Summer 2025

It is almost time for Summer Break! No school for more than 9 weeks, so we are trying to come up with some plans of what to do during this time.

We want to try something different this year. We already had some going away time in April (Guatemala and New York), and we also have the Quinceañera coming up. So instead of going away for a whole week, Mr. Eric will be taking one day every week off from work, and that day we are going to be doing something with the six of us together. See Day Trips further below for details. If you have ideas for other things, let’s hear them!

Summer Camps and Sports

Anderson

Monday, August 4, through Thursday, August 7, Anderson has NFL Flag Football Camp.

Jeferson

Wednesday, August 6, through Friday, August 8, Jeferson has Bear Trax sleep-over camp.

Mélani and Katerin

If Mélani and Katerin want to sign up for sport after school (volleyball, soccer), then sports will start August 13-15 with try-outs.

Chores and Other Boring Stuff

Unfortunately, summer break can’t be only fun and games. Some things still need to happen. Here is a list of what we are expecting for Summer Break:

You will continue to do your laundry on your laundry days, in the morning (you know how we hate you doing things at the last minute). Laundry must be in the washing machine before 12:00 noon, must be hung out within half an hour of the machine being done, and must be put away before 9:00 PM. In addition, we expect you to vacuum your room, empty your trash can, and do any tidying up of your room as needed once a week.
Help with the yard. The weeds are growing like crazy, and we need your help to keep them in check.
In July, you are going to work on the practical skill of preparing a nutritious lunch. See Food Preparation below.
Even though there is no summer school, we don’t want you to completely forget about school. Every week you do some practice to improve your weak skills. We will make a personalized plan with each of you. You will be able to do it in one morning or afternoon, or spread it out through the week. We encourage you to give ideas of how to make that more interesting and fun.
You will continue to go to your dads / family / boyfriend on the weekends and on holidays, and live with us during the week. A few times, there may be some extra time with your family, but mostly you will live with us.
Quiet time will continue to start at 9:00 PM, but the “night thing” will start one hour later, at 10:30 PM. If you don’t wake up earlier, we will wake you by 8:30 AM and expect you to have finished breakfast by 9:00 AM. Lunch, dinner, and snacks continue to be at the regular times. On the “day trip” days, we may expect you to be up earlier.
Some exercise every week. You can choose to exercise by yourself, or together. You can take a walk, go for a run, go play at the basketball court at the school, or do other things. If we go to the pool or the beach and play in the water for hours, you may not need extra exercise, but otherwise, we want to make sure you get some physical activity in.

Day Trips

Mr. Eric will take one day every week off from work, to do something “fun” with the six of us. Here are some thoughts, please suggest others:

Go to the beach for a day at Sandy Point, near Annapolis. Possibly take Carolina, Wendy, or Filomena with their respective child? If you like it, we can do it two or three times.
Go to the National Zoo in Washington D.C.
Maybe go to the aquarium in Baltimore?
Washington D.C., the Museum of Natural History (may even take the train from Halethorpe, LOL); can also be other places in Washington.
Maybe go to Six Flags (amusement park)?
Going to the movies? Not really a whole day, but we can consider it, if there is something everyone likes to see.

Food Preparation

The food preparation exercise is about learning about food, what is healthy and what not, and how to make choices in what to eat. And then, of course, how to then actually make the healthy and yet tasty lunch.

Everyone will have to do two food preparation exercises in July, that’s all. You will select “your” food preparation days on the July in advance, to make sure they are spread out a bit over the whole month.

You will need to:

Prepare: decide what kind of healthy lunch you want to prepare, and then discuss with Ms. Nicoline. Find a recipe. Explain why you think this is a reasonably healthy lunch and who all will want to eat it.
Prepare: discuss with Ms. Nicoline what the necessary ingredients are going to be, so she can buy them if necessary. If you want to use things we already have, that’s fine too.
Make the lunch, share it with the others. Everyone tries at least a little bit. Were you right on who likes it and who doesn’t?
Evaluate while you made. Read the ingredients, look at how much of everything goes into the lunch. What does this do to the healthiness of the lunch. How much work is it to make it? Is this something you would want in your lunch box next year?

With these skills, you will be able to make your own lunch next school year, if you don’t like what Ms. Nicoline is planning for you. In other words: no more complaining that you don’t like the lunch!