I am not sure who was happier when summer arrived my children or me. As for me, I looked forward to less structure, no homework to stay on top of, and no running to sports practice or events. Mind you I loved cheering on the bleachers for whichever child, or eventually grandchild, was playing. It was the carpools and running that were at times wearisome. Truth be told I would love to have a seat on the bleacher now.
And then each summer was “ The Letter” that came home on the last day of school from our school system. It made clear parents were to continue the learning process through the summer, to build on the education our children received through the school year.
Ah yes, but in my mind it was up to me to make the process of reinforcement fun, creative, and painless. I saw a cooking show recently where the mom was grating veggies in her meatloaf to enhance the nutrition without her children’s knowledge. So summer for me was kind of like that. Creating adventures to reinforce math, science, history, storytelling, writing, musi,c and art whatever I could, having fun doing it! That also became the structure of my daycare.
Throughout the school year, I had a definite daily structure in the day care. Fun structure but each week we studied the name and sound of a letter, a number, a color, and a shape. Yes, old habits die hard and from Sept. to June we had structure. As time goes on I will be sharing all the different activities we did in our learning adventures.
However, come summer, we had weekly themes. I had so much fun with the kids. Let me share some of the things we did for space week.
If you can believe it I took most of the mattresses off my beds and put them on the floor in the play area to pretend we were walking on the moon; Bouncy you know. We made space helmets out of brown paper bags. And I wrapped the kids in aluminum foil for space suits. When the moms came to pick the kids up they were often in disbelief at what we were doing each week but they saw how much fun the kids were having. Let’s remember this was a long time ago when the space program was in the news.
My suggestion to these working moms there is no greater gift for your kids than the memories you create by having fun by turning your home into a space station, or a zoo, or a rodeo. Yes, the options are limitless.
I would tell them to take a deep breath, relax, and enjoy their summer. Creativity flows out of rest. That was my motto.
Now as a great-grandmother, I know even more how important it is to learn to rest. Mind you not because of my age but because God has made it so clear that rest is my weapon against the enemy of my soul. Striving and being anxious goes against everything God has for us. I am still on a learning curve when it comes to rest. I know that the foundation of rest is trust. The foundation of trust is to have grace to believe His word is absolute. Seriously if we truly believed His word and His promises then we would never be anxious or worry about a thing.
I believe God creates adventures for us to learn His ways and honestly in the learning gain joy for our strength. This season of God is one of the greatest adventures the body of Christ has ever had. However, it is a war season. A time to release His word in anointed prayer agreeing with His direction through His
word, partnering with His angles that watch over His word to do His will. In it all worship is our warfare and peace is our foundation.