Thursday, June 25, 2009

The Sandwich Days of Summer

School is out and summer is fully under way at our house. That sounds great. But for my kids, the wide open slate of a long summer day actually can be overwhelming. All school year they yearn for more free time, the chance to just be kids and have no schedule. But when that situation finally arrives, they sometimes don't know what to do with themselves. Their days during the school year are mapped out for them and it takes some time for them to settle into the freedom that summer allows. The most frequently asked questions in our house are "What are we doing tomorrow, later, next?"

To ease them (and me) into the lazy days of summer, I have created the illusion of a schedule. I call it our "Sandwich Days".The slices of "bread" are the morning and afternoon activities that we must do everyday: get dressed, brush teeth, make beds, practice piano, household chores and the like. Generally, the bread activities take short bits of time and really help to start the day. The "meat" of the sandwich is the fun stuff we do for the rest of the day: swimming, bike rides, playing with friends and such.

The kids so far like reading the daily schedule each morning and knowing what fun awaits!


  1. Glad the "schedule" is working...where'd you get that lined dry erase board?! I want one !!!

  2. The lined dry-erase board is actually a laminated poster. I bought it at the home school education store.


Whaddaya think about that?