Summer Manifesto

In the same day, I saw the same post from Hands Free Mama on Twitter and on Facebook.  I had been thinking of writing a list of summer goals, but I never could get the list going.  But what she did that I had not thought of, was consult the kids.  As my friend A would say, *Facepalm*  This summer is all about them, shouldn't they have a say in what happens?  Also, God's been on me about a few things.  I remember summer being a time where the rules were relaxed, if not just tossed out the window. And so, God has been telling me to toss my rule book out the window.  Not completely, but He's pretty firm on a few points.  So as I present the Elliott Summer Manifesto, I'll explain some of the reasons why these things are on the list.  And a few addendums are at the end of some of the items.

1.  Stay up late
     I am a big stickler on bedtime.  But if my kids always go to bed by 8 in the summer, they will never get to catch fireflies!  And that's just wrong!  But, sleep is so important!  So this isn't going to be an every night thing, but more often than not, I'm going to let the kids be up past 8.  Dear Jesus, it hurt just to say that.

2.  Watch TV
     Oh Dear, if there is anything I feel more strongly about than bedtime, it's tv watching.  We don't have a tv, we use our Playstation and computer to watch Netflix.  The kids are only allowed to do that on Saturday & Sunday.  What they don't know is they only get 4 hours of TV for those two days.  Also, my favorite punishment to dish out is to take away tv time.  Not because it's so very effective, but because it means the kids aren't watching tv.  This is going to sting, but here goes.  The kids can watch tv everyday.  Aarghh, it burns!!!  To make it easier for me, they have to have chores done, and schoolwork before they can do that.  And there will be a time limit per day!  Exhale of relief, that makes it better.

3.  Play video games
     This is right up there with TV.  And so, just like TV, the kids can play video games everyday.  Before I start convulsing, the same addendum applies to video games as tv.  Whew, that was close.

4.  2 days of school will be games or on the computer.
     We are going to have school through the summer.  Reason #1.  I know that if I take a break of more than 2 weeks, I won't get back to having school until November.  Reason #2.  Eliz is still behind, and I want to see if we can get her to 2nd grade by October/Novemeber.  However, it's summer.  So, Tuesday and Thursday, school will be done with "fun" stuff.  Games, computer time, field trip, something not like our regular school activities.  This one doesn't hurt at all.  In fact, the rest of the Manifesto will be mostly painless.   

5.  Do 2-3 crafts a week
     The kids are always creating stuff, but this will be a more directed, purposeful crafting.  Kind of like Home Ec.  When our schedule gets hectic, the first thing to go is time to be creative.  And summer, by definition is hectic.  This is really just to be sure this happens in all our craziness.

6.  Go to the Pool once a week - at least
     Again, this to make sure it happens.  It looks like this is going to be a hot and humid summer, so the pool will be an absolute essential.

7.  Go Creekstomping & hiking each week
     There's a great creek in our nieghbor hood, and another one a few miles down the road.  Picnic lunch and into the creek we go!  Share nature with kids, yay!

If you've noticed, even though I've said that the kids can watch TV & play videos games, I'm hoping we're so busy they don't have time to watch tv and play video games.  We've also got activites at the library, Eliz is doing Mini 4-H, not to mention all the friends that are out of school, yeah, we'll be all over the place.  The good side is, we can cancel any of these things if we want.  This is our summer, so if we need or want to toss everything to just sit and do nothing but look at the clouds, so be it.  I'm flexible.  Happy Summer all, let's enjoy it!