What Are You Doing with Your 11 Year Old Son This Summer?

In June we're going to frequent the beach. In July he has Vacation Bible School and camp and August we're going on vacation. I'll fill in with movies, (UA cinemas have a $1 movies on Tuesday mornings all summer), friends over to spend the night and hiking (in the LATE afternoon while it's not as hot) at the state parks with our dogs. Homemade ice cream, teaching them to cook, etc. should all keep them busy enough. Hopefully some of these ideas will help you. Have a great summer!!

Mine's 10
Swim team every day 3-5, then meets once a week.
Music camp in June
Boy Scout camp in July
Fencing camp in August

My 13 yo daughter
Swim team
Art camp in June
Church youth camp in JUly
Fencing camp in August

My 16 yo DD
Swim team
Youth mission trip
Finding a college

My inlaws are coming in early July so we will do the usual DC stuff and Busch Gardens, we will get season passes.

Give him projects to do. Would he like to build a fort? Let him find something that he has to do all the research on costs, materials, etc. and make a plan. Then let him build it all by himself or with a friend. Sometimes a friend is good to have to keep him on task.

Or is there something he can do in his room? Build some shelves and reorganize his stuff. Or build a case to put stuff in.

Is there a project that you need? Some shelves put in the garage. Or can he help you organize a garage sale and he gets a percentage? You could put things in boxes according to price and he could put tags on the stuff and then sort them into other boxes by type.

Do you need your cupboards cleaned out? Emptied, shelves washed, etc. and then he could earn money or a privilege that you agree to ahead of time.

this will be the first year I'm home with the kids this summer (11 dtr and 8 son). I also have a step dtr (15 spec needs) but will only have her every other weekend. We have a pool so we will spend most of the day in there. We also are checking into summer passes to the water parks. And there is a local pool that has a few slides and whirlpool, etc that is only $1 per person and allows your own food and drinks. I'm also going to spend some time every day doing school work. My kids are behind in a few areas (telling time, counting money, memorizing multiplication tables, etc) so I'm going to work on them with these as well. We are in AZ so it's VERY hot here so can't spend a lot of time outside unless its in the water. I think I'm also going to take some time with the kids to really downsize their rooms and maybe move furniture around and make it "fun" for them. Good luck!!!

ideas:

swim lessons at local pools or YMCA
Vacation Bible Schools at local churches. Look into him both attending and volunteering.
Pet sitting for neighbors.

Read...read....read....join the summer reading program at the library.
Teach him to cook a couple of favorite meals. Since it's summer you can take your time. Get cook books from the library and have him choose the recipes. Then if you do this right, he can cook those meals throughout the next school year too. I have a 10 year split with kids and did this with my daughter. I told her she needed to learn to cook a few basics before she left the house and then worked it everyone's advantage.

Buy board or card games that he can play his younger siblings.

Mine is an only child so I have him in a bunch of sports camps, swimming lessons, driving to visit family, reading, school work, community pool daily and drop in spanish classes. It's a drag not having siblings or neighborhood kids to play with so I keep him super busy.