Are you a parent with kids that are home for summer break? Well, this post is for you! I know summer break is over but that doesn’t mean the fun should stop. School starts for most this month or next month so you have a couple of weeks to get some plans in order lol! I shared earlier this summer on Instagram that I was going to share a few things to do before the school year starts so here it is finally!
Last year took a toll on a lot of kids due to the pandemic. Now that things are starting to slowly get back to normal, I feel like we need to make it up to the kids to help them get back to some normalcy. I told myself that I wanted to do more with my kids this summer since we couldn’t do but so much last year. My heart is still broken that we had to cancel our week-long trip to Disney World. The last time we went was when Maddie was 3 and I was 6 weeks pregnant with my Baby Boy. Now he is 3 and I wanted him to experience Disney for himself! But unfortunately, we had to cancel but I am still hopeful that we will go sometime this year! So here are a few things that I planned/have planned for our kiddos this year and hope it will inspire you to do the same.
Summer learning and reading are a must. I don’t know about you but education is very important to me when it comes to my kids. We take learning and reading very seriously in our home and just because school is out, the learning doesn’t stop there. Of course, I won’t overwhelm them with too much because I want them to enjoy their break, but Usually, I would get learning books, flashcards and etc from Walmart or Target. You can find them in the books or craft area (I’ll link some below) and they are very helpful to prepare them for the upcoming school year or age range. My kids love them, even my son brings books over to me when I forget at times! Keep the learning going over the summer. Not only does it keep their little minds intrigued but also keeps them ready and prepared for the upcoming school year!
Plan a few road trips or family trips! After being in the house most of last year, the travel bug has been taking over me and I’m so ready to travel the world, honey! Summer travel is usually high and even higher this year post-pandemic but I’m here to tell you, take that trip girl. If you don’t want to fly anywhere right now, plan a road trip to somewhere nearby or a couple of hours away. Just getting out of the house and driving somewhere is therapeutic for us. We love getting on these texas roads and exploring somewhere we’ve never been so I highly suggest going on a road trip of some sort. Book an overnight stay or three and enjoy the moments.
Create family traditions at home. This is probably my favorite because there is nothing like creating new traditions with your family. Growing up, I loved watching my mom cook African dishes. I loved it so much that I wanted to help out as I got older. Now granted, I can’t cook like my mom, but at least I was willing to try! Now with my little family, we have a few that we have created. Friday nights are movie nights. We will let the kids pick a movie or if there is something that I and my husband want to watch, we will pick it. Besides the obvious cooking and filming fun things together, we have family days where we spend the day doing something fun outside of the home. Since moving, we barely go anywhere but we realized that staying home doesn’t help when there are places and things to explore in our new area. So we made it our mission to designated a day (when my husband is off) to get out of the house and explore or do something fun with the kids. That’s how my Black Along The Border series on my channel was birth. You can check it out on my YouTube channel! Another thing is weekly day dates with my husband. When the kids are at childcare or when school starts, my husband and I will find nice places to eat or check out. We love Mexican food and there are so many places to choose from so we made it a weekly priority to try new places but also have time together, no kids allowed lol!
Renovate, remodel or redesign your home. Depending on your budget, this could be a fun project for all. My daughter wants a new room makeover and we have been thinking and planning for it for a while now. One minute she wants this theme, next minute she wants this theme. So it has been taking a while. Plus, we want to make sure our budget allows the renovations because like I said, it can get pricey lol. So if you’ve thought about remodel or giving your house a new makeover, this could be a fun, family project for you all. If you just moved into a new house, that would be even better!! You all can plan and renovate as you go when it comes to getting your new home in order! Congratulations by the way! 🙂
There’s so much that you can do before the kiddos go back to school. So I hope that you all will find the time to create new memories and fun times with one another because the school year starts! Let me know if you have any last-minute plans before school starts and when do your kiddos return to school?!