His eyes locked on mine. Did he really just get locked out of the house by his mom?
Yes, indeed he did. But it wasn’t malicious and he wasn’t alone. It was for his “own good” and his two siblings were with him, along with a pitcher of water and some snacks so they wouldn’t “die” in the heat on that absolutely beautiful day, a day that was otherwise being wasted away in front of a screen.
I smiled at how clever I was to get the kids outside to do something that didn’t involve electronics.
Bang bang bang … they begged to be let back in.
I smiled, waved and walked back to my desk to get some work done, knowing the kids would figure out something fun to do together. And I was right – they did.
It was a momentary break in the day. But what about when you are staring down an entire summer, right on the heels of one of the most challenging school seasons any modern-day parent has ever endured?
Have you recovered, because personally I feel like I never hit a rhythm that worked this year.
To put myself in the proper posture for summer, I decided to seek out friends who have made homeschooling their career. COVID-19 or not, these parents are just as exhausted come June as the rest of us. I wanted to know how they move from the role of full-time teacher to full-time parent/activities director. Perhaps some of their insights will release you from the stress of the long hot summer ahead.
Ditch plans for perfection. From how your house may look to how your schedule flows, give yourself a break. Perfect homes, perfect schedules – we’ve lived like that for a year, so now look for ways to lessen the pressure and enjoy the people you are with, not the trappings of things around you.
Rethink your nag. All year we ask about school deadlines, grades, chores, etc., but with summer here, you don’t have to do that. Homeschooling mom of three Jannet Dannon-Mairena says summer is the time to stop micro-analyzing how your kids spend every moment. Instead, she gives her kids a list of things to accomplish during the week and lets them figure out how to get it done.
Embrace unstructured time. Maybe you will take solace in the advice of former CNN producer turned homeschool mom Amy Simonson: “It was important for my kids to have some time on their own that was not structured so they could learn how to fill their time without help from me. Watching a movie, playing a video game, communicating with friends, watching cartoons, reading, playing outside – these were all important components to their summer and while they were doing their thing, I was happily doing mine!”
Let rest unlock the brain. Got a kid who couldn’t master a certain topic? A rested, unpressured mind might just be the trick. Dannon-Mairena noticed that the slower summer pace helped her kids process hard topics if she just had fun with it, like tripling a cookie recipe to work on fractions.
Make kids work for fun. Is there something your kids are nagging you to do? Make them work for it. Depending on their age, have them do some research on the topic or create a convincing presentation. To prep for summer trips in Simonson’s house, kids make a list of what they wanted to do or eat on a trip.
“We always tried to hit at least one item on everyone’s list,” she said. “This gets the child really into their trip, and as they get older they start to do their own research on where they want to go and what they want to do.”
And my personal advice, which I’m horrible at, but getting better: If you have unused time off of work, take it. No excuses. You can’t get these days back!
To comprehensively restate everyone else’s advice, loosen up, laugh more, shorten the to-do list, and stop and smell the roses.
And in case you were wondering how my “lock the kids out of the house” activity went …
As I worked at my desk that day, I caught a glimpse of a flash of white through the window from the corner of my eye. It was my son’s T-shirt. At 15, after losing enough baseballs on the roof, he was quite adept at climbing on top of the house. He thought it would be fun to jump from the low side of the roof onto the backyard trampoline.
“Oh my God! What are you doing?!?” (But what I was really thinking was, “What kind of mom will my neighbors think I am?!”)
“What, Mom?” my son said perplexed. “You told us to figure out something to do outside and we did.”
Happy summering.
Boilerplate language for Lisa tk, which will include Lisa@M.Network.com.