summer 2010- for the love of books.

i like to pick a summer theme.
2009- Be a HERO
2008- Doing GREAT Things- about creation and inventions.
2010, we are doing "for the love of BOOKS."

i was a bit nervous doing books because we always use books to support our theme... i was worried that books alone would be limiting.
but, i'm really excited about this theme.

Here are some of the things we're doing...
-library once a week
-goodwill once a week, to buy books (for 20 cents)
-i bought a bunch of blank books from www.barebooks.com so we can write our own stories.
-we are visiting a printing press.
-i'm still looking for a typewriter, because writing our own books is more fun with a typewriter!
-i have a whole list of fun books to read and movies to watch when we're finished.
-every time someone finishes a book, they get to go out for ice cream alone with mom or dad to have a book chat.  (i think i'll be eating a lot of ice cream!)
tomorrow for family night, the kids are doing their goal posters.
each kid will make their own list of summer goals...  i love self motivated kids.
-the kids each picked something they want to learn this summer.
anna- wants to garden and sew a lap quilt
(i don't have a big garden, but i'm going to let each kid plant a terra cotta planter in the back yard).
ellie- wants to learn sculpting and painting.
drew- wants to learn to fish and type.
jakob- wants to learn oragami and bike stunts.
so fun.
each of the kids will take some time looking up information about their new skill and planning out how they are going to accomplish their goals.

i liked the idea of summer buckets from shana at my mix of six.
i have compiled summer buckets to give each of the kids on the last day of school, but mine are mostly full of things the kids can do...  (no picture yet because they are actually summer walmart bags waiting to be made cute- i have till thursday)
for example-- i bought each kid a fun baking mix (ex. sprinkle cupcakes and icing, brownies, sugar cookies, etc.) for them to bake sometime.
i wrote a card with the address of a "Learn to type" website for drew, a web address for oragmi ideas for jakob, sculpey for ellie, how to grow tomatoes for anna, etc..
i have movie tickets to some shows here in lubbock, one local theatre sells tickets for $5 for 10 shows if you buy them in advance.
they each get their first blank books.
i got them each the first book in a series...  Hardy Boys, Percy Jackson, Nancy Drew, Anne of Green Gables, etc. hopefully they will catch the summer reading bug!
i still need to pick up sidewalk chalk, new crayons, markers and paint for our art projects.
this is the first year that i'm not going to do summer workbooks.
i'm going to stick with strict reading times... 

that's all.  i'm really excited to have them all home with me all day.  it is SO FUN having lots of kids.
NEVER a dull moment.
this summer i really want to create memories of being outdoors in nature.
living in our small home with our small yard, this just means we have to be more creative and go find creeks and canyons to explore... fields to lay in as we read stories, lakes to dig in and find frogs...  oh, and lots of worms for our fishing trips.  i already have one sweet friend, a true texan, who promised to take us fishin' for catfish.  she says you just rip off their skin and it squeeks as it comes off... she says she'll cook us up some good cornbreaded cat fish.  i can't wait!!

only 3 1/2 more days.
oh.  but i will miss my quiet afternoons, when the babies are sleeping and my whole house is perfectly clean.
hello pool time and towels and sunscreen and fun...
goodbye sweet vacuumed afternoons... i will find you again in the fall.