If Mom's Not Happy . . .: America

This is the first week of summer vacation. Summer break from school is short this year, only eight weeks. My son will be going to camp for two weeks. That leaves six weeks I'll have to entertain my kids. During the school year there is structure and routine. I want to keep some of the structure and balance it with free time. For their enjoyment, and my sanity, I am going to try different themes each week. Very general themes. Each day we will try to incorporate something that reflects the theme.

This week our theme is "America" since we are celebrating Independence Day. I wasn't sure how this one was going to go, but it's been pretty fun and a great learning experience for my seven year old. The kids made a simple desert with the colors red, white and blue. We visited a beautiful memorial in our town for fallen soldiers called Field of Flags. The kids used blue and red finger paints to make flags. My son is going to watch the movie Miracle about the 1980 U.S. Olympic hockey team.

Making Finger Paint Flags

I am really enjoying this week and feel the children are learning a little something along the way. If you are wondering what my daughter is getting out of the experience, she is mastering the colors red, white and blue. I am going to try to keep to a theme each week. My son said he wanted to try and make a treasure map. I guess next week's theme is going to be about "Pirates".