Summer vacation from homeschooling is wonderful! For about two weeks. Then the chaos, the restlessness, the mess, gets to me. After a day watching kids lounge while I picked up the wreckage in their wake, I said, "This isn't Spa Fletcher! Go do your chores!"

And so, it's time for a plan. You've probably heard me say it before- plans can help bring peace, productivity, and purpose. Creating a schedule or a routine actually makes you more free because all of the necessary stuff gets done and then you can go play without any lingering guilt.

This is our plan (with a few affiliate links), but what would work for you?

8:00 Breakfast and morning chores

9:00 Summer Circle Time - Here's what we did last year (with free printables). What we're doing this year:

I'm so not an art mom, so I like to throw in some good art projects during the summer when we're not so overwhelmed. This summer we're doing Chalk Pastels: Art at the Beach from Southern Hodgepodge. I'll try to remember to take pics and post them to Facebook and Instagram so you can see.

We're also going to be reading Exploring Grace Together because we didn't finish it this spring. It's perfect for Circle Time: short, to the point, and bubbling over with grace and the gospel!

While we're working on our art pastels, I'll be playing classical music. This is my background - I have my BA in music - and lately there's been way too much One Direction around here. Gag.

10:00 - Summer House Clean, in which we tackle a room per week. If you click through that link, you'll see what we're working on each week. Housework and homeschooling are largely mutually exclusive, so I try to get to all the big projects in the summertime.

Math/Thinking Skills - Our favorites are the Never Bored Books from Evan Moor (Amazon doesn't have any with Prime shipping right now).

Summer Projects- Things the kids want to accomplish. I have them sit down at the beginning of the summer and brainstorm what they want to learn and do. Their lists contain everything from "learn to dive off the diving board" to "go for a Slurpee run".

LUNCH (with a pre-set plan that rotates through who's making it)

1:00 Swim
2:00 Read Aloud - Currently we're reading The Incorrigible Children of Ashton Place

2:30 Quiet Hour-and-a-Half
4:00 Swim/Free

It's a flow chart, with loose parameters and room for flexibility. On the hottest days of summer, we may all want to be in the pool all morning long and that's perfectly okay with me.

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