the take home folder volume 71
our kids' summer chores / low spend june + july / whimsy / a summer treat / and more
welcome to the take home folder
School’s out here and it’s time to savor summer. I don’t anticipate our summer being perfect by any stretch but my goal at the end of summer is to say I wholeheartedly enjoyed it. Regardless of your stage of life, I hope you experience many pockets of joy in the season.
my sunday questions:
What is something I can do for our home?
What is something I can do for our family?
What is something I can do for myself?
Today for me it’s going through everything the kids brought home at the end of the school year and washing their backpacks (I do gentle cycle, warm water, air dry), making a plan for and cooking a yummy and healthful dinner, and taking a deep breath - the school year was a success, summer is here, and I’m leaning into it.
here’s this week’s take home folder, enjoy!
one // long live whimsy…for yourself
Daily life can be quick to feel mundane. But here’s the thing - this is our one wild and precious life! Why not add a little whimsy to our days? Here are some ideas:
add a pinwheel to your garden
plant happy colorful flowers
enjoy a drippy ice cream cone on a hot day
sit down and create art alongside your kids
read a fluffy romance novel or a twisty thriller
swing next to your kids at the playground
get your hair wet at the pool
wear bright nail polish just for fun
put on a summery playlist when you wake up in the morning
mail someone you love a hand written note
two // food for thought
“The most certain sign of wisdom is cheerfulness.” -Michel de Montaigne, 1580
three // low spend June and July
I’m so excited for summer! But also want to remind you that summer days don’t have to rapidly deplete your bank account.
Because of how we live our life - only buying things that we can purchase outright - all of our “big” summer activities have already been paid for. (Think: pool membership, hockey camp, golf lessons, baseball, etc.) That means I can really make June and July mostly low-spend months. For us, low spend months are centered around enjoying what we’ve already paid for, partaking in free fun, and not feeling the need to spend much above and beyond the basics. Will we stop for an impromptu ice cream treat? Likely. Do we need a bunch of new clothes or home decor or gadgets or toys? No.
When August rolls around, we’ll have some back-to-school expenses along with the kids’ hockey registration so it feels right to buckle down a bit ahead of that. It would be unsustainable for us if every month were a high spend month. Some months we spend more, other months we coast. June and July will largely be coasting months.
Yay for living within our means.
four // buster bar cake
From January - April I had fun baking some sort of little treat most Friday afternoons. Well, I totally fell off the wagon with baking in May and often don’t want to heat up the house with the oven on in the summer anyway.
Then I remembered this Buster Bar Ice Cream Cake. I’ve made this a couple of times and it’s delicious! Planning to make ASAP.
five // my kids’ summer chores
My boys are growing up and I’m not exaggerating when I say that I could cry at the drop of a hat realizing that my oldest has only one year left in elementary school.
With growing up comes independence and responsibility. And Todd and I believe that it is our job1 to teach them life skills and set them up to be well-adjusted and capable adults. So, yes, they’re home with me all summer and have daily responsibilities and chores. And though it takes some patience in teaching, we’ve found our kids to be legitimately helpful to our family/household at this point.
Here are their chore lists.
Find the balance that works for your family. I’m sure some people think we do way too much for our kids and others think we put too much responsibility on them. This feels like the right balance for us, but you do you boo.
Not on the list - reading. I don’t put reading on the chore list because I’m a proponent that reading shouldn’t be presented as a chore at home. My 10 year old reads a lot on his own so I know he’ll get it in. My 7 year old absolutely needs reading practice this summer, so Todd or I will take 15ish minutes most days to sit down and listen to him read out loud. (That said, I know having reading as part of a daily checklist works well for some kids/families. Do what feels right!)
We will also have a naturally reading rich summer - audiobooks and magazines in the car, my 7 year old listens to books on his Yoto player every day, they’ll read on days we’re home to do Quiet Time, we’ll visit the library, and I’ll continue our bedtime read aloud most nights.
see you right back here next week,
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Not the school’s job or teacher’s job. They’re our kids.
I really enjoyed reading this one—especially the part about your kids’ chore system. I’m curious to hear a bit more about how it works in practice. Would you mind sharing some details?
-When are the chores expected to be done—do your kids have a specific time each day, or is it more flexible?
-Do they need to finish everything before they can access certain privileges (like screen time, going out, etc.)?
-How do you handle it if one of them pushes back or refuses to do a chore? Do you have a system for consequences or follow-up?
-And do you ever find yourself needing to remind or enforce, or has it become routine?
Thanks again for sharing what you do—it’s always helpful to see how others are making things work at home!💙
Helpful to see the chore lists for your kids. Ours are 2 and 5, so a bit too young for this kind of list, but we’re getting started with age appropriate things and getting inspiration for what might work as they age. Especially like the positive attitude note for helping on the spot ❤️