The Great Summer Plan....

...is actually working! I think I need to finish telling you about it.

So I got the workboxes all fixed up and each day (except Tuesdays, that's cousin day. Except today because Little Bit has fever so I've got to rearrange everything!) the girls do 3-5 boxes. I don't have a set time for them to start on them, I just expect them to have at least 2 done by lunch time.

Here is what you might see in their workboxes this summer:

• They each are doing Handwriting Without Tears this summer as handwriting simply does not get done during the school year. This only takes 10 minutes or so.
• Sweetheart is alternating between the Math U See online drill (15 minutes) and Math U See worksheets. We've GOT to keep up with her facts. She needs to have this daily practice.
• They each get a book or books in their boxes. I read with them. This week's theme is First Aid so Sweetheart is reading an easy biography on Clara Barton. She really got into it! I was very surprised.
• They each get a theme-based activity in their box each day. Today's activity is playing "pharmacy." I'll credit sister for the beginning of this idea and then we got to talking and added to it a bit. They are going to fill orders by counting pony beads into old medicine bottles and applying labels to the bottles. The "prescriptions" will say something like, "10 Blue Pills". It's mainly an activity for Little Bit, but I know it will launch pharmacy play with both of them.

Those workboxes have done wonders to stave off any thoughts of "I'm bored." Sweetheart told me she was bored yesterday afternoon and I reminded her she had workboxes to complete. She brightened right up--especially when she saw that one of them was her first piano lesson!

The other part of the summer plan is the chores. Their "morning chores" that they do every morning have been put on wooden door hangers. I got the idea from this site. Aren't they cute? So that allowed me to be very specific about their morning and bedtime routines. (I skipped the clip art for Sweetheart's sign.)

Then, each day they have a specific area of their shared bedroom to concentrate on. This is hanging on the wall and has pictures as well as words.

Monday--clean off headboards (My word, they collect crap there!)

Tuesday--clean off top of dressers (includes dusting)

Wednesday--straighten bookshelves

Thursday--straighten closet

Friday--clean doll area

They are always expected to pick up their things in the bedroom and pick up everything from the floor, but this way specific attention is given to areas that get to looking really bad otherwise.

AND...(I'm not through yet!) they have chore cards. These are just google images I grabbed off of the computer, printed onto card stock and cut up. I was planning on picking three chores a day for them, but I think I'll leave that more flexible. We were busy yesterday, so I just had them pick one. These chore cards are all things that would serve the whole family--not just chores about my kids taking care of themselves. I didn't want all of their chores to be about them. I did the "pick a card, any card" routine yesterday and they kind of liked the excitement about what they might get! Sweetheart had to straighten the blankets in the blanket box and Little Bit had to clean off the lamp table in the living room. No big deal. Also, these chores are age-appropriate for each girl.

I have all of these documents and if you are interested in seeing any of them, just give me a holla. I'll be happy to share.