Showing posts with label Summer. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Summer. Show all posts
Wednesday, July 1, 2009
Tuesday, July 8, 2008
A Summertime Plan
After coming home from a 3 week vacation, and diving right into 2 weeks of swimming lessons, our summer got off to a rather crazy start.
Now that we can settle into a more normal routine, it is high time for me to get organized and motivated. And not only me... MY KIDS NEED MOTIVATION TOO! I am so tired of them asking to "watch a movie," or hearing that they are "bored."
Inspired by my cousin Margaret, I decided to implement a summertime plan called "The Ticket to Summer!"
All summer long the children can earn tickets for doing any of the items on the list that I have given them. These items are all things I would like them to do this summer, but which they are not always motivated to do on their own.
Basically, you can earn one ticket by:
You can earn two tickets if you:
The children can redeem their tickets for a number of different things:
I also love my cousins idea of having a biweekly
"Good Behavior Drawing."
In addition to the above, the children can also earn tickets for good behavior that go into a jar. Twice a week, I will draw a ticket from the jar for a prize. They can not ask for these tickets, but, if I catch them being exceptionally good, I will give them a ticket. The better they are the more chances they will have of winning a prize. They can choose there prize themselves, from the prize basket. The prizes include a $5.00 gift card to Target, a couple Activity Books, some art supplies, water balloons and a few toys.
So far, this morning, it is off to a WONDERFUL start! The children are dressed, chores are done, and the boys have both been reading for the past 30 minutes. Hopefully, this enthusiasm will stick!
Now that we can settle into a more normal routine, it is high time for me to get organized and motivated. And not only me... MY KIDS NEED MOTIVATION TOO! I am so tired of them asking to "watch a movie," or hearing that they are "bored."
Inspired by my cousin Margaret, I decided to implement a summertime plan called "The Ticket to Summer!"
Basically, you can earn one ticket by:
- Getting up and dressed for morning prayers by 7:30 am (Mon-Fri) without being woken by mom or dad.
- Doing all the chores on your chart by 9:00 am(Mon-Sat)
- Read a book for 30 minutes
- Practice on the Piano for 30 minutes
- Write a 10 line letter to a friend or family member
- Play nicely with the baby for 30 minutes
- Read to the girls for 20 minutes
- Do 2 pages in Handwriting workbook
- Do 2 Math worksheets
- Do 1 lesson of geography
- Spend time exploring outside and then add a page to your nature journal
- Do an extra job for Mom
You can earn two tickets if you:
- Memorize one poem or song
- Memorize a new prayer or bible verse
- Memorize 25 States and Capitals
- Ask for, and receive training on, a new chore from mom
- Fix a meal (with the approval of mom)
The children can redeem their tickets for a number of different things:
- 20 minute turn on an Educational Computer Game – 2 Tickets
- 20 minutes on EWTN Kids – 2 Tickets
- Stay up for an extra 30 minutes – 2 Tickets
- Watch a video/movie for 30 minutes – 2 Tickets
- Go to the Library for Story time (July only) – 4 Tickets
- Go to the local Bookstore and choose a new book – 6 Tickets
- Go to the Kid Zone – 10 Tickets
- Go out for Ice Cream – 10 Tickets
- $5.00 to do something fun (lunch, ice skating, bowling) – 15 Tickets
I also love my cousins idea of having a biweekly
"Good Behavior Drawing."
In addition to the above, the children can also earn tickets for good behavior that go into a jar. Twice a week, I will draw a ticket from the jar for a prize. They can not ask for these tickets, but, if I catch them being exceptionally good, I will give them a ticket. The better they are the more chances they will have of winning a prize. They can choose there prize themselves, from the prize basket. The prizes include a $5.00 gift card to Target, a couple Activity Books, some art supplies, water balloons and a few toys.
So far, this morning, it is off to a WONDERFUL start! The children are dressed, chores are done, and the boys have both been reading for the past 30 minutes. Hopefully, this enthusiasm will stick!
Wednesday, July 2, 2008
Tuesday, July 1, 2008
Life-saving Day
Each summer my children look forward to their swimming lessons.
They love the water, they love to swim, and the love their teacher, Myrna. She has actually been teaching children to swim for over 50 years, and is the best teacher EVER! I have known Myrna since I was a teenager, and her and her husband are wonderful friends of our family. In fact, she taught most of my brothers and sisters to swim! We are so blessed to have her teaching our own children to swim.
When Captain was almost 5 years old, he was not speaking very well at all, and we were looking at the possibility of him needing speech therapy. Myrna heard about this, called me, and told me that she would like to give Captain some private swimming lessons. By the end of the 2 week session, he was speaking. It was amazing. I guess the cross patterning of swimming helps develop the part of the brain used for Auditory Processing. In fact, Captain has been excelling with his tutor this last week and a half and is progressing by leaps and bounds in reading. This afternoon he walked up to me and read me a whole Dr. Seuss book without making a mistake, which is a huge achievement for him.
Anyhow, today was day 7 of their 8 swimming lessons. It is also known as "Life-saving Day."
Today Myrna worked on teaching the children a swim-survival-safety technique that she has developed over her 50 year career. "It is based on a controlled method of teaching infants/babies to roll to their backs after submersion and to be able to sustain a floating position until help arrives. This bridges the "danger" gap until the baby/child is old enough to learn to swim and take breaths on their own. This method has been credited for saving many toddlers and children's lives around water."
The boys had to arrive today, to their swimming lessons, fully dressed (with their swimsuits under their clothing). Myrna taught them what they would need to do in the event that they fell into a pool, lake or any body of water.
She had the children jump into the pool, and roll onto their back into the "starfish" position.
She also had them practice with life-jackets on as well.
"Ready... GO!"
(I just love watching Rascal jump/dive!)
Then she taught the children how to join hands and form a circle...
...and then how to cuddle to stay warm.
They also learned the position to get into to signal "help!"
Today she ended the class with a "pony" race.
Captain was very excited to finish in 1st place.
Twinkle Toes watched intently. The girls will be taking swimming lessons in August, and are really looking forward to it as well. In the meantime, they have been enjoying the pool Snuggles received for his birthday. Too bad Snuggles isn't enjoying it... He likes it about as much as he likes getting a bath -- which is NOT AT ALL!!
Thank you Myrna for blessing us with these wonderful lessons. We love YOU!!!!
They love the water, they love to swim, and the love their teacher, Myrna. She has actually been teaching children to swim for over 50 years, and is the best teacher EVER! I have known Myrna since I was a teenager, and her and her husband are wonderful friends of our family. In fact, she taught most of my brothers and sisters to swim! We are so blessed to have her teaching our own children to swim.
When Captain was almost 5 years old, he was not speaking very well at all, and we were looking at the possibility of him needing speech therapy. Myrna heard about this, called me, and told me that she would like to give Captain some private swimming lessons. By the end of the 2 week session, he was speaking. It was amazing. I guess the cross patterning of swimming helps develop the part of the brain used for Auditory Processing. In fact, Captain has been excelling with his tutor this last week and a half and is progressing by leaps and bounds in reading. This afternoon he walked up to me and read me a whole Dr. Seuss book without making a mistake, which is a huge achievement for him.
Anyhow, today was day 7 of their 8 swimming lessons. It is also known as "Life-saving Day."
Today Myrna worked on teaching the children a swim-survival-safety technique that she has developed over her 50 year career. "It is based on a controlled method of teaching infants/babies to roll to their backs after submersion and to be able to sustain a floating position until help arrives. This bridges the "danger" gap until the baby/child is old enough to learn to swim and take breaths on their own. This method has been credited for saving many toddlers and children's lives around water."The boys had to arrive today, to their swimming lessons, fully dressed (with their swimsuits under their clothing). Myrna taught them what they would need to do in the event that they fell into a pool, lake or any body of water.
She had the children jump into the pool, and roll onto their back into the "starfish" position.
She also had them practice with life-jackets on as well.
"Ready... GO!"
(I just love watching Rascal jump/dive!)Then she taught the children how to join hands and form a circle...
...and then how to cuddle to stay warm.
They also learned the position to get into to signal "help!"
Today she ended the class with a "pony" race.
Captain was very excited to finish in 1st place.
Twinkle Toes watched intently. The girls will be taking swimming lessons in August, and are really looking forward to it as well. In the meantime, they have been enjoying the pool Snuggles received for his birthday. Too bad Snuggles isn't enjoying it... He likes it about as much as he likes getting a bath -- which is NOT AT ALL!!Thank you Myrna for blessing us with these wonderful lessons. We love YOU!!!!
Monday, June 16, 2008
Summer Time = Popsicle Time
I just LOVE Summer!! We pulled out our Popsicle
Molds today, and made our first Popsicles. They were just plain old juice Popsicles, but I have added a few ingredients to my grocery list so we can try out a few new recipes this year including:Banana Blueberry Swirl Popsicles
No Drip Popsicles
Vanilla Pudding Pops
Honeydew-Basil For me! :)
Oh! And I just love Mary Ellen's idea to serve Smoothie Pops for breakfast! How fun is that?!?
Hope you are all enjoying Summer!
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