep them focused. I need them to try to get into a routine. Gordo is going to Kindergarten so it is not going to be all fun and games like pre-k. I mean I am sure it will be fun but he needs to focused more. I need to find activities that they like. Lets hope it works, remember I am doing this for the first time and I am taking you through my journey step by step.

The routine started at 9:00 am, Becky and Gordo woke up, brushed their teeth and wash their faces, the first thing Gordo wanted to do before eating breakfast was grab his iPad but our routine doesn't involve iPads. The big boys were long gone, Brandon has Football Camp and Danny has Basketball Camp from 8:00 am to 1:00 pm, we will not have breakfast together but I will make sure we eat lunch together.

It took 30 minutes between brushing their teeth and eating breakfast, then we went to the living room and this is why I love my smart TV, since I don't have a lot of books about the Alphabet and Numbers (my lesson plan for the week) I went to YouTube on my TV and looked for books about the Alphabet and Numbers.  I found a video of a person reading Dr. Seuss ABC.  It was such a great book since we have a board with the big and small letters.  We also read A Place for Zero it was kind of a long book but they loved it!.

We also practiced writing the letter Aa, for Bekika since she is older and now her letters I made sure she did it on her handwriting notebook so she can start learning. Gordo was another story, it took him a good 15 minutes to finish the A.  He really hates pencils, he enjoys crayons more, the little a was easier for him because he likes drawing circles.  After our writing experience, I set up the blocks and their trains in the living room's rug, they made a little town with train tracks, they destroy it and then made a new town with new train tracks.

Singing the clean up song, they cleaned their mess and while I was making lunch they watched singing Elmo. I made cheeseburgers, hot dogs and fries (oven fries).  By the time the lunch was ready, my big boys were here and they invited a friend to eat lunch with us (this is why I always make extra food). We all sat down to eat lunch.  Well they ate lunch, I just drank my usual Linden and Chamomile tea.

By 1:45 pm they were exhausted. They brushed their teeth, cleaned their hands and went to their beds.  They took a 45 minutes nap... AWESOME!. Oh boy! did I took advantage of those 45 minutes!!  I cleaned up, drank some coffee and cooked dinner. I do cook dinner early because it is easier for me to take care of them. I bought two big and one small thermos to keep the food warm. By the time my husband gets home, the food is ready and kitchen it's cleaned and since we use paper plates and plastic forks & spoons clean up it's easy and faster. After the babies woke up they were full of energy so they decided to wash a movie.

As I sit here eating this delicious mango my Tio Titian brought me, I thank God this first day went smooth. I pray very hard it keeps working because I really want to be able to send them to school next year ready and I want them to have fun also. FIRST DAY WAS COMPLETE. Thank you so much for reading, I will be happy to answer any of your questions and I will read all your comments that I will must certainly reply. Also if you have any ideas or want me to blog about something of your interest, let me know.

With Love, Lowreley.

"If you educate a man, you simply educate an individual, but if you educate a woman, you educate a whole nation" - James Emman Kwegyir Aggrey