I know that keeping kids busy throughout the summer months can be challenging and frustrating for parents, but did you know that the best thing you can do for your kids in the summer is....NOTHING!  Sounds crazy, right???  But honestly, the best thing you can do for your kids during the summer months is to keep their calendar free and their days mostly unscheduled.  

Give them time to sleep in, play outside, ride their bike, toss around a ball, build forts, and stay up late!  If they're bored, let them figure it out for themselves.  Send them to the backyard, give them some notebook paper and crayons, tell them to pick 5 toys to play with - force them to use their imagination and figure out how to entertain themselves!  

The best thing we can do for our kids is to encourage them to #becreative to use their #imaginations, and to figure out how to exist in the world without the constant need to be entertained.  Let's face it, no parent has time to entertain their child(ren) twenty-four hours a day, and even if we did, doing so would be robbing them of this essential life skill of figuring out how to find happiness without busy-ness.  Bored kids end up as bored adults who are constantly seeking the next great thing to occupy their time, yet never seem to find the "one great thing" to make them happy.  We can keep our children from  turning into unhappy adults by encouraging their creativity and imagination now!

So, the next time you hear, "I'm bored" - give your child some chores he/she can do.  Clean your room, make your bed, pick weeds out of the flowerbeds, wipe down the baseboards - you know, the kind of things most kids don't want to do.  After a few times of their boredom leading to chores, perhaps they'll figure out being bored is not something they want to share with you....and they'll figure out a way to stop being bored all on their own!  

Even though it's summer, learning never ends!  There are many fun ways to keep building creativity, problem solving, critical thinking, and independence in your child all summer long.  This summer, I'll be featuring some of these fun-filled activities on my blog, so be sure to check it out!

Mid Continent Public Library Summer Reading Program
I don't know about you, but I'm constantly looking for fun, FREE activities in the summer, and MCPL is the place to go!  Click the www.mymcpl.org/features/summer-library-program  to register your child for their Summer Reading Program where kids AND adults can win prizes just for reading!  

You can even attend their Summer Reading program kick-off event with games, prizes, entertainment, and more.  Just click
 www.mymcpl.org/events/all-events?search-term=summer+library+program&start-date=&branch=1&category=All&audience=All&story-time=524 to learn more!



Parents with young learners will want to check out their story times by clicking www.mymcpl.org/kids/early-learners/storytimes. 

This is a great way to keep kids learning while having FUN all summer long!

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If you're looking for a Pre-Class for your child, Miss Lindsy and Miss Kadu are the BEST!  This week, we celebrated our Pre-K graduation with some song, dance, and rhyme!  We are so proud of these students, and we know they're ready for Kindergarten!!!

Today was (and I quote) "The Best Day Ever!"  Thank you to all of our parent volunteers and our PTO for making this such a GREAT day!!!

At our last school mass of the year, we had the chance to celebrate our Moms!  Moms, Grandmas, Aunts, Older Sisters - all of the special females in our students' lives were invited to join us for mass.   Father Matthew prayed a special blessing over them all and at the end of mass, we processed out to crown our Mother,  Mary!  It was a beautiful day to celebrate the special women in our students' lives!

For the past several weeks, Mrs. Nolan has led a group of Middle School students in designing an Escape Room.  This is no easy task as students have to create a theme and decor, design multiple clues and riddles,  and think "backwards"  by figuring out the ending before building the entire room.

This week, our students, staff, and parents had the opportunity to "break out" and it was a challenge!  Our students loved this experience and learned a lot!  We are so grateful to Mrs. Nolan for giving them this opportunity!

Yesterday, we hosted a Star Wars Dress Up Day Fundraiser for the FIRE Foundation!  For a small donation, students and staff were invited to wear their Star Wars attire to school!  It was a very special day for a good cause!

We are so proud of our 2nd grade students who, along with our Middle School choir, led our school mass today!  It was a special treat to see many of the students dressed in their First Communion attire!

Mark your calendars now for the annual St. Patrick Auction!  This year, we're taking it to the beach, so get dig out your Hawaiian luau attire and help us raise money for St. Patrick!