The 6 Components of Wellness: Mental and Emotional Health

Mental and Emotional Health is the next component to talk about in The 6 Components of Wellness series. Last week I touched base on Physical Health. Now we will talk about how we can start to gain Mental and Emotional Health.

So, what is Mental and Emotional health? The Mental Health Foundation has a great definition…

‘A positive sense of wellbeing which enables an individual to be able to function in society and meet the demands of everyday life; people in good mental health have the ability to recover effectively from illness, change or misfortune.’

Emotional wellbeing is an important part of wellness; it helps us recover from life’s stressors. Having M&E Heath can help you overcome loss, gain, illness, and all the other things life likes to through our way. It honestly just helps you get through the day.

After some careful thought and meditation I have come up with 6 parts that have helped me gain Mental and Emotional health. Let’s just jump right to it

1. Sleep
2. Physical health
3. Meditation/Mindfulness
4. Therapy
5. Gratitude/positivity
6. Being clutter free

We already talked about a few of these in the past post of the series and I am sure we will talk about some of them in the next 4 Components of Wellness yet to be covered. I mentioned every part of wellness is connected; they all help one another. I think the best part of a wellness journey, is while you’re working on one component you’re actually working on multiple components.

As I mentioned in the past, sleep is important to your health in a number of ways. Having a healthy sleep routine is essential to your Mental and Emotional health because it helps you relieve stress and stabilizes your mental wellbeing. You should have a healthy sleep hygiene routine before bed and in the morning. Allowing yourself to get 6-9 hours of restful sleep will improve your mood, stress bashing capabilities, body image and memory.

Ms. L is trying to get a good night rest…in Mom’s bed. She thinks she’s funny. We ended up having a sleep over

Something that we found, and use in our home, is guided meditations and sleep hypnosis’s videos that help build a healthy sleep cycle. We use free ones that are all over YouTube. They can help you fall asleep and stay sleep for the whole night. Getting enough sleep through the night helps you in the morning too; you can get out of bed, perform your morning routine and feel well rested. Being well rested helps your stress levels stay even throughout the day, fatigue, cravings and even headaches.

Physical health is important for your M&E health because it gives you self esteem, positive body image and relieves stress. How can you not feel good about taking care of your body? You can’t. When you take care of your physical health something changes in your mental health too; it makes you want to do more, learn more and stay healthy. Check out my last blog The 6 Components to Wellness: Physical Health to give yourself some ideas on how to improve your physical health.

Besides therapy, meditation and being mindful are probably the most important practices I have found to help my emotional wellbeing. We will talk about therapy in a little; let’s start with being mindful.

Mindfulness is an act of being receptive while holding your attention open to the present without judging the activities, thoughts, or emotions that we are constantly dealing with on a daily basis. Being mindful helps you to not judge your

Ms. V is quieting her mind in order to visualize her back handspring back tuck.

thoughts and feelings, good or bad. When you are able to open yourself up you can stop letting your life pass you by. Some people refer to it as living in the moment. A good mindful practice lets us live in the moment while being aware of what is going on around you. It empowers you to learn from the experiences life is handing you, while you are living those experiences.

Meditation helps mindfulness go to a new level. Quieting your mind not only helps relief stress and helps sleep, it can help you learn who you are, where you are going and pretty much every answer to every question you ever wanted answered. It takes practice. I am not saying you should sit in full lotus, “Om’ing” for hours and hours. I am saying stop and breathe through your stress. Stop and quiet your mind for a few moments every day until you can learn to sit for 30 minutes at a time. Even 5 or 10 minutes can make a huge difference in your day. Simple mantras are very helpful in the practice of meditation and mindfulness.

When you are feeling stressed try to stop, take a few deep breaths and say to yourself something like  “I am safe, I am calm, I choose to be here” It takes 30 seconds to remind ourselves that we are going to make it through whatever may be raising our stress levels. I learned this from Grace Smith, her hypno-affirmation is one of the best ways I have learned to slow myself back down and bring me back to the present. If you haven’t already you should really check Grace Smith out, she is an AMAZING women she will help you!

Meditation, mantras, affirmations and simply quieting one’s self are all great ways to bring us back to our mindfulness practice and keep our emotional wellbeing stable. All of this takes practice but as you practice your mental health improves and the less you need to stop throughout your day to refocus because it will become first nature.

Ms. A Playing Stop, Relax and Think with her therapist.

Therapy is the most important part of mental and emotional health if you have any mental disorders, depression or anxiety. A therapist can help you find coping practices and give you information about medicines that may help regulate you if you need them.

I am not a medical professional and if you are feeling like you need a therapist you should contact your doctor. Therapy is for anyone of any age and it should not be looked down upon. I believe therapy can help everyone. There are many forms of therapy; behavior, hypno, art, talk, play and your doctor can help you find the right one for you. Sometimes your therapist can become a “friend”.

I talked a little about gratitude and positive attitudes in Don’t B!+ch About it; Be About It. Your M&E health can improve with a positive change in your attitude. Having a positive attitude and surrounding yourself with positive people will help you see the gifts life is giving you; this also helps you become more mindful.

Mr. JEM being thankful for a snack after long travel.

A good way to get in the habit of positive thinking is starting a gratitude journal/practice. Adding gratitude journaling to your morning and nightly routine will change your mental health. Every morning, think of three to five things you are grateful for, say them out loud, to the mirror or journal them so you can go back to them later in the day. Then do the same before bed to finish off your day with a positive ending. This can change anyone’s sleep health, going to bed positive and thankful. (Win, win!)

It is good to include your family in this practice also, especially at the dinner table. Telling your partner why you are thankful for them can help lighten up their day along with yours. It is okay for it to be the small things; any positive thing is something to be thankful for. Gratitude and positivity is a great way to exercise mindfulness throughout the day. Being positive lifts the dark cloud over your thoughts and helps your mind clear. There is nothing better for your mental and emotional wellbeing then a clear head.

This brings me to the last part of Mental and Emotional health, being clutter free. Have you ever had the best day away from home just to come home to a cluttered messy house? Clutter is self damaging. It drains all the good thoughts and replaces them with everything you should have, could have, would have BUT didn’t. It holds lots of stress, dirt and germs. Holding on to things that are not needed can add unwanted stress. Not just for yourself but for your friends and family too. Having stuff everywhere raises anxiety levels, holds onto negative vibes and kind of just sucks. This all affects your body and mind. You cannot have a clear mind without a clear space to clear your mind in. You are not going to be able to think of positive things when you are over whelmed with the negativity of stuff. Donating can be like paying it forward, selling it can help add extra money to the family; both things will help relieve the most common everyday stressor, finances. Clearing your space will clear your mind. It will feel like a burden off your mind, body and soul.

Mental and Emotional health is just one step towards wellness. There are so many steps on the wellness journey. The good thing is they all help each other. Once you work on one it leads to the other. Taking it one day at a time will help you climb the staircase of health. Once you devote yourself to a journey of wellness you will start to see and feel the benefits of the journey, and want to learn more and work towards a better life. As you move forward every step becomes natural and it is easier to move on to the next.

Subscribe to receive the next post in the 6 Components of Wellness series directly to your inbox.

If you liked this post, checks out others like it:

Can you have wellness and chronic pain?

The 6 Components of wellness: Physical Health

Don’t B!+cth About it; Be About it!

I Am Not Perfect, But I Am AWESOME!

Namaste ❤

JEM

White Lasagna

About a year ago my husband and I decided to start a journey towards a healthier lifestyle by going vegetarian. To break ourselves into full vegetarians we decided to make the baby step to pescatarian, which means we still eat dairy, eggs and seafood; the children still eat school breakfast and lunch. You can beat FREE! We have been trying to find clean meals the entire family enjoys. Which has been lot easier than I imagined.
I have been requested by a lot of people to share our favorite recipes. Every time I think to myself “But I don’t have recipes”. I rarely measure anything. Following a recipes’ directions is like torture for some reason and I seem to never write down my changes. Unless its bread. I must follow those recipes step by step. I haven’t mastered the art of bread…yet.
I decided maybe it was about time to share our yummy family friendly vegetarian dishes. I mean who am I to suggest a Meatless Monday to someone, when I am not sharing my delicious meal ideas. Going meatless is a lot less scary than most may think, you should try it, you might like it!
Okay, okay….here is my very own White Lasagna.

White Lasagna
What you will need:

• Large baking dish
• Box of lasagna noodles
• 16 oz small curd cottage cheese
• 2 eggs
• 3 cups of shredded mozzarella cheese (1 cup for topping)
• 2 cups of chopped spinach (Or less)
• 1 cup of finely chopped broccoli
• 1 cup of finely chopped cauliflower
• 28-32 oz of alfredo sauce
• Garlic to season

Start by boiling the lasagna noodle just before they are fully cooked, drain and let cool. Preheat your oven to 350F. While the noodles are boiling, mix together the cottage cheese, 2 cups of mozzarella, eggs, and veggies, season with the garlic to your taste. Make sure you stir the stuffing mixture well.

Lightly spread a small amount of sauce on the bottom of the baking dish. Layer in this order; lasagna noodles, stuffing mixture, noodles and last the Alfredo sauce. Repeat until the pan is full or you run out of something. Make sure you save some sauce for the top of the lasagna.

Cover with foil and bake for 20-30 minutes. The lasagna should look like it is starting to boil. Sprinkle the last cup of mozzarella cheese over the entire lasagna. Place your lasagna back into the oven for about 10 minutes or until the cheese has melted.Let the lasagna cool and serve.
Happy cooking!

Suncatchers, (how to add some fun color into your life) #kidfriendlycraft

I am always looking for fun ways to keep the kids away from screens. We love crafting and these colorful sun catchers were a perfect way to spend our afternoon.

This you will need:

• Clear plastic beads
• Glass beads
• Metal muffin pans or fun shaped cookie cutters
• Oven or grill
• Dremal tool or small drill bit
• Fishing line

Steps for molding the sun catchers:

1. Heated the oven to 275 degrees.
2. Place the plastic beads in the cookie cutters and muffin pan. One layer deep. If using cookie cutters, place cookie cutters on a cookie sheet or metal pan before adding beads.
3. Place the pans and beads in the oven for about 30 minutes or until fully melted.
4. Once they were melted, place them on a cooling rack. It didn’t take long to cool.
5. After the sun catchers are cool; pop them right out of the metal molds.
6. Now drill small holes in the sun catchers. (use eye protection)
7. Thread the fishing line through the drilled holes and add some colorful glass beads for some extra fun.
8. Tie off and hang to add some color anywhere in your home or outside.

I also made a few wind chimes by repurposing a wooden rod that had been lying around for a while. I cut the rod in smaller sections then drilled some holes through the rod. I attached the sun catchers through the holes with fishing line. I found that stringing the sun catchers and beads on the fishing line first made them hang nicer off the wooden rod. Be creative and step out of the box to make some really cool sun catchers on the cheap.

**Notes**

• Use eye protection while drilling plastic. Safety first!
• Keep home well ventilated, or do it outside on your grill, while melting the plastic.
• If you string the sun catcher first it will hang better.
• If you don’t want to drill holes in the melted plastic shapes you can also use them as coasters or magnets.

  

• I used fishing like because it is strong and clear, you could use any thread you have on hand though.

This was a fun way to add some color into our home and patio.

Namaste ❤ Jem

JEM’s Cinnamon Crunchy Granola

Cinnamin Granola

Janelle McCoy

2015

1 stick of butter
½ cup honey
2/3 cup brown sugar
5 ½ cup old fashion oats
½ cup hemp seeds
splash of vanilla
1 TBS cinnamin powder
1 cup sliced or chopped almonds
1 cup dried fruit
½ cup coconut chips

Melt butter, honey and brown sugar in sauce pan over low heat. Once butter is melted add vanilla and cinnamin, bring to a simmer. Add all other ingredants into a big bowl and mix well. After the butter sugar mixture has simmered for about 5 minutes pour over oats and stir until evenly coated. Spead out over a cookie greesed cookie sheet. Bake 20 mintues at 290.

Herbal Buzz Words: Constituents

Constituents of a plant are the chemicals on a molecular level that makes up the plant’s medicinal/unmedicinal properties. They can be extracted in different ways to create pharmaceuticals and herbal preparations.

When making herbal preparations, one must take into consideration which constituents of the plant you trying to extract. Some constituents do well-being extracted with water others spirits or fats. Either way, it depends on which imbalance you are trying to correct and which system in the body is in harm’s way.

Polysaccharides: like those found in burdock and astragalus- most soluble in hot water

Alkaloids: goldenseal or coffee- alcohol, vinegar, and glycerin.

Mucilage- slippery elm and marsh mellow cold water

Bitters: like dandelion, chamomile, or angelica- W/A/V/G

Flavonoids: hawthorn, green tea- water, oils

Tannins: black tea and red raspberry leaf- W/G/V/A

Volatile oil: lavender or peppermint- A/oil/fat

Resins: calendula, pin pitch- a/ hot oil

Herbal Buzz Words: Energetics

Spiritual Buzz Words

To Keep Moving Forward Prayer

https://jemseclectichome.wordpress.com/2022/05/12/the-healing-benefits-of-pearls-2/

Mother’s Milk Tea

Mother’s Milk Tea

Janelle McCoy

2017

This tea can be used in the last trimester to prepare for birth and help milk come in fuller. The herbs used will create a vitamin filled milk production and help the mother keep energy, especially during infancy.

2 pt raspberry leaf
½ pt fennel seeds
2 pts nettle leaf
1 pt dandelion leaf
½ pt blessed thistle
1pt alfalfa
3 pt chamomile

To prepare use 1 tbsp of herb mixer to 8-10 oz of water.
sweet to taste with prefered sweetener or drink it plain.

It is suggested to consume, 1-3 cups a day before birth. Increasing amount drank from 1 cup per day to 3 cups per day each week of the last trimester.

Once birth has happened continue with your 3 cups a day after birth but can increase up to 6 cups per day.

Also try Rock Star Mama tea blend for a smoother recovery from pregnancy and laber& delivery.

Light Brown Leave in Hair Conditioner Spray

Leave in hair conditioner spray

Decoction/infusion
3c water
2 tbs marshmallow root
pinch of ceder wood
1 green tea bag
1 tbs hibiscus
1 tbs chamomile
1 tbs nettle

simmer marshmallow root and ceder wood for 20 mins turn off heat and infuse all other herbs strain once water is cooled.

Once cool add:
2 c Decoction
½ c aloe Vera gel
10 drops VG
4 drops argon essential oil
40 drops lavender essential oil
4 drops Vitamin E oil

The 6 Components of Wellness: Physical Health

The 6 components of wellness were brought up in my last post. Can You Have Wellness and Chronic Pain? I decided to break down each component for myself and my beloved followers. I believe this can help everyone’s wellness journey by understanding the six components a little better. I decided to start with one that challenges me the most, Physical Health. I seem to have this fear of exercise, it’s not like I don’t like to exercise, Okay I don’t love it at all. The thing is once I start, I feel great; it’s the getting to it that hinders my progress. I make tons of excuses: it’s hard, I don’t know how to properly exercise, and it hurts too much. All of this sits in the back of my mind all the while knowing that if I would just keep at it, exercising would become habit and help my body become stronger so that I might stop hurting so much.

BUT there is so much more to Physical Health then just working out.  Let’s start with the definition of Physical Health. In italics is what you find when you Google search physical health definition:

Physical Health can be defined as an essential part of overall health of an individual, which includes everything from physical fitness to overall wellbeing.

I think there are 6 important parts that make up Physical Health. They all seem to work together too, when improving one you can improve the other parts. It’s all connected just like the 6 components of wellness.

1. Exercise
2. Diet
3. Sleep
4. Being Chemical Free
5. Sexual Health
6. Being Disease Free

Take a walk, bring the children. Your never to young to learn the importance of physical health.

Let’s break down the 6 parts of Physical Health.

I decided to start with my very most favorite, exercise. As I said before I am not the most fit person in the world and struggle with many blocks towards working out. I am not sure why. I am sure that I want to work towards breaking the blocks down and this is one way I decided to work on that. I know all the health benefits of exercise, it strengthens your body which reduces pain, it reduces stress, helps with sleep, anxiety and depression, and it strengthens your heart. The list goes on and on.

Whether you’re new to exercise like me or a work out vet, you know it is hard, but is it? Is it really hard to care about your body?

If you are new to exercise know that age does not matter, I read this blog about a 90 year old that does yoga and jump roping every day. She was doing handstands. She said it makes her feel young again. There are many free blogs and vlogs out there to help you get started in the habit of working out. I suggest starting with walking and yoga. They are both low impact, easy on joints and muscles. It is suggested to get 30 minutes of cardio 3 times a week to keep your heart healthy.

Your diet matters as much as exercise. Paying attention to your diet can improve your health tremendously. Diet can help prevent diseases like diabetes, heart disease, obesity and even cancer. These four preventable diseases are the top killers in The United States of America. Diet can also help with sleep, depression and anxiety. We should all be eating a plant based diet or at least whole foods diet. Being aware of what you are putting into your body is very important. Let food be your medicine by eating healthy fresh whole foods.

It is not important to start completely organic but it is a good goal to work towards, start with the so called “Dirty Dozen”. Eating clean plant based foods will improve your physical, mental and environmental health. It is important to have a healthy eating schedule also. Try eating dinner an hour earlier so your body has time to digest before bedtime. Can your family do a No Fast food for 30 days Challenge? We are going fast food free for a year. Or even just try Meatless Mondays for a month; it’s a small start to a better life.

Getting enough sleep is important for your physical health; it helps with weight loss, allowing your body to rebuild after
exercise, reducing stress, replenishing energy and keeps your mental health stable. Sleep can help you feel better about yourself. Getting enough sleep also helps improve your memory. It is important to get 6-9 hours of good restful sleep a night. Having a healthy diet and exercise routine can help improve your sleep. There are many chemical free ways to help with sleep, there are herbs, meditations, and foods that can help improve your sleeping experience.

Chemicals are everywhere and are definitely harmful for our bodies. They are in our foods, cleaning supplies, body products, air, water and dirt.  Eliminating chemicals from your diet, home and body care routine will help with your overall health. Using natural cleaners and body products can help with asthma and respiratory problems, cancer, attention and hyperactivity issues, and so many more afflictions. The natural products will also lesson the amount of chemicals that ends up in our air, water and soil. I believe they just plain make me feel better overall, and making my own has helped my family with seasonal colds and save money. Going chemical free will help your physical and environmental health. Let’s stop poisoning our bodies and planet by trying natural products; you won’t know how well they work until you try.

After a long discussion, Mr. JEM and I decided that Sexual Health is important to our physical health also. Having a healthy sex life is beneficial to your health. Although everyone’s version of a healthy sex life is different, there are many studies that show that regular sexual activities improve your physical, mental, emotional, and spiritual health. Sex helps with weight loss, sleep, anxiety, positive body image, building positive relationships and even helps fight depression.

Being diseases free is a rough topic to talk about, as we all know someone who is suffering from one or more diseases. I am not a medical professional, but prevention of chronic and acute disease is important for physical health. There are many ways to keep these disorders under control: regular doctor’s checkups, a healthy diet, exercise, being chemical free, good hygiene, proper sleep. Pretty much all the components of good physical health can help prevent and/or treat most diseases.

I know this has been a really long post. There is so much more information that can be said about the 6 parts of physical health and they could all be a post on their own but today was just a little bit of information to get you thinking about physical health and ways you might be able to start improving your own physical health. Remember wellness is not a race, it is a journey and only you can be ready to improve your wellness. Take one step at a time. Doing some research on your own and asking questions, is how intellectual health plays a part in your wellness journey. As you can see all aspects of wellness help one and other, you must have a healthy balance of each component in order to achieve wellness.

Stay tuned for 6 Components of Wellness: Mental and Emotional Health.

Namaste ❤

JEM

Cooking With Herbs

An Herbalist’s Point of View

Everyone cooks with herbs and spices. Sometimes we use fresh herbs and sometimes dried, it doesn’t matter which stage you use the herbs and spices. Either fresh or dried will make your food taste delicious. The thing not everyone knows is that herbs, either fresh or dry, have healing properties. Yes, even in your food. You can use herbs in your food to help an ailment and you’ll have a delicious tasting meal at the same time.

In the 5^th century Hippocrates said “Let food be thy medicine and medicine be thy food.” I firmly believe he was talking about eating clean whole foods. In the 5^th century they also used many herbs to help their food taste delectable.  They knew then that many plants had properties to heal or prevent illnesses and diseases. We wouldn’t have our current knowledge of herbal healing without our ancestors learning it first. Even ingredients of ancient witch’s healing brews translate into everyday herbs we use today. This is because witches were healers, herbalists and gardeners that understood that plants and herbs could prevent and help ailments. You can use herbs in tinctures, salves, capsules and oils to help your body. Why wouldn’t cooking with them be the same? The great thing is that they are the same; you just use them as you cook instead of as a strict supplement. This might take more time then ingesting a tincture or capsule filled with the herb but if you are cooking with the herb everyday it will build up into your system just like the tincture or capsule does.          I am going to use soup as an example. How many times have you heard someone suggest eating some soup to kick a colds butt? I can’t even count the number of times I have been told to do this or used soup to help my family members feel better. Every time my husband is sick or the weather is a fright I make a big o’ pot of homemade healing soup. The kids make fun of me saying it’s my witches brew. (I have been known to yell at someone for stirring the pot the wrong direction.) I think certain soups are suggested because the ingredients used to make soup help many symptoms associated with the common cold. The ingredients can do things like soothing coughs, throats, congestion and even belly aches. Soup will also warm you to the bone and help remove any germ that might have gotten in during cold weather.

“The warmth of the soup helps all that” or “helps sooths your throat,” you might be thinking.

This is true but if you are like me your soup has helpful ingredients in it like salt, onion, garlic, rosemary, thyme, and basil; just to name a few. All of these ingredients are plants that have cold fighting abilities. When you are cooking and eating the warm soup the steam enters your sinuses and the plants that are used work as a form of aromatherapy and decongestant, opening up your airways. Eating the herb enriched soup give your body the energy to fight the germs. Garlic, onion, thyme and rosemary all have germ fighting abilities and basil breaks down the shell of the bacteria so any antibiotics will work better. Some of these herbs even have bacteria fighting abilities. Add a little cracked pepper (red, black, white or well any pepper will do) to your bowl will help give it all an extra kick.

It doesn’t matter if you use fresh herbs or dry herbs during cooking. What does matter is the amount of herbs you use. It is suggested to use 1/3 the amount for dried herbs as you would if you are using fresh herbs. This is because the dried herbs have a higher concentration of flavor. Some professional cooks say it is better to add your fresh herbs towards the end of the cooking process. I am not sure that I would agree with this, I believe that when you add the fresh herb you should add them throughout the cooking process. Some in the beginning, some in the middle and some at the end depending on what you are cooking, how you are cooking it and which herbs you are using. You can chop or leave fresh herbs whole. Before using dry herbs I always give them a good crush. Crush the dry herbs by placing them into the palm of your hand, then press or rub the herb gently with your fingers to release the aromatic oils. Always add the dry herbs to your dish at the beginning or middle of your cooking process. This gives the herb time to rehydrate. I always suggest tasting your food as you are cooking. This way you will know if it needs more flavor or not.

Remember I just used soup as an example there is many ways you can cook with herbs to help your ailments. You can control your blood sugar, blood pressure and cholesterol all by cooking with or eliminating the right herbs, spices and foods. You want to make sure you do some research before ingesting herbs, to make sure they are edible. Some plants are meant for aromatherapy and topical use only, others are strictly ornamental. Some are even harmful for pregnant women and nursing mothers. You wouldn’t want to have a reaction because you didn’t make sure the herb was safe for your body. Most herbs you find in the produce or spice isle are safe and healthy for daily consumption. We should all take our ancestor’s advice and let food be our medicine.

Happy Cooking!

JEM

It’s that time of year again…SUMMER!

With school letting out in a week and summer about to become wild, I knew I had to have a plan. My four kiddos (13, 11, 8 and 6) are normally pretty good about asking to go to the pool, play video games and watch TV; you name it they ask before I am even out of bed. I refuse to leave the house (go to the pool) then come home to a cluttered house. I don’t know about you but clutter really makes my head freak out. My anxiety flies through the roof, which is already on edge because my kids are very active and it’s almost hard to keep up with them when both parents are around, let alone just me.
We normally keep a pretty good routine since our after school activities don’t change over the summer and they wake up only about an hour later then they do for school. The part that changes is keeping them entertained all day and limiting screen time. This year I decided to take back summer before I get too overwhelmed by making the kids all check lists. The idea is to limit frustration since they will already know what they have to complete before they ask to do something and I won’t have to say no or ask over and over if they did it. WIN, WIN. Today they decided to call them summer Check Lists. I know so original BUT…They are pumped! I am pumped! Fingers crossed! IT’S GOING TO BE A GREAT SUMMER!!
The Summer Check Lists are not to replace their normal chore list. These will complement them. Each child has their assigned booklet. Since I laminated them they can check them off with a dry or wet erase marker, so we can use them over and over.
There are 5 Summer Check lists per child:

• Do before you ask…
• Want to go to the pool?
• Today you can…
• Did You?
• After dinner
  

  What I used to make our Summer Check Lists

How I made our Summer Check Lists:

1. Decided what I wanted each list to be
2. Typed them up
3. I cut and glued them onto colored paper
4. I laminated them (now we can use them over with dry erase marker.)
5. Hole punched them
6. Used a book ring to hold them all together

If you would like a copy of our summer check lists please comment below with your email. I am more than willing to share! How will you take back summer?