Summer!

Today is our official first day of summer vacation!

We sat down as a family last night and I rolled out our summer job charts and reading incentive programs.   As fun as I always try to make it,  there is always the occasional eye rolling (Isaac has mastered this) and a groan here and there.  This year was no exception.  After the meeting Nicole came up and asked me, "Now how much of what we talked about tonight really applies to me?"  I thought that was funny.  :) 

I understand that no one likes to be told that their summer is not going to be all video games, sleeping in till noon, and friends galore.  I feel for them, I really do, but at the same time, I would loose my mind if we didn't have some structure around here.

Just in case you are looking for ideas for your crew, here are some links to blogs where I snagged some of the ideas that we are using.

This one is a fun way to get your kids to read lots of pages.  I'm definitely not opposed to bribery.  I heart reading and I want my kids to love it too.  So I will bribe them into loving it.  Today- day ONE- my kids have read a total of 180 pages trying to figure out that mystery number!  He, he, he!  I have even reserved a couple of the suggested books from this blog to read with the boys- can't wait!

This one has so many great ideas for helping your kids make the most of their summer.  I implemented most of her ideas, my favorite being the 5 minute jobs.  Anyone can do anything for 5  minutes right?

And finally, this one which happens to be another reading incentive idea.  This one I loved because it gives lots of fun ideas of WHERE to read a book, and gives them a goal to reach while rewarding them for their efforts any way you want!  Our coupons are for things like, an ice cream cone, a slurpee, new book at Barnes and Nobel, and our golden ticket.....a day at Lagoon.

Hopefully my kids learn to love reading this summer- if not, this summer will DRAG on for them and they'll probably thank me for that too, because doesn't summer always feel like it goes too fast? 

 Nicole just finishing up Stephanie Nielson's book.

What fun (or not so fun ;) ) things are you doing with your kids this summer?  I would love to hear!!!