Monday, June 25, 2007

Summer Plans

I love summer. I get so excited to plan our schedule. It's the only time of the year that I get to see my kids more than their teachers and get to decide how we are going to spend our time. I always associate summer with fun learning, probably because my mom was so good at filling our summer days with lots of learning. This summer were going to focus on science because 1. We bought a family pass to the American Museum of Natural History and can't wait to explore in detail each exhibit. 2. I'm really dumb when it comes to science and I'm not saying this in a trying to be modest tone. Really. Dumb. Ask Josh, he could tell you stories. I made it through my entire public school and college career with taking one science class. It's time I learned a little more. This summer we are planning

WEEKLY TRIPS TO:

the pool (Wilson's Waves is our favorite)

the library


American Museum of Natural History

the park

OCCASIONAL TRIPS TO:

the beach

the movies (love Bookworm Wednesdays! The kids bring a book report - you can print the form out here - and admission is free for a morning kids movie. The movies aren't new releases, but the excitement of seeing them on the big screen and having movie treats make up for that. I also love that there are no previews (shorter movie time) and lots of other kids. I don't love that they have some sort of raffle/giveaway each time because my kids are bummed when they don't win, but we'll just manage expectations before we go. Here's the schedule.)

the zoo


Wave Hill (great children's programs)

other city destinations

Greenburgh Nature Center

LEARNING GOALS:

Jonah's starting piano lessons and wants to learn to make cookies all by himself

Roxcy wants to learn to make dinner by herself, start to sew and program a video game using Scratch, a program developed by MIT for kids.

I'm hoping to encourage Colin's letter, color and number recognition skills.

Lots of science, reading and writing.

Edit: I forgot to link to a brilliant and inspiring article my mom wrote once upon a time about planning a summer to support family values and unity. I've included the link in the first paragraph. Or go to it here.

9 comments:

daisy said...

Do you have room for a few more kiddies. My girls would love to enroll in that summer program.

Anonymous said...

What great plans! Have so much fun!

Shayne said...

Daisy, I hate to discuss this through Erin's blog but can we do this with our kids? And by WE I mean you.

Anonymous said...

Good story about that article. I read it in CA before we moved to Utah in Sept. of that year(1980). I was SO impressed. After we were in UT a year, I got out the article at the beginning of summer, then realized I now knew and loved the author! Another fun twist of life/small world.

Liz said...

what a fun summer plan.

Your family would like the Norwalk (in CT) Children's Science Museum and score- there are a ton of family/ chain restaurants nearby (Friendly's, etc) so you could make it a family date and dinner on the way home. It's not so far away.

wendyhc said...

your summer plan sounds wonderful, Erin. i was so inspired--even though kidless at this point--that i read your mom's article and talked to my fiance about it for our future family. thanks for sharing!

Mom in Mendon said...

I loved reading your mother's article. I LOVE Petrea. No wonder you're such a good mom, Erin.

Elizabeth said...

I remember the summer school that Mom had and LOVED it - I still rememember a writing activity where mom would list a bunch of random words and I had to use them all in a story (including words like Catsup and Kitten). I dont think that normal school gave me as many creative outlets as Mom's school.

Anonymous said...

Abe is starting Kindergarten on Monday and I have been thinking about a lot of these same issues your mom talked about. Very very good idea for summer. can I get a whole summers worth of ideas from her:)