Summer developmental goals for children

Summertime is here and I couldn't be more thrilled!! I have such lovely memories of summer break from school and swimming, and bike riding through the country side, mowing the lawn on the riding lawn mower, endless hours helping can produce from our enormous garden, the cool breeze rustling the shades through the open windows, and laying on the floor in front of the fan to keep cool on those hottest of summer days.

But summer time is also a GREAT opportunity to work on those areas of our children's lives that sometimes get a bit overlooked during the rest of the schoolyear. Because we homeschool, there are so many things that contribute to the busyness of the household, that some areas just get pushed to the bottom of the priority list.

So instead of having endless hours with nothing to do, endless hours that WILL get filled with fighting and bickering, endless hours that will drive mom to the edge of insanity, I have chosen to concentrate on a few things that need attention and we will incorporate them in a fun way into each day.

I went again to the book I mentioned in a previous post, A Mother's Manuel for Summer Survival, and reaquainted myself with this chart!

In Luke 2:52 we read:

And Jesus increased in:

1. Wisdom (Intellectually)

2. Stature (Physically)

3. In favor with God (Spiritually)

4. In favor with man (Socially)

This chart will help me plan some fun things for each of my children to help them develop in the areas listed above. I'm asking myself, "Where do I want each of my children to be in each of these areas by the time school starts back up again?"

I'm thinking of things like: swimming skills, riding bikes, potty training, scripture memory, reading more books than sitting in front of the TV, learning better ways to handle the irritations of siblings than hitting or throwing things (yes, I'm sure that happens at your house too?), art camp, soccer camp, summer church camp, learning how to work for the things they want to do, math skills, handwriting skills, etc.

What do you do with your children to help expand their spiritual, physical, intellectual, and social development?