Summer is a wonderful time for children!  They often have time they unfortunately miss during the school year, to imagine, create and play.  You remember, I'm sure, that a child's play is his work.  Genius is often stifled in long classroom schedules.  Skip the fancy toys and video games that teach nothing profitable, and opt for simple toys, tools, and craft supplies.  Teach them to throw, kick, roll, use a tool, etc.  but avoid the urge to give specific instruction for how everything is to be done.  Allow the imagination to take hold.  Allow genius to flourish.  Let them create, imagine, make up, and do.

Some regimen is good.  Regular meals, naps, bedtimes, worship time, and chores are excellent.  You might agree together to work for a month on developing a specific character quality.  Another thing I love to do is have the children choose goals for their summer--things they want to be able to say at the end of the season that they have accomplished.  Help them break their goals down into achievable bite sized pieces, and schedule times to have accomplished a certain amount of their goal.

Family vacation is a great time to learn to follow a map!  Give one to each child, and allow them to "plan" the route, follow it as they travel, and observe things about the areas on the map that they pass through. Family games in the car can help with quiet and unified fun.  Most of us have played the ABC's, Cars (where you count all of the cars of a certain color, with each person choosing a different color), Cows, where you count the cows on your side of the road and bury them when you pass a cemetery (if you're going through a rural area), license plates (where you try to find one from as many states as you can), and many others.

I'd love to hear your ideas for helping your children use their summer wisely.  Let's redeem the time!  What about you?  What do you want to look back on at the end of this summer and say that you have accomplished?  Go for it!  Have a great summer!