Life tends to move at a slower pace in the summer so there’s more time for long walks, picnics, naps in the hammock, and outings with friends. With fewer school requirements and extracurricular activities, summer is also a great time to reconnect with your family.
Here are 10 ideas for fun family goals you can achieve this summer.
1. Exercise Together
Head outside after dinner for a family walk or bike ride, enjoy a weekend hike or paddle at your local nature preserve, or work together toward a 5K.
2. Learn Something New
Encourage your kids to try something they’ve always wanted to learn, such as a new instrument, drawing, a foreign language, or coding. Summer is a great time for parents to take up a new hobby as well.
3. Be Creative
Busy families often lose touch with their creative side during the school year. Now is the time to find it again. Dust off your paints, your camera, that forgotten novel you started writing a few years ago, and indulge in creating just for the fun of it.
4. Unplug
Modern technology has made our lives easier in so many ways, but it can also drain your time and energy. Try unplugging one day each week and just being together as a family. Play games, make food, read books.
5. Become a Tourist in Your Hometown
When was the last time you visited your local museum, zoo, or nature trail? When you live somewhere long enough, you tend to forget about the amazing places that make your town special.
6. Give Back to Your Community
Volunteering in the summer can be fun, educational, and rewarding. Whether you work an event or festival, walk dogs at the local animal shelter, or raise money for a family in need, there are countless opportunities to help out in your community.
7. Eat outside
Picnics in the park, dinners on the porch, and ice cream at the beach — summer offers countless opportunities to relax with your family and enjoy a meal together.
8. Prevent the Summer Slide
Even if you don’t officially “do school” in the summer, it’s important to keep up with academics. You don’t want to give your kids the message that school is something to “escape from” in the summer. You can certainly lighten the course load, but don’t give it up altogether.
9. Read together
There’s still a place for read-alouds in your family, even if you have older kids. Take turns choosing and reading books together, recite poetry, or listen to an audiobook on your next road trip.
10. Plan for the Upcoming School Year
Summer is the perfect time to reflect on your homeschool goals and plan for fall. It’s also a great time to start preparing for dual credit studies in the following year.
These fun ideas can keep boredom at bay, while encouraging your family members to connect with each other and the world around them. After all, summer is the perfect time to laugh, learn, and create with your family.
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