Dear Friends,

Happy Tuesday, friends! If you had a Holiday yesterday, write down a quick list of things you need to do today and don’t try to put down two days’ worth of things. Pick the most important things today.

Some of you may not be quite finished with your school year, and I don’t want you to feel rushed to finish. We have finished our year because it coincides with the schedule of the private school where my children’s friends attend. Public schools in my area have a couple of more weeks of classes.

For those of you with younger children who need to keep up their reading skills in the summer, I encourage you to look into your library’s summer reading program. That was a great way for me to encourage reading for my children each summer.

For helping maintain math skills, I would often pick up little summer enrichment workbooks. I would assign a page or two per day for my children to do each morning before they could play. We often went to the community pool in the afternoon or went bowling. In the late evenings, we would go fishing. Having the afternoon activities planned gave them the incentive to do their morning routine and small amount of reading and math.

On Monday evening, they had a game of basketball in the driveway with friends after dinner.

You can ask your children for ideas of things they would like to do this summer and make a plan for rewarding them and yourself. It does not have to be complicated or cost a lot of money.

If you have really hot weather and can’t get out, you can have an afternoon of board games or puzzles. One thing I have learned over the years is that my children want me to spend some time playing with them.

This summer I want you to keep in mind that life is not just about checking off boxes on your To Do List, but it is also a time to enjoy your children and play with them, too.

Tell me about your favorite summer activities.

Your Zone Mission today is to declutter items that do not belong in your living room.

Your Home Blessing for today is to dust and vacuum.

My menu plan for Tuesday is taco Tuesday and a salad.

Have a great day!