On The Cusp Of Summer Break

It's the last day of school here -- teacher presents have been duly dispatched, special hair bands have been worn, admonishments to be good notwithstanding the last day of school rambunctiousness have been issued.

The usual.

Next year?  I'll be taking her to second grade.

For now, though, I'm thinking about the usual summer conundrum for parents everywhere:  what can we do to stave off boredom, allow for some activity and exercise, learn something special and not spend the summer plopped in front of the television?

This year, I've put together a little start of summer gift for The Peanut.  I got her two American Girl books about their this year's doll -- Lanie -- who is an outdoors and nature kinda gal: Lanie and Lanie's Real Adventures.  I also picked up a pair of binoculars that also have a built-in compass and a couple of additional nature books -- Nature in a Nutshell for Kids: Over 100 Activities You Can Do in Ten Minutes or Less and Birds, Nests & Eggs.

I thought we could go for some nice walks this summer with her puppy, Roxie.  And perhaps learn something along the way if we are lucky.

We have some nice trails to walk on in our area, so that will be great for a start.  And I thought perhaps we might get to Cranberry Glades or Blackwater Falls or some other area in West Virginia that we could all explore together for a day out on the weekends.


I'd also love to take her up to see Fallingwater, the gorgeous Frank Lloyd Wright masterpiece, and perhaps then for some afternoon tea at Nemacolin.

I also want to plan in some reading time every day -- her reading skills have improved tremendously and she's become a fairly voracious little reader which is thrilling both of us.  (Mr. ReddHedd and I are both big readers, too.  You should see our stuffed-to-bursting bookshelves.)

She's taking ballet and jazz dance over the summer -- she begged to be able to do so after watching the "big girls" at her recital this week.  This fall, she'll switch from jazz to tap and keep the ballet going as well.  As long as she's excited about it and enjoying it, we'll encourage her to keep going.

The physical activity is great for her, since she is such a stringbean this really has done wonders for some muscle tone and balance, and she's enjoying dancing around the house in her spare time, too.

Plus, she has piano once a week as well.  We thought some grounding in music would be helpful -- I know my piano lessons still resonate when listening to any classical music, let alone anything else.  Being able to read music and play it is truly a gift, and one we wanted her to acquire to the extent she wanted to learn it.

I don't want to over-schedule though.

I see kids every day that have too much going on, and no real free time to play and doodle and creatively do things to expand their thought processes.  I want her to have time to build with her legos or draw and paint or putter around the yard with me and my plants.   She's a kid and needs to play, not be scheduled constantly.

It's tough, though, to strike that balance where their intellectual curiosity and learning gets challenged and tweaked instead of pushing them too hard.

What are you planning to do with your kids this summer?  What did you do with your kids when they were younger?  What did you most enjoy doing when you were younger?  I'm all ears for ideas on what fun things we can do -- I think spending time together is a big part of it, but I'd rather it was fun and not seem like it is regimented.  Thoughts?


(For my part, I could do with a few weeks perched in the hammock in this picture with a pile of good books and nothing else to do.  That would be the life.  Gorgeous photo via Andy-Beal.)