As the school year comes to a close, you may be breathing a sigh of relief. You made it! School is over- YAY! But if you homeschool year round, you know the fun is just beginning.
Summer homeschooling is an odd place. You are most likely much more relaxed in your schooling approach, there's probably less overall "volume" of work to be completed, lots of fun things to do that are only offered during the summer time and of course now you've got to contend with packed venues because the public schoolers are out. And of course, if you belong to any homeschool groups or co-ops, they most likely break for the summer time as well. This means you've got some LONG and potentially BORING days ahead. Ah- the lazy days of summer. But y'all, summer homeschooling is my favorite!
For us personally, summer is our time to relax a bit. Our summer routine has evolved a bit as the kiddo has gotten older but enjoying SUMMER has always been a big priority. We are lucky enough to live in the beautiful Pacific Northwest and can spend pretty much all summer long outside. We go fishing, swimming in rivers and lakes, trail/nature walks, biking, park days, swimming in the backyard pool and such. It is not uncommon for us to take off for the lake when the husband gets home from work and return after 10pm. LOVE THIS! However summer is also the time we play "catch up" and we try to focus on just one or two areas that the kiddo needs improvement in. Sadly for him, that always seems to be math. Well- I suppose it's tragic for us both since I detest math. Blech!
We also take advantage of programs, activities, camps etc that are typically offered during the summer only. Lots of fun stuff going on at our local library, good stuff happening at the YMCA, some pretty amazeballs camps if you're willing to shell out the money and lots of opportunities for some good ole socialization.
Summer is also the time for the kiddo's
READING CHALLENGE in which he basically reads as many pages as he can and challenges himself to read new books and authors. Yes there's prizes but he must work for them and trust me when I say that he does. Would you believe this boy child asked me in March if we could set up his Summer Reading Challenge?!? March y'all....He loves this yearly reading challenge and its special because we ONLY do this during the summer.
While the amount of actual book work is minimal compared to what we do during the school year- there's still lots of valuable learning happening here. In fact, I would say that if you participate in any summer activities on the regular, then you too are year round homeschoolers. The learning never stops y'all!
So this all sounds great, but what does it look like? How does it all work out?
Well....in our house the kiddo begins each day with time spent in a workbook. This year, I decided to make it super easy on myself and purchased this
Summer Bridge workbook.
He will sit down with his breakfast and completes that day's page. Ten minutes tops. From there, he pulls out the work we are focusing on during the summer. Yep, that's right- it's time for math y'all. He is typically finished in less than an hour. While this might not seem like much to you- it's focused, targeted learning.
One hour of quality work is worth WAY more than hours upon hours of quantity work. Just keep that in mind mmmkay....
From there, the day is pretty free. We may have an event to go to at the local library, he might have friends over, perhaps watch a movie if it's too hot outside, ride bikes, lounge around and have quiet reading time, we may run errands or do some housework. It's all pretty chill and we try to really embrace the mentality of summer.
To help break up this "monotony" I have strategically planned camps, programs, activities etc throughout the summer. This year the kiddo will be going to a Go Kart camp with a fellow homeschool friend. It's a week long, full days but no overnight, in the middle of July and he is DYING to go. For the first part of the day they will drive and race Go Karts and then after lunch, they have a mechanics course where they learn to fix, repair and work on these machines. Perfection. The best part of homeschooling is combining your child's joys and interests with valuable learning opportunities. If they have fun, the knowledge and information stays with them and it certainly doesn't feel like being at school.
In addition, we are having some friends over for the 4th of July holiday weekend. We go BIG for this holiday and put on our own fireworks show. Basically it's an entire weekend of fun. Major fireworks, camping in the backyard, lots of yummy food, friends, cocktails, kids- oh my word but it is seriously FUN.
As summer winds down, we typically take a short trip before starting on our Fall schedule. We do this AFTER all the public schoolers are back in session and just another one of the MANY benefits to being a homeschooler. It is also our last HURRAH before really getting back into our routine and the kiddo simply loves this final weekend of summer. And you just know that there's plenty of valuable learning happening here too!
So y'all- summer time homeschooling is in reality, pretty darn easy. There's many benefits to keeping a year round schedule, the biggest one being the flexibility it offers. And with a little planning and effort, you can give your kids a super fun summer full of lots of unique learning opportunities. LOVE THAT!
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