Step 3: Summer Learning

Posted on June 8, 2017 by

Summer can be a great time to catch up on skills that aren’t as solid as you’d like them to be, or maybe get a little ahead for the upcoming year. My kids are usually pretty resistant to worksheets of any kind, but occasionally that’s what’s needed.  You can also find lots of ways to sneak some learning into fun activities without your kids realizing what you’re doing.

I like to spend some time at the beginning of the summer thinking about what I most want my kids to work on during the summer to set them up for a good school year. Sometimes I can just sneak the learning into other fun activities, and other times we need to set aside some regular time every day or each week to make sure it happens. Otherwise the end of the summer comes and before I know it we forgot to work on anything!

For a more complete set of ideas, check out my year of blog posts: 52 Weeks of Learning with The Trip Clip.

Here are a few Trip Clip Activities that are best suited for summer learning:

Writing Practice

Handwriting practice - you can even enter your own words for your kids to trace!
Handwriting practice – you can even enter your own words for your kids to trace!
Print out a handful of story template pages, staple them together, and ask your child to write a book for you.
Print out a handful of story template pages, staple them together, and ask your child to write a book for you.

 Math & Science

Practice those times tables! You can also create unlimited worksheets for addition, subtraction, and division. Whatever your kids need!
Practice those times tables! You can also create unlimited worksheets for addition, subtraction, and division. Whatever your kids need!

Sneak in a little math and science while you run errands.
Sneak in a little math and science while you run errands.

Math games are a great way to keep your brain engaged and hone your problem solving skills!
Math games are a great way to keep your brain engaged and hone your problem solving skills!
Practice simple graphing with a paper version of battle - all the fun of the board game without all the tiny pieces!
Practice simple graphing with a paper version of battleship – all the fun of the board game without the tiny pieces!

Geography

Going on a road trip? Do a little geography practice along the route. It's fun for the whole family!
Going on a road trip? Do a little geography practice along the route. It’s fun for the whole family!

 Spelling Practice

Word search puzzles are a great way to do spelling practice - you can find word lists by grade online.
Word search puzzles are a great way to do spelling practice – you can find word lists by grade online.
Your kids won't know they're learning - but playing hangman with them is an excellent way to practice spelling and handwriting.
Your kids won’t know they’re learning – but playing hangman with them is an excellent way to practice spelling and handwriting.
Crossword puzzles can be good spelling practice - there's also a setting to make it just for first letter sounds!
Crossword puzzles can be good spelling practice – there’s also a setting to make it just for first letter sounds!
Summer can be a great time to catch up on skills that aren’t as solid as you’d like them to be, or maybe get a little ahead for the upcoming year. At The Trip Clip you can create custom letter tracing pages, math worksheets, spelling activities, and more!
A little planning and organization can turn a good summer into a great one.
Posted in Uncategorized | 3 Comments

Step 2: Summer Chores

Posted on June 7, 2017 by

I find that summertime is a great time to help my kids learn new chores and add them to their regular chore list. During the school year, they’re often super busy with homework, sports, music lessons, etc., and they push back pretty hard when I want them to start emptying the dishwasher in the mornings, or take more responsibility for their own laundry.

During the summer, though, there is time to learn and practice these new jobs, and often by the time the Fall rolls around, these have become routine and it’s not a big deal to roll them into a regular school week.

This summer, I am really hoping to get them both cooking more and helping with meal preparation. I also want to add dishes and laundry to their chore lists (the other chores below are already regular daily chores for my kids).

Summer is a great time to set up a new chore routine for your kids. It's much easier to get kids used to new responsibilities when schedules are a little less crazy. And once they're in the rhythm of doing their new chore, it will be a lot easier to keep it going when the new school year begins.

You can easily make your own Summer Chores chart using The Trip Clip.  If you need ideas for what kinds of chores you can expect your kids to do, check this out these Chores lists by Age:

Use these age appropriate chore lists to create a chore chart for your kids. I like to pick 1 or 2 new chores each year to add my kids’ responsibilities. There are lots of good ideas here!

A little planning and organization can turn a good summer into a great one.

<< Step 1: Make Bucket Lists Step 3: Plan Some Summer Learning >>
Posted in Summertime | 3 Comments

Step 1: Summer Bucket Lists

Posted on June 6, 2017 by

Now that summer is here, my kids’ minds are swirling with ideas about all the fun things we’re going to do. I’ve learned that it’s important to capture all those plans and all that excitement early on in the summer and write it all down. With only 10 weeks off of school, some of which are filled with summer camps, some filled with vacations, and many of them filled with last minute invitations and going with the flow, we really do need to make sure we make time for the things we’ve been waiting all year to do, otherwise before we know it summer is over, and we didn’t get to some of the things that we really hoped to do!

So the first thing we do is make our Summer Bucket Lists. It’s super important to write it down.

This year I used the Custom List from The Trip Clip to have my kids make their bucket lists of what they hoped to do this summer.  Here are their lists.

Make a summer bucket list with your kids to make sure you get to all the fun things they want to do this summer!   Make a summer bucket list with your kids to make sure you get to all the fun things they want to do this summer!

Although we probably won’t be able to do everything on these lists, there were a few surprises on here which will cause me to organize our days a little differently! I wouldn’t have thought about getting out the paints or going to fly a kite, but those are easy enough to accomplish, and it’s good to know my kids want to do those things!.  And although the cat is unlikely to happen, who knows, maybe we can get a fish this summer!

Our next step will be to look through these lists together and decide as a family which things are most important to us. We don’t want to over plan, but I find this is a great way to make sure we feel like we didn’t leave too many things undone at the end of the summer.

If you try this, I’d love to see your bucket lists – partially to give me ideas for my own family, and also to know what other items I should add to my Custom List clipart!

Click here to make your own summer bucket list.

My bucket list for the summer looks a bit different, since I have learning goals in mind too. Stay tuned for a look at how I merge my kids’ bucket lists with my own!

A little planning and organization can turn a good summer into a great one.

<< Plan a Great Summer in 6 Easy Steps Step 2: Set Up Summer Chores >>
Posted in Organize, Summertime | 2 Comments

Summer Fun

Posted on May 23, 2017 by

As I look forwards to summer with the kids, I feel a little overwhelmed wondering how I’m going to fill all those days. Although we love to keep it casual and unscheduled, sometimes a little structure can be helpful.

Here’s a chart I created to help us think of things to do this summer. With The Trip Clip’s weekly schedule, you can easily create your own version of this chart with ideas of all sorts of fun things you can do this summer – use it to set goals, make a bucket list, or encourage them to find their own entertainment!

Here's a chart I created to help us think of things to do this summer. With The Trip Clip's weekly schedule, you can easily create your own version of this chart with ideas of all sorts of fun things you can do this summer - use it to set goals, make a bucket list, or encourage them to find their own entertainment!

 

Try it and see if it helps keep your kids entertained this summer!

 

Posted in Summertime, Uncategorized | Leave a comment

Zebras vs Unicorns

Posted on April 14, 2017 by

This is a great article about small businesses that aren’t aiming for 20x growth – they are profitable and improve society. They won’t sacrifice one for the other.

zebras_and_unicornsClick here to see the article

Posted in TechMom | Leave a comment

3 Ways To Use a Trip Clip Checklist

Posted on April 11, 2017 by

All kids, parents, and families are different, and I’ve found that my customers use The Trip Clip Checklists in many different ways. Here are the most popular ones:

Go to www.thetripclip.com to make and print your own custom checklist and then use it with a kid-sized clipboard and pen. It comes in 4 color choices: red, blue, green, or yellow.

Go to www.thetripclip.com to make and print your own custom checklist and then use it with a kid-sized clipboard and pen. It comes in 4 color choices: red, blue, green, or yellow.

Make your checklist magnetic. You can buy pre-printed magnets, or go to www.thetripclip.com and print your own!

Make your checklist magnetic.  You can buy pre-printed magnets, or go to www.thetripclip.com and print your own!

Go to www.thetripclip.com to make and print your own custom checklist and then laminate it or use it with a plastic sleeve and a dry erase marker.

Go to www.thetripclip.com to make and print your own custom checklist and then laminate it or use it with a plastic sleeve and a dry erase marker.

Posted in Organize, Uncategorized | Leave a comment

Make Any Checklist You Want!

Posted on March 14, 2017 by

Checklists can be a great way to keep track of tasks, let your kids know what your expectations are, or even teach them how to do something. The Custom Lists at TheTripClip.com will let you customize lists to make just the right ones for your family.

The only limit is your imagination with this custom checklist maker!

Checklists can be a great way to keep track of tasks, let your kids know what your expectations are, or even teach them how to do something. The only limit is your imagination with this custom checklist maker.

Posted in Uncategorized | Leave a comment