So summer break is here!  We graduated my oldest this spring and life is changing daily. It is that time of the year that every child looks forward to.  Bright sunny skies, hot low key days, water, sand, pools.  Picnics, parks and fun.  Vacations and family trips.

But, I find that our family still does better with a bit of routine.  So here are a couple things I am doing with the children this summer.

~Each day the children have a basic list of their daily duties.  This includes their time with the Lord, their household zone clean up, their rooms, etc.  They cannot have free time until those things are finished.  This gets them moving and motivated with some productivity.  The sooner they accomplish these basics the sooner they get free time to swim, play or do whatever they like.

~Each afternoon (unless we have some fun activity planned) while the toddler naps we have one house of quiet reading for the children scheduled.  They can read whatever they want, but everyone is settled in for reading.

~Each afternoon for 20 minutes the children work as much as they can on the “chore cards.”  These are 3×5 cards that I have written things around the house that I would like to get done.  Everything from cleaning out our van, to wiping baseboards.  I even have a generic card that says “Ask mom what you can do.”  They take the front card and work for 20 minutes.  If they finish they chose a second.  If they are not through in 20 minutes they pick up the next day where they left off.  This gives a cycle of chores and no one does more than another.

Doing these three things will still give us some routine but lots and lots of free time and play as well.

I have told the children this is the “default” routine.  But, because it’s summertime, there will be lots of days when we are out and about or doing some other fun adventure.  We have trips planned and lots of fun time in the pool, not to mention several birthday in the summer.

So what kind of things do you do to keep routine in the summer?