Summer Schedule

[WashingonIrving]

I always have high hopes of planning fun learning opportunities for my kids to experience throughout the summer, and it never seems to happen. Do any of you have a relaxed/fun "summer school" schedule? What do your summers look like?

[OneStepAtATime]

First, what are your goals/hopes for doing these fun learning opportunities?  Write those down.  Seriously look at why you want to do them and if, after sitting on it a spell, these things seem worthwhile, then schedule them in on the calendar.

 

 I would definitely schedule things of short duration only 3 days a week and set reminders in various locations, etc. Seriously mentally commit to the start date for those fun things and do them in the AM.  Doesn't have to be early, but if you wait, the day will get away from itself, KWIM?  Maybe schedule things of fairly short duration then schedule breaks in between where nothing is really planned.  Write it all out.  

 

Take what I say with a grain of salt, though.  The kids and I do math and reading during summers but most fun educational things we have planned seem to fall by the wayside once summer hits.  The unexpected always happens.  :)  

[weintz8]

We keep at boring school during summer.  

 

I HATE going anywhere with all the crowds (zoo, pool, museums, grocery stores) so we tend to stay home during summer and do lots of fun learning field trips during the school year when every thing is less crowded.

 

We try to get ahead on subjects in the summer (math, grammar, latin) so that we have more free time in our schedule during the year.

 

 

[happypamama]

We are completely off, except for literature reading, from about Memorial Day to about June 30. It gets so hot in July and August that we'd rather do schoolwork then and have some flexibility to take off for the occasional snow day, nice fall and spring days, two weeks at Easter, two or three weeks at Christmas, etc. I started doing that, starting July 1 (which is when my state allows me to start counting days), when I had summer newborns, because starting early gave us flexibility postpartum, and we found that we like it that way.

 

In past years, I've started with a couple of subjects the first week, then added a few more the next week, and a few more the next, gradually easing into the year. But this year, I think we are going to spend about five weeks doing intensive art, artist study, composer study, and science (with lab projects), and then we will jump right into our regular work in early August. I think it'll be fun doing those subjects intensively.

[Arcadia]

We school year round taking breaks if there are fun free summer events to go to or summer camps that kids want to attend. We have been using past summers to work more on foreign languages and would be doing that again this Summer.

 

My kids would want to do their own science "experiments". I just need to get the kits they want.

[MomOfABunch]

We school year round also. We do more school in the winter and summer and more outdoor stuff in the fall and spring. This summer DD12 goes to summer school, DS12 will be doing history, math, foreign language, and finishing chemistry if it's not done by June, DS5 will be doing reading, spelling and math. I may send them to camp for a week or 2, we'll see. We're going to the beach in May. Possibly Williamsburg or Hershey park in September/October when the weather cools a little bit.

[RootAnn]

-We get a couple weeks off after our regular school year ends for me to clean up the school room, get grades / portfolios done & papers filed, and do the annual switching of old books off the shelves & new books onto the shelves.

-They continue with math during many of the weeks of the summer because my kids forget math (and other things) if they don't see them for a couple of weeks. All but the oldest & the youngest are somewhere in the middle of their math books, so I hope they finish them in the early fall.

- The older three will do typing (Typing Instructor) every weekday for 15 minutes. I set them each a goal speed-wise & they go through the exercises to improve from the last summer. Summer is when this gets done on a regular basis. They use their typing during the school year, but they do their continuous practicing in the summer.

- I make a list of other things they need to work on that is individual by kid. DS#1 will read outloud to me. DS#2 will continue with his "learn to read" book. DS#1 will do copywork -- probably in the form of WWE1 double pace -- to keep up his newly-learned cursive. DD#1 might start her new math book or do some Zacorro. She'll work on keeping up her languages, too.

 

All-in-all, it'll be about an hour of work for each kid a day plus reading. It helps them keep out of my hair when I'm planning for next year, provides some structure to their days, and gives them something to do in the mornings since the pool doesn't open until after lunch.

[Critterfixer]

We school during the summer, but the term is pretty short-maybe eight weeks at the most. We take at least a week off every month. This year I'm taking off the last two weeks in May. Usually, we just go on to the next thing or finish up what we have left. 

This year will be a little different in that we will be done with some things and I don't want to just go right on to the next level waiting. I will likely continue our Math until we finish it, then I plan to have the boys start work in Key to Fractions. In Latin, I may spend time working in more depth on nouns and their gender, cementing vocabulary and reading in Latin before moving into MP Second Form. We may take summer to work on translation of simple Latin sentences. Writing is going to be interesting. We are doing CW Poetry for Beginners A. It should take us the summer term to do, I've never had any concentrated work on poetry in my life! So I'll be learning with them.

In Science I have wanted to do Human Body stuff for a while, so we'll work on that for eight weeks. We should be through with Ancient History, but I'd like to go back and hit the highlights--sort of recap events, ideas and major people. 

That's about it.

 

We might start French. That will be new.

[PeachyDoodle]

We have always taken the summers off, but we're trying something new this year. I had grand visions of my kids engaged in creative play and exploring hobbies/interests with all their free time, but in reality, if they don't have some things planned for them, they just turn into couch slugs who snipe at each other all day and beg to watch TV or play video games or eat. And truthfully, I'm not much better.

 

We're doing "school lite" this year, taking one week off per month in June and July for family travel, and probably the first two of August (we usually start school mid-August-ish). I brainstormed a bunch of potential summer project ideas with dd and dh, and dd settled on astrophysics. So I've been putting together a seven-week unit study on that for us to explore together. We're using a lot more videos, etc. than we do during the year (we're heavily literature and writing based) to keep it light. I want this to be an opportunity for her to delve into something that interests her without any pressure. She'll also keep pushing forward in math, practice learning to type, and review her Latin at least twice per week (no new material, just keeping it fresh).

 

For ds4, I'm going to take advantage of his desire to "do school" like dd and introduce some basic phonics, along with other directed play/preschool activities to keep him occupied while I work with dd.

 

We will be going to the library once a week (I'm giving dd SWB's library list to encourage her to branch out a bit) and take one day a week off for an outing with some of our friends. Some of these are educational, and some are just for fun (swimming, one of those bouncy-house places, etc.).

 

This absolutely won't happen without serious advance planning, so I am putting together a schedule just like I do for the school year to keep me accountable. If I stay on track, so will they! I wish we could be one of those laid-back kind of families, but things around here just go so much more smoothly when we have a plan. There's still plenty of free time built in, but when we are productive in the mornings, I generally find that everyone is happier and better able to entertain themselves for the rest of the day.

[karenmsta]

I think we (ds11 and ds9) will

Finish math

Keep plugging away on Latin (ds11)

Keep Latin fresh (ds9)

Focus on art and music appreciation and activities that get skipped a lot during the year

Some PE skills focus

 

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[Roadrunner]

We go into a part time mode. I expect math and foreign language to be ongoing, but even in those subjects we usually try new things. Every other subject is on hiatus, although my kids love to read, so they are learning about other things, just not in a directed manner.

[JadeOrchidSong]

I think we (ds11 and ds9) will

Finish math

Keep plugging away on Latin (ds11)

Keep Latin fresh (ds9)

Focus on art and music appreciation and activities that get skipped a lot during the year

Some PE skills focus

 

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

t

What Latin are you using?

I am hoping we will do some math, Figuratively Speaking, Art of Argument, outsourced art, swimming, and reading

[happyhappyjoyjoy]

I'm having my oldest take an online class with Memoria Press.  I'm excited, and it will be his first online class.  :)

[laughing lioness]

We have a crazy busy summer planned. 

dd 12 is doing a 1 day cartooning camp, Drama Camp and Shakespeare Camp, along with helping at a CC Practicum (assistant in Geo Draw camp where ds 20 is camp leader= she love geography and her big bro so she'll have a blast).

CC Practicum where she'll proabably be IN a camp. 

We'll put our above ground pool out and have lots of campfires. 

Academically, we'll do mental math and memorize CC Cycle 1, 2 grammar (in prep of Ch A). 

 

[karenmsta]

Jadeorchidsong, ds-11 is doing VL2 with Henle. Ds-9 is doing Latina Christiana. I want to get these cheap books (art of everyday Latin Adler) with simple translation sentences to switch it up a bit, let them do some online games and activities.

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[madteaparty]

Summer schedule is math, reading and the two foreign languages. So I guess not that much different than now because while we do cover the content subjects, they do not figure prominently here. He is also doing a Shakespeare workshop that's only 3 weeks I think.

[twoxcell]

My ds will not be done with his main curriculum until the beginning of July. We sold our house and bought a house in the fall, so we a re a few weeks behind. He will continue math through July most likely because he is a bit further behind with it. As far as summer schedule we will be doing some math and reading. Other than that VBS, camp, outside stuff, swimming, etc. I'm due to have a baby in September so we will most likely take September off and start our new year in October. 

[Tess in the Burbs]

our summer goals:

 

to finish First Form Latin 

 

daily reading,  Using "Reading Detective B1" and have a summer reading list if they can't find something to read on their own.  They usually read over an hour without nagging

 

daily math review or intro to new concepts,  Using "Understanding Algebra 1" by Critical Thinking Press.

 

Typing.  Both kids need to spend daily time typing.  DS especially before his online classes start