Summer Goals For Kids: 2016 Edition

Some moms like to fill their summer days with vacations or day trips or play dates. I like to fill ours with the pool, reading, and . . . summer goals!

For the past year, I've been keeping a running list of possibilities, and two days after school got out, we sat down as a family and made everything official.

I gave my suggestions and the boys gave theirs. Mike mostly nodded his head and said everything sounded good (although he did come up with one goal, which I'll talk about in a minute).

As in years past, we made goals that were practical, educational, and fun. We tried to keep the list to a manageable size, but it was hard because there were so many contenders, and I think we (read: I) may have gotten a little overly ambitious. We'll see . . .

Here are the boys' goals for 2016, broken down by category:

Aaron, age 7 (almost 8)

• Practical
• Wash dishes and utensils [This is his daily chore. He's rockin' it, and it's such a help to me!]
• Memorize Dad's phone number [We realized none of the kids knew it! Ooops.]
• Make macaroni from a box
• Follow six recipes
• Educational
• Finish seven units in piano 
• Complete 4th grade math book [This is one of the overly ambitious goals. We may need to cut it down to size a bit.]
• Memorize four poems and four scriptures
• Learn U.S. capitols
• Read Mathematicians are People, Too [We actually have an entire subset of reading goals, but I'll talk about them in a separate post.]
• 10 minutes of scripture reading every day
• Fun
• Kick a soccer ball farther
• Run a mile and improve time
• Art Fraud Detective [I'm going to have to write more about this fun book that introduces kids to famous pieces of art. My boys are loving it.] 
• Create a comic strip [Gotta put all that Calvin and Hobbes reading to creative use!]
• Catch a fish [This was Mike's contribution. I thought he should go for something more attainable, like, "Go fishing," but he'd never caught a fish before in his life, and so he was bound and determined to do it with his kids.]
• Three family hikes 

Maxwell, age 6 (some of his goals are the same as Aaron's, some are different)

• Practical
• Memorize Dad's phone number
• Make sandwiches/lunches [I'm keeping up with my daily lunch-making routine over the summer, and Max is helping me. For some reason, he loves this goal.]
• Fold laundry [I don't know if the daily battle is worth it with this one. I hope so, but it is a battle, and it does happen every day.]
• Educational
• Finish seven units in piano
• Memorize four poems and four scriptures
• Complete 1st grade spelling workbook
• Read Mathematicians are People, Too
• Learn the names of all 50 states
• Learn to tell time
• Fun
• Kick soccer ball farther
• Swim across the deep end of the pool
• Build something out of wood [This one was totally his idea, and he was very insistent about it. I'm letting Mike take the lead.]
• Create a comic strip
• Catch a fish
• Three family hikes

Bradley, age 4.5 (you'll see some duplicate goals with him, too)

• Practical
• Memorize Dad's phone number
• Clean the bathroom counter and mirror
• Educational
• Complete My First Piano Adventure, Level A [Bradley just started piano lessons this summer. It is not unusual for new students to be enthusiastic, but Bradley takes enthusiasm to a whole new level.]
• Complete kindergarten handwriting workbook [Bradley loves workbooks. I think I'm going to have to get him another one because he's already almost done with this one.]
• Memorize four poems and four scriptures 
• Fun
• Kick a soccer ball farther
• Swim with side breaths
• Pump a swing
• Follow directions in a drawing book
• Catch a fish
• Three family hikes

At this point, I feel like I need to add a disclaimer. Helping my kids make, work on, and accomplish their summer goals is so fun for me. I am not doing it out of any sense of obligation or duty. I am doing it because it's fun. I have a Type A personality. I like structure and routine. I like making lists and checking them off. I like helping my kids learn new skills. I honestly wake up in the morning looking forward to, not dreading, making more progress on those goals. If it weren't fun for me, I wouldn't be doing it. I repeat, I would not be doing it.

But it is fun and luckily, my kids are similar enough in personality to me that they love it, too. Now that we're two weeks into summer, our days have taken on a predictable rhythm: Goals and chores; swimming; quiet time; repeat. It works for us.

Oh, and I almost forgot to mention the rewards for making progress on and accomplishing our goals. You have to have rewards! That's part of the fun. We'll go miniature golfing in June, we'll see an IMAX film in July, and we'll go to Timpanogos Cave in August.

You may have noticed Clark doesn't have a list. I may be overzealous, but I'm not crazy.

What are your plans for the summer? Big or small, boring or exciting, lazy or ambitious, I want to hear about them!! Also, if you have any questions about our goals, ask away! I'm happy to answer them, except for, "Are you insane?" because the answer might be yes!