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[Paisley Hedgehog]

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[NanceXToo]

Mine is in 5th grade right now. We DO take off summers, for almost every subject.

 

Over the summer is when we do SOTW, taking our time and doing it for fun, though. I don't do that over the school year when we're busy with our main curriculum.

 

We continue with lots of reading, because we like to read. Both independently and read alouds.

 

But that's about it in regard to "schoolwork" type stuff.

 

Other than that, the kids take various camps, classes, lessons, continue with some of their extra curricular activities, etc. There's usually two weeks of swimming lessons and two weeks of art camp. We'll be continuing with Judo for my older, tee ball for my younger, and things like that. There will be lots of field trips and tours and get togethers and so on with our homeschool group. There will be a couple of mini family get-aways.

 

And of course lots of free time!

 

In your case... there aren't any classes or camps you can sign him up for? At a local community college? The YMCA? Scouts? 4-H? Library programs? Volunteering at a local hospital, nursing home, library, food pantry, day care center, etc? A program at a history or science museum? (They often have camps, classes, take teen volunteers, etc). A small theater that might have a drama class? A Council For The Arts that might do art camps and classes? Is there anything he's good enough at to offer summer tutoring to younger kids? Would he be interested in trying to write a book/long story? At home, would he utilize different "how to" type books from the library to hone his drawing skills, to learn magic tricks, science experiments, anything that gets him into things other than video games? Is he close enough to any of those friends who live a half hour away that their parents might be willing to meet halfway to give the kids opportunities to get together? Or take turns with the driving/whose houses they play at?

[abbeyej]

Well, my rising 8th grader will be taking the summer off -- there's Boy Scout camp and ballet summer intensive for a couple of weeks, soccer at the local rec center, and lots of swimming, summer reading at our favorite independent children's bookstore, possibly writing camp with an author friend, etc, etc.

 

*But* if the summer weren't so full, we'd do:

Journey Into Africa -- a 14 week unit study on Africa that I've wanted to do for years... I may *still* do it, even if we have to squish it in a little... Notice there are some supplementary lesson plans for older kids.

 

or maybe

Brimwood Press's Tools for Young Historians

(I actually have this and we've used parts of it in the past, but I think it would be particularly great to work through before starting high school history.)

 

I just found out about

Discovering Music, and it looks like it would be a fabulous way to include history (1600-1914), art, and lots and lots of music... I started a thread about it over on the high school board 'cause I was interested to hear others' experiences.

 

We're planning to use the One Year Adventure Novel next year, for 8th grade, but if your kiddo has any interest in writing and really working, I bet you could condense it to fit into a summer semester...

 

We did do LL8 last summer, sort of as a book club with a friend, and that did go pretty well. So if that was appealing, I think it's a good option...

 

I guess it's clear that I think for a kid who works really hard academically during the year, it's nice to do something really different over the summer... Is there anything your son is really interested in that he doesn't usually have time to do during the school year? Some longer-term project (whether that's building something or researching something or...)?

[weaver_67579]

and do a unit study on it?

 

As for us-we school year round, but lighter in the summer. Each school year we make a list of some of the things the kids want to learn and fit those that don't fit in well during the school year in the summer.

 

DD (currently 7th grade) will for sure continue with math and finish up/continue whatever curriculum we did not get done. I won't start anything new in summer-except math if we get to a new level. We have done a nature study the last few summers and will continue to work on that-and invite our homeschool group too-for play time after.

 

DS (pre-k currently) will continue on with Sonlight P3/4 and Sing Spell Read and Write Pre-K and then go on to the next levels of each when we finish what we are doing.

[NanceXToo]

Oh, the "One Year Adventure Novel" is a great idea! Mine is still a little young for that but I want to look into it in the future :)

 

Also, there's a book called "Talking Pictures" that you might want to check out- it's about watching movies together (which are divided by age level and topic, including sections for teens) and then all these different discussion questions, all geared around morals and ethics and understanding peoples' differences and relating to other people and so on.

 

http://www.amazon.com/Talking-Pictures-Everyday-Problems-Children/dp/0762408030/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1295357538&sr=8-1

[Homeschooling6]

Well, my rising 8th grader will be taking the summer off -- there's Boy Scout camp and ballet summer intensive for a couple of weeks, soccer at the local rec center, and lots of swimming, summer reading at our favorite independent children's bookstore, possibly writing camp with an author friend, etc, etc.

 

*But* if the summer weren't so full, we'd do:

Journey Into Africa -- a 14 week unit study on Africa that I've wanted to do for years... I may *still* do it, even if we have to squish it in a little... Notice there are some supplementary lesson plans for older kids.

 

or maybe

Brimwood Press's Tools for Young Historians

(I actually have this and we've used parts of it in the past, but I think it would be particularly great to work through before starting high school history.)

 

I just found out about

Discovering Music, and it looks like it would be a fabulous way to include history (1600-1914), art, and lots and lots of music... I started a thread about it over on the high school board 'cause I was interested to hear others' experiences.

 

We're planning to use the One Year Adventure Novel next year, for 8th grade, but if your kiddo has any interest in writing and really working, I bet you could condense it to fit into a summer semester...

 

We did do LL8 last summer, sort of as a book club with a friend, and that did go pretty well. So if that was appealing, I think it's a good option...

 

I guess it's clear that I think for a kid who works really hard academically during the year, it's nice to do something really different over the summer... Is there anything your son is really interested in that he doesn't usually have time to do during the school year? Some longer-term project (whether that's building something or researching something or...)?

 

Discovering Music looks great! I'll have to look into that one. Thanks!

 

The Journey into Africa looks really good too! Maybe one of these years we can swing it. I have wanted to visit Africa for years.

[SailorMom]

We take summers off!!! :D

I, however, will be writing a graduate thesis paper and learning the next year of Latin so that I can teach it to him :)

If he didn't have the summer off - I wouldn't be able to get all of that done.

[SkateLeft]

I usually plan all kinds of light, academic stuff, but we end up doing none of it between traveling, camps, field trips, sports and classes. I always intend to do at least some "school" over summer, but it's just never happened.

[redsquirrel]

Well, I live in the opposite climate, lol. here it is the winter that curtails outside activities. July and August are the only truly hot months. So, we take full advantage of the summers with lots of swimming and outdoor play.

 

I also send the boys to fun camps in the activities they enjoy. They are very involved in the local arts scene so for at least two weeks they will do a morning theater camp. I think a round of swimming lessons are usually in order as well.

 

We keep up with music practice, but not daily. I will do my very best to make sure DS2 does some reading practice. If I have to wait with one boy for the other to finish a lesson then I pull out a kumon book to keep math fresh. But that is about it.

 

Sunshine is just too precious around here! The public school in this state don't start until september and finish at the end of june. We follow pretty much the same schedule.

[patchfire]

Dd does lots of camps over the summer. Usually she has about six weeks full over the summer.

 

We'll technically finish up our year at the end of April, at least in terms of reporting to the state. So we'll do a "May term" that's less full but still some schoolwork. During the actual summer, dd will be required to read regularly, keep up with music practice, and do math below what she's working on as a review.

 

One thing I have considered in the past is making my own "camp," which could be a good option if there aren't a lot of good camp options near you. We never actually did it, but a science or history unit could easily make a good week-long study with plenty of time to play, etc. as well.

[TechWife]

This is our last summer before high school - we will be doing math & possibly vocabulary. Other than that, ds is applying to the Jr. Curator program at an area museum and has had an offer to volunteer @ the park & rec helping with robotics camps.

[PeterPan]

Well I'll read the other responses, but just today I was thinking ballroom dance would be good for us to learn this summer. Not academic, good for you, and might even be good for some rhythm and motor planning in your LLD. And it's good with the chicks. Ok, maybe not. :)