The stricken look of panic that washed over my face as the neighbor confirmed news unknown to me right up to that very moment must have been quite amusing.
“Can you believe there are only 18 days of preschool left?”
I did the math in my head and those 18 days only brought us to Memorial Day weekend. “That couldn’t be right,” I rationalized with myself , the public school has students in school until mid-June.
But the next day as I dropped the kiddo off at preschool and caught a glimpse at the calendar, it was confirmed. Summer vacation would begin earlier than I anticipated and I’d need to get myself in gear to be ready for having her home all summer long.
As a former teacher I never entered a classroom without a lesson plan, which is pretty much how I approach summer vacation with my munchkin at home now too.
I’ve gotta keep my classroom of one busy. She’s a bright, energetic, and independent little girl so having her help me develop a plan for how we’d like our summer to look makes vacation time fulfilling for us both.
Along with my need for a plan, I’ve broken down our planning process into 3 steps that ensure our activities are fun for the whole family and actually get completed!
Today I’d like to give you a glimpse of our process so that you can get to dreaming up your own photo-rific summer family adventures too!
Go grab a piece of paper, sit down with the kids, and let’s get to work!
Step 1: Make An Activity Wish List
Some like to call it a bucket list, I prefer wish list because it’s easier for my child to understand. And frankly, sometimes we don’t get to every single item that we write down, so making them wishes feels more appropriate.
Take a quiet moment to sit with your child(ren) and dream up ideas for activities to do together this summer. These could be field trips to take, activities to try, or recipes to make.
Choose things both you and your child will enjoy. One of our favorite things to do is surprise fro-yo dates. So simple, but it’s something special that we enjoy so it went on the list. Simply brainstorm and write down any and all ideas on scrap paper for now, but if you’re feeling crafty or want to take your wish list a step further, find a special way to display you final list so you can check items off or remove them as they’re completed.
We narrowed our list down to our favorite 15 items because there are 15 weeks of summer vacation. This will give us one creative project per week. More than that feels overwhelming given we’ll likely also squeeze in time for travel, playdates, the pool, the library, running errands, etc…
Want a bit of inspiration to get your list started? I created a Pinterest inspiration board just for you HERE filled with display ideas and activities to try.
Step 2: Schedule Your Adventures
Now that you have your wish list ideas planned out, let’s actually give them a specific time to be completed! You may or may not follow this schedule exactly. I know it can be tricky to map out your entire summer from start to finish, but grab a calendar and see if you can assign each activity to happen during a certain week.
For example, one of my wish list items is to take photos at a carnival. I know there is a specific week the carnival comes to our town every year so I’ll want to schedule that adventure for that week. Another activity like going to the farmer’s market or making homemade popsicles may get assigned to a more ‘relaxed’ week when I know we won’t have to much going.
I like to keep our family calendars and schedules online in Google Calendar, because I have access to them everywhere. If you haven’t tried it, I highly recommend you check it out!
Another reason I love assigning our wish list adventures to a specific time frame is because I have an instant reminder to search or shop for supplies or groceries I may need to collect or purchase for a particular activity.
Step 3: Define YOUR photography goals
Sometimes during summer vacation, when our kids are home with us all day, we can feel like we’ve lost our sense of self or purpose in the throes of full time mommyland.
To combat this I like to capture our summer. It allows me to embrace my hobby while my child embraces hers.
By defining some concrete photography goals I’m giving myself even more of a reason to actually pick up my DSLR camera more often and carry it with me.
I would stick to 3 main photo goals so you don’t get overwhelmed. Here are my 3 goals for our summer:
- Consciously make an effort to be in more photos WITH my daughter
- Due to a later bedtime, I’d like to actually play with photographing my daughter in the golden hour of backlight.
- Start a photo a day project just for the duration of summer vacation. I’m not ready to commit to a full 365 day project again, but documenting each day of our summer fun seems manageable and something I can make an album of once it’s over.
Other goals you may want to consider for your own photography growth: shoot in manual mode full time, practice during the mid day sun, work on authentic real-life storytelling images, organize and print photos for albums or wall hangings, find new photo shooting locations, practice creative composition, posing etc…
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Want to jumpstart your photography goals with me in a few short weeks and get motivated to improve your pictures throughout summer vacation?
Come join me for my completely FREE online mini class, One Ingredient Fix. 7 days to bring your photography from frustrating to fabulous.
Ready to join me? Click HERE to register and we’ll get cooking starting May 5th.