Hi Snowshoe,

I'm not sure how to answer your question and yes it does seem like a difficult situation you are in.

I live near a midsize metropolitan area so I will keep my 7 year old busy with Boy and Girls Club of America, soccer and tennis camps and most likely some other camps. My granddaughter is another matter and I will probably take walks with her or take her to nearby parks. She is only 3 years old.

I hope there are other grandmothers in your situation. How far is the nearest town?

How about some fun online educational games or just go on nature walks with them and explore the great outdoors. Do you or your husband fish? Perhaps you can teach your kids how to fish. Or if you sew or knit or crochet teach them how to do that. Are there meetup groups in your area? Maybe you can hook up with other moms for things to do.

I try to have something planned every other week. This year there is Salvation Army Camp, over night for a week. The girls love it and have been going for years. There is a sliding scale so it is very reasonable for me, like it would cost more in food to have them home for the week. I have booked them for a week of gymnastic day camp. Looking for ways to get that cost down now. Last year Elder Services offered to give me money for camp but I had only paid so I did not take it. I have a 3 day trip to ME planned, more then that is beyond the budget. I am also going to try to get to Martha's Vineyard to visit family for a few days.

I work so I try to keep my free time for the summer. Other then that we are blessed that we have access to free swimming and Pepe finds it easy to just let them swim as much as they want.

Forgot also the pool pass for the town pool, the kids get to go with Pepe one afternoon a week to hang out and hopefully see friends from school.

My GD just joined a summer group at the local library for "geeks." I'll be driving her there and no cost! Maybe your library has something similar? Also we will be getting her a pool pass and she is looking into a volunteer job with animals. But I only have one and she's a teen.

I'm placing our state map on the wall with a circle around a two to three hour radius of our home. On Sundays, I will let one child close their eyes and put a tack on the map. Monday and Tuesday we will use the internet to find things of interest at the location. Wed, we will go check it out. I'm brown bagging the lunch's and snacks.

Thank you for all the ideas. We do the pool thing as well. We never got a summer pass though. I will look into that. I would love to find a camp for the kids, but all I have seen cost alot.
Where in Maine are you vacationing Grammy ? We live in the central Maine area . I love the map idea nutsandbolts. May have to try that one.

Have you thought of church camps. Often the camps are very low cost. My daughters went to church camps. Another thing -- in my state I notice there are low cost opportunities for camps for children who are being raised by grandparents or are in the foster care program. Do you have a boys and girls club near your community. My grandson is going. He went last year and I would drop him off around 9AM and pick him up at 4PM. The Boys and Girls Club of America even provide free lunch. The cost is minimal.

I received another idea from someone I know. She mentioned the Big Sister and Big Brother organization. She is helping me find a Big Brother for my grandson. He needs an energetic male who is wiling to take my grandson to ball games and also play sports with him. Grandson is very athletic and loves sports -- me at 65 -- not so much. I mentioned I was a little uncomfortable having a male stranger around my grandson but she assured me that the Big Brothers and Sisters organization do thorough background checks.