I'm planning on this week being a boring one. We had an exciting weekend and there's the beach on the horizon. I tried to message Shane's friend, Sam, but they must be out of town.
So boring week. Needs to happen at some point or it's not really summer.
Each day needs some structure, though. 7 AM is still the earliest allowed wake-up. 9 PM is light's out (but a little laxer).
Here are the daily activities I've decided to require/inflict:
1 - Writing practice: Three sentences on a topic. Draft, review, and then final. In between, I'll look for things to praise and congratulate him on (Shane eats up positive attention). I don't plan on it taking more than around 10 minutes unless Shane gets into it or complains non-stop. Drawing is optional. If I can get him to capitalize regularly and spell a few more sight words correctly, I'll be happy.
2 - Reading!: I want to get Shane to read some every day. I want him to love books and stories. That's easier said than done, though. He wants to be with people, chasing cats, or on electronics. He's most likely to flip through a book or comic when I tell him to clean it up.
3 - Forms practice: Helps work out the stink. Shane needs exercise for a controlled release of energy. It'll also help him earn his next belt and be confidant in practice. Teaching efforts equals results and seeing a payoff are all good things. I'm happy to let Shane practice breaking his board, too, if he wants.
4 - Allowance: Shane's going to get a quarter on Monday. If he chooses to wait it will double the next day. This will continue until there's a maximum payoff of $4 on Friday. The idea is to teach delayed gratification. He'll have to scoop cat poop and do some other random chores each day to earn it.
5 - Bible: I need to do more reading with Shane, talk about verses, Biblical wisdom, and how to show love. Honestly, I could do with more of that myself.
If each of these activities takes about 10 minutes a day it fills an hour with something meaningful. I'm not looking to turn each day into a faux school day. I do believe in trying to do something productive and trying to become a better a you daily.
And lastly, I think Shane needs to be bored some. Honestly, he's driving me crazy as I type this. Kids need to be bored some so they learn how to fill their time and be creative.
But man, that can be hard on us adults.
It feels like Shane doesn't like to do anything alone. If it's just us in the house and I go upstairs, he'll go upstairs. If I'm downstairs, he's downstairs. When we turn the TV off he lies around and starts asking about doing different activities. Half the time, they're the same activities he didn't want to do whenever I offered them earlier! If he's not bothering me, he's trying to jump on Mommy and look at her phone or harass the cats. He won't play with toys or Legos until I tell him to pick up. He won't draw or read on his own and then he gets in trouble if he starts stopping around during the daytime.
I can't just throw him outside either, because he's too confidant. He's likely to run off into the great beyond and not come back. I know this, because when I am outside with him he's all over the place. He doesn't stop or ask permission to go anywhere. He'd happily scale someone's drain pipe to look on top of their roof if he thought he could manage it. Shane gets curious and excited about things and then charges off without a second thought.
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