Yours truly, tomato picking at age 3.

 

Greetings!

Summer brings out the kid in all of us! Lighter clothes, lighter days, lighter attitudes! It's tempting to let go of any plans to organize, but I say, take advantage of your children's free time and get them in the act! In this issue, I share some tips on getting children to help organize their stuff, and ways to organize their summer with well-rounded activities. Maintaining some structure is a good thing. It will keep their brains engaged and potentially lead to better behaved children, giving you more opportunities to enjoy your summer!

   

Your referrals are important to us, our business depends on them! Feel free to share us with your friends! We want to organize the world!

Organizing Projects for Your Kids 

Now is a great time to get your kids to sort through school-related items and decide what to keep and what to purge.

Art projects: You may discover that it is easier for your child to
throw out artwork than it is for you! If not, explain that you are only keeping special pieces and to pick the most meaningful. Limit the amount so the concept is easier to grasp. A company called SouvenarteBooks will actually make the decisions for you: if you send them the physical artwork they will create a museum quality coffee table book for you with their selections. Another great option: Artkive. This great FREE app allows you to take snapshots and upload images to make a keepsake book.

Other papers: Keep memorable writings, report cards and evaluations, notable commendations, and communications on behavioral issues. Throw out worksheets. If keeping digital records is your thing, go ahead and scan items. Consider keeping each child's information on a separate external hard drive so it can be easily handed off when the time comes.

Garage and closet cleanup: Get rid of outgrown or damaged athletic gear and equipment, and make a list of what needs to be replaced. Help your children go through their wardrobe and do the same. Teach your kids the value of donating (and recycling) and help them to see how fortunate they are.

Local donation sites: Old bikes can be donated to The Shops at Devereux in Devon where they will be rehabbed and sold in their bike shop. (Call 610-964-3214 for more information.) Goodwill stores have many convenient locations for drop-off and will accept new or gently used items (clothing, appliances, electronics, and furniture). Drop-off sites in our area include Berwyn, Exton, and Phoenixville (see website for complete list and directions). Impact Thrift will pick up donations at your house and will accept clothing, household items, toys, electronics, books, equipment, small furniture.For a complete list, see website.

 Order reading list books from Amazon.com in the beginning of the summer and set up scheduled reading times for kids.

Now is the time to sit down as a family and discuss ideas for special summer outings. Undoubtedly, kids will want trips to amusement parks. Plan for a couple of these, but balance with trips to museums, public gardens or nature preserves, and theatrical or musical performances. Brandywine River Museum offers children's programs on Thursday mornings starting July 11. Longwood Gardens has a great children's garden for kids of all ages as well as summer camp programs. Visit www.kidschesco.com for more great ideas!

During the week, keep brain muscles flexed with structured activities. Organize a simple schedule that allows for both structure and creativity. Here are some examples:

• Tuesday mornings at the library 
• Home science experiments on Wednesday (Check out the National Geographic website for starters)
• Cultural outings or wilderness hikes on Thursday 
• Unplugged quiet times after lunch for reading, journaling, or drawing 

Use a thematic approach to tie these activities together and enrich the experience. For example, if you plan to see a certain artist's work, have kids research at library beforehand, and journal or draw about the experience after.  

Help kids write down a few achievable summer goals in a journal. Here, they can keep a log of their experiences, achievements, setbacks and more importantly, how they used creative thinking to overcome setbacks. At the end of the summer, they can create a scrapbook of their summer highlights and include these goals. Shutterfly is a great online source for producing fun memory books.