Surviving Summer

I have a love/hate relationship with summer.  I love the idea of the pool, Popsicles & playing with friends. Summer has taken on a little bit different meaning over the last couple years. How do we keep the learning momentum going? What programs should we do? Two years ago I loaded everything on. Swimming, horseback riding, Occupational therapy & physical therapy. I also felt the need to feel the in between time with enriching and engaging activities. By the end of summer I was WIPED and so was Emma. It was too much to keep up with. Last summer in an act of what could only be compared to teenage rebellion, we were lumps. Seriously. No schedule. No therapy.  Very few "enriching" activities. It was mostly the pool in the front yard. It was boring and L..O..N..G. The lack of schedule created chaos for Emma. Her anxiety was OFF THE CHARTS high.
What I learned - BALANCE.  I need to work on it. It doesn't have to be 24/7 super mom and tons of activities. There can be structure and schedules without being overloaded. That's my goal on this fast approaching summer. I am constantly talking myself out of adding another activity to the schedule. We will keep bedtimes (other than a few extenuating circumstances) close to the same time, make sure she is getting her 3 meals a day and packed snack/drinks to keep off the "hangry" behaviors that creep up if Emma is even a little bit hungry. There will be a mix of structured activities and down time. Balance. We will be doing Occupational Therapy & Horseback riding (which her dad will be taking her to on their visit). We are debating swimming lessons. As much as we love Miss Betsy it is a long drive, a lot of time & a lot of money. We are holding off on girl scouts and making sure that we have one scheduled at home day.

Organization. This is key for keeping me & Emma in a good place. I have a binder with calendars, menus, fun activity ideas, coupons for various community going ons & envelopes for cash to fund these activities. This is what keeps me sane. For Emma we will be re-implementing the visual schedule at home. She has one at school, but we haven't had one at home for a while, I think carrying something over that is used in school will help ease some of the stress of change.

So that's our survival plan. I am sure once it is here we will have to make some adjustments and tweak things that are and aren't working for us. I have attached a sample of our weekly schedule. This is one of the things I keep in the binder. Again, this is just a sample and there will be wiggle room, I just wanted to give an idea of our basic day. If you want a 'This Week' to print for yourself let me know: ) I can email it to you as a PDF. You can also pop on over my my 'Summer 2014' Pinterest board for organization, schedules & activity ideas. Click HERE.

Let the count down begin...

Lindsay