What to do with the kids?

Posted by Annie on Jan 31, 2016 in Activity, California, high school, Parenting |

It’s January, the weather sucks.  I haven’t seen a blue sky for days (note to self: must remember to take extra Vitamin D).  The kids are home, they are bored, fighting and you’ve had it…

English: This image is a picture of a Motorola...

But wait a minute. Are you going to let your children get the better of you? You can outsmart them. Make it a game of wits. My children never told me they were bored, because I found things for them to do and they never knew what hairbrained scheme I would come up with.

We used to go to the zoo the first Monday of the month, when they offered free admittance. We would pack a lunch, take our books and put everything in a wagon. The kids were free to explore, we even had walkie talkies for each of them.  It was really fun.

The children had one assignment, choose an animal and discover as much as they could about the animal, then write about what they have learned. The kids sometimes got very involved and spent hours in our library at home (this was before we had computers). We had an extensive library of around 5,000 books, to explore on everything from Atoms to Vitamins.

The best part is to watch your kids interact with others and get involved with their community.  Offer to help on your neighbors farms, take a knitting class, book time at the gym. Change it up, keep them guessing, but most of all, keep them busy exploring, learning and engaging in the world around them. You keep trying until you find something that clicks for them.

Volunteer positions can and often do turn into career changers.

These are some excellent ideas of places you can volunteer, listed by county.  The organizations listed in this resource guide welcome kids and/or families as volunteers.

Volunteer in California – Listed By County

Are you ready for a challenge? The National Park Service’s centennial year is here, and we want to encourage everyone to take part in the celebration! We invite people of all ages to find their park and discover the national parks in their community through volunteerism. Registered volunteers who contribute 201.6 hours of service between January 1, 2016 and December 31, 2016 can earn a Centennial Volunteer Challenge Coin!

Volunteers-In-Parks – National Park Service  

Heck, the kids and I used to protest abortions at the local abortion clinic. We volunteered as a family to clean our church. We saved all our change for a trip.  The opportunities are endless. The most important thing is to keep the kids busy and out of trouble.  🙂

Be sure to allow plenty of time for personal reflection, kids need time to process just like adults do.

Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Leave a Reply

XHTML: You can use these tags:' <a href="" title=""> <abbr title=""> <acronym title=""> <b> <blockquote cite=""> <cite> <code> <del datetime=""> <em> <i> <q cite=""> <s> <strike> <strong>

Copyright © 2003-2025 The Homeschool Scuttle All rights reserved.
scuttle-desk v1.4.6 theme from BuyNowShop.com.