I love this time of year.
The lighter nights and nicer weather give us the chance to do lots of things after school that we can’t do over the Winter without needing a hot chocolate and blanket to thaw us out when we get home! We try and do something every night when the weather’s nice and although I don’t plan ahead very much or have a daily schedule, I do have a rough idea of the things we’ll be doing for the week ahead.
To give you an idea, this is what we did last week after school each day:
1. Monday: We went to the park for an hour although because we’re lucky enough to live close to the sea, sometimes we might go to the beach instead. It’s so easy to forget how much fun you can have in the park playing hide and seek together or having a walk on the beach collecting shells.
2. Tuesday: We went to the library to get some books out together. Our library hires out story sacks which are great to encourage younger children to actually get involved in a story but now that my two are older, we tend to get out story books that they’ll enjoy reading on their own and tutorial books where we can learn something together. At the minute we have a chess book and we’re trying to teach ourselves to play. I want them to enjoy reading as much as I do so I never make them sit down and read as the school tells me to, I prefer to make them WANT to read and the library is great for that.
3. Wednesday: We had a kids kitchen takeover night because Miss Frugal regularly cooks tea for us and she loves it (as do I as I get a night off). She pretends to run her own restaurant and hires Master Frugal to be the waiter. Before it’s time to make the tea, they write a menu and prepare the ‘restaurant’ for us to go to. We even have to ring and book our table! If your children are too young for this, even just baking and decorating cakes or biscuits together is fun.
4. Thursday: I’m learning to play their favourite game with them at the moment. Both my two love Minecraft at the moment and would quite happily play on there for hours if they were allowed. Because I like to know what they’re playing and because it’s fun for them to teach me something, I’m currently learning to play with them which makes me ‘awesome’.
5. Friday: We went for a bike and scooter ride. We love exploring although we rarely go further than the nature trails about five minutes away from our house but really you don’t even have to have a destination in mind. Just set off and go wherever your feet take you although it helps to have snacks in your bag just in case you get peckish.
I also try and spend some time with them doing their homework – not because I agree with homework because I like to think I can make it more fun. We often take the homework they’ve been given and take it one step further although I only do this for things they enjoy doing anyway or things they’re struggling with.
So this is an idea of what we’ll be doing after school this week – what will you be getting up to?
