We’ve decided to bring back some of our most popular podcasts as encore presentations during these summer months. Enjoy!
In this podcast (formerly Episode 56), April and Eric Perry discuss some of their ideas for working as a team when it comes to establishing family values, goals, and habits.
You’ll hear the inside scoop on how they tailored the Do-It-Yourself Summer Camp Kit to their own family–plus lots of ideas for setting up simple systems that will bring our families greater progress and deeper family relationships.
Show Notes:
- Visit April and Eric at www.LearnDoBecome.com
- Examples of the Perry’s Family Summer Development Plan (one for a 5-year-old boy, one for a 13-year-old girl)
Click here to view the PDF Summary of the Podcast.
Music from Creations by Michael R. Hicks.
Audio Editing by Christy Elder
Excellent podcast, thank you – you’ve given me lots of ideas how I can avoid hearing “I’m bored” within 48 hours of the end of school! Can you tell me the name of the book that Eric was reading from?
Thanks so much for this podcast. I really enjoyed hearing your ideas. My young teenage boys tend to be uncooperative with these types of summer plans, while my younger girls get on board fairly easily. Still, I can’t give up hope that the summer won’t be a constant struggle between us. There were some great ideas on here, and I plan to copy them!
I thought there was a period of time when you had offered the summer camp kit as a free download, and I had downloaded it, but I can’t find it on my computer. Am I dreaming that up?
Jodie (above): The book was by Clayton Christensen, and is called “How Will You Measure Your Life.” Excellent book!
This was really a helpful podcast and I’m feeling inspired by it.
The last couple of years I’ve divided my six kids at home into 3 teams. They work together to complete weekly tasks. I have an older child work with a younger child to help teach how to do these jobs.
I’ve also had what we’ve called Mom skills classes for my teenaged girls. It’s a three week rotation between laundry, kitchen and childcare. They are in charge of that area for a week and they end up doing each area 3 times over the summer. It has been great for helping them learn shopping, menu planning, cooking, cleaning, laundry sorting, stain removal, how to make sure babies stay dry and fed, how to get a baby to sleep…
Now my youngest is 3 so we don’t really have a need for baby care so I was wondering what to do this summer. And I’ve been trying to figure out how to do more to train my younger 3 boys.
I’m definitely going to get the kit and see how we can tailor this to our family!
Eric, good job!!
LOVED this! Thanks so much for the inspiration. This is exactly what I’ve been looking for. Please tell Eric “thank you” and that we would love to hear more from him.
I am so happy I’ve discovered PoM podcasts! Just what I needed to pull me out of my winter slump. Our summer break is eight weeks and I needed to hear this as I prepare for this summer with four kids and one on the way.
We just began instituting our Family Economy this week, an idea that had to percolate in my brain for a few weeks after a friend hosted a recent Mother’s Circle (like your Learning Circles I think) on the Eyre’s “Entitlement Trap.” Now to think about summer and I’ll be homeschooling just my oldest (10 yr old boy) next fall.
I loved how Eric made the plan his own and took the opportunity to help reinforce all that was happening in the home. What a great Father and Husband! I loved hearing how you both complement each other’s strengths and abilities!
I also liked Kassie’s comment because I’d recently heard of my friend’s “Mother’s Helper” training program/promotion of her 8-12 yr olds. Awesome idea! http://www.homemaking-cottage.com/Motherhood/training-mother-helpers-have-a-vision-and-lead-the-way.htm
I really, really loved this one! I’m new to your podcasts and they are, by far, my favorite podcasts to listen to while I workout. (Right up there with Wait, Wait, Don’t tell me. :)) One thing that I really loved about this podcast is hearing your husband’s perspective (albeit a bit hesitant to be included. :)) One of my greatest struggles in parenthood is figuring out how to work with my husband. We parent very differently and have very different approaches and goals. Which is challenging and stressful. So, a lot of your husband’s thoughts and advice have been mulling around in my brain for a couple of weeks now.
And I’m SO looking forward to getting our summer fun on! Our summers are very short here, but it’s going to be productive and fun! Thankfully, that’s something I’m pretty good at. At least the fun part…the productive part is debatable. 🙂
Thank you so much for your wonderful comment! It was so sweet of you to take the time to write. Sounds like you are doing GREAT, and we’re thrilled to have you with us. My husband will hopefully be doing more podcasts with me soon. 🙂 xo
I really enjoyed this podcast! Thank you! I only wish I had found it when my children were younger… you know, it’s easier to instill habits and get cooperation. Mine are 14 & 12. I really want to give this a try but I’m anticipating resistance. I anticipate when asked what they want to learn and do, the answer will be “nothing” and “I want to relax”. Would you set goals for them if they don’t have their own?
I totally understand the desire to “relax.” What makes this work for us is to have time spent moving forward on goals required before extra fun activities with friends, etc. and also tied to the school clothing budget.
We aren’t saying, “We pay you for achieving goals,” but it’s like, “Hey, here’s a fun way to earn your back-to-school supplies that will help you develop. You can choose what you’d like to do!”
We actually had a planning session with each child to help them figure out what they most wanted to do. It can be totally fun and educational…
We do this with our teens, and they love to share their ideas and be a part of the planning…
Good luck!
I started a process like this last summer and I went ok but there was frequent battling.. Maybe you could offer some suggestions. My issue is that I work full time and my kids are home alone during the summer. My 15 year old is very structured and loves the idea of a daily schedule, working toward goals. My 13 year old cooperates some days, others she just leaves and walks across the street to her grandpa’s house leaving my 15 year calling me in a rage multiple times a day for the 13 year old not working toward her goals. Then, that leaves my 8 year old choosing whichever sister seams more appealing at the time. I want them to be motivated to spend maybe 30 min a day doing some form of self improvement, but I am not physically in the home to start the routine and guide. Any suggestions?