How to plan a simple & intentional summer

 

Written by contributor Kari Patterson of Sacred Mundane

Intentional summer.

This phrase doesn’t exactly send a thrill of excitement up our spines, does it?

When summer comes often the last thing we want to do is think.  We work so hard during the school year, slowly losing steam around mid-May, then army-crawl to the finish-line, slowly petering out in early June. We’re just so tired all we want to do is relax.

But while summer is a great time to relax, it’s equally a great time to learn. And with a little careful planning you can carve out a simple, restful, and educational summer, all while “not doing school.”

Here are a few fun ideas to get us started:

Determine your family’s ‘goals’ for the summer

Again, perhaps the last thing you want to do come June is make a list of goals, but this is a critical step in order to simplify your summer and meet the needs of your individual family.

Often we wind up just doing things because it’s “the thing to do” without carefully evaluating the specific goals of your family.

Is your goal to rest, sight-see, visit extended family, do outdoor activities, get house projects done, do sports or science camps, pick and preserve produce, or just soak up some much-needed unstructured time? All of these are valid (and can be educational!) but different families have different specific needs.

Talk through, as a family, what your needs are for this summer, and be intentional about which activities to plan based on your needs.

Think outside the box

I’ll be the first to admit my kids are a bit weird. My 7-year-old son has no interest in theme parks or kids’ camps but has been begging to visit the USS New Jersey, the battleship from WWII and Vietnam. My daughter just adores going on “dates” with me or my husband — any simple outing where she can freely talk to us without the constant interruption of her conversationally-aggressive brother!

So our summer plans are fairly simple — one big splurge of a trip for my dad (who served on the battleship in Vietnam), husband, and son to visit the USS New Jersey and do a walking tour of historic Philadelphia, while my mom, daughter and I enjoy some girl-dates back home, learning about whatever she’s interested in at the moment.

It’s a little unconventional, but both kids will have a blast, and we’ll get to make memories with my parents (one of our goals).

Be realistic

The classic summer mistake is to attempt too much and wind up overwhelmed.

If you truly love staying up all night canning tomatoes, great. If you don’t, cut yourself some slack, can half as much, and just enjoy your kids.

As much as possible, do everything with them. Take them berry-picking with you. Garden with them. Host a “camp” for young kids rather than sending them away. Teach them along the way. Talk on your roadtrips. Resist the screens and overstimulation, and enjoy the gift of simply being together.

Make the mundane memorable

Too often we confuse special with spectacular. While we should always strive for special activities, we don’t need spectacular activities.

Our most special family times are usually simple — a bowl of homemade ice cream, lying in the grass watching bugs, walking to the local track to run and ride bikes, a simple day at the beach digging in the sand …

Our kids’ most recent favorite activity is taking care of and talking to our three chickens (!). They were involved in every part of the process, preparing for their arrival and now taking care of them. It’s such a simple thing, but they have learned so much simply through the daily habit of caring for these animals (and enjoying the eggs!).

What makes summer so special isn’t spectacular events but simply doing things together, so we can relax a little bit and be intentional about engaging with our kids rather than frantically trying to plan the perfect trip.

As you thoughtfully plan out your family’s summer activities, we’d love to hear how you make your summer simple, educational and memorable. Please share your thoughts!

{Thanks for reading.}