PhotoGal Posted March 5, 2012 Share Posted March 5, 2012 I was leaning toward schooling year-round, but it seems like the kids are not going to agree. :D So I'm trying to plan some things for the summer that are still educational but don't seem like schoolwork. Here are my ideas so far: Math - play lots of board and card games (monopoly, war, etc). Some of our computer games have some logic. Social Studies - play "The Scrambled States of America" and "10 Days in the USA". Maybe watch some Brainpop. Language Arts - lots of library visits, continue bedtime stories, write letters to their cousins, not sure what else? Science - hoping to do a few fun experiments / have discussions. I would love to use BFSU over the summer, but not sure if it has writing in it. We will do some camping, nature walks. The kids might do a science camp. Music - probably just listening to different kinds of music Art - bring out supplies at various times and start using them - I'm guessing they will join in. PE - they will probably keep up with their sports over the summer and run around the park. We may get a trampoline. We will probably do some swimming. Chinese - I have no idea how to keep this going over the summer. Ds is totally against Chinese camp. We will probably watch DVDs, but that isn't enough to keep up with characters, etc. This will probably be the toughest subject to sneak in as ds isn't fond of it. Let me know if you have more ideas! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DREAMhsMama Posted March 7, 2012 Share Posted March 7, 2012 Pick up some unit studies from Amanda Bennett (or anywhere, I happen to be an AB fan)? She has a lot of different summer related studies! Including a Summer Olympics study! This is my plan, anyway! "Oceans" is waiting for us! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PhotoGal Posted March 7, 2012 Author Share Posted March 7, 2012 Oh, I forgot about the olympics! Great idea. Maybe we will have our own mini-olympics. :D Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kfeusse Posted March 7, 2012 Share Posted March 7, 2012 do your children like to make lapbooks? this is one thing I do in the summer. I let them pick a topic from the Homeschool Share website and then print the pages off, help know what to do, let then do it. They love reading their lapbooks over and over again. Otherwise, it sounds great....I am going to mark your post....you have some really good ideas that I think I am going to use. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kewb Posted March 7, 2012 Share Posted March 7, 2012 Enroll them in Hogwarts Summer Correspondence School. We did that the first year we were homeschooling. They loved it. We did three subjects. The care of Magical Creatures, arithmacy, amd potions. There is a yahoo group dedicated to it. Hmm, now I am thinking I should do it again. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Alicia64 Posted March 7, 2012 Share Posted March 7, 2012 I'll be honest: I sound hard-hearted, but I wouldn't let kids that age make that kind of decision. I have eight-year-olds and I've always just said, "we school in the summer. Period." It's for them -- no brain drain -- but also for me. . . I can ease up a bit when I need to during the year and not feel so stressed about it. But for unschooling in the year I wanted to add: cooking and baking. You can add math in of course, but also just learning to cook and bake are excellent life skills. I really want my boys to know how to do both. I'd also add: lots of crafts, building things at the Home Depot and Lowe's Saturday Kid's Days, crafts at Whole Foods Kid's Days, lots of library visits, tons of reading aloud, tons of audio books, going to live theater. But I'd pull the I'm-the-mom thing and insist on year round schooling w/ fantastic breaks. Alley Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paisley Hedgehog Posted March 7, 2012 Share Posted March 7, 2012 nm Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NotAVampireLvr Posted March 7, 2012 Share Posted March 7, 2012 Another that is planning to be the meanie. SO MUCH is loss in a summer gap IMO and I pull rank. I do plan to readjust our schedule quite a bit though... Mornings are free while its still cool, and then school work done during the hottest part of the day. I also plan to be more flexible with non-core subjects. Math and English are non-negotiable... Reading of course as well, but since starting HSng we haven't had a lot of issues motivating the reading. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
woolybear Posted March 7, 2012 Share Posted March 7, 2012 Adventure boxes. http://blogshewrote.blogspot.com/2009/05/adventure-boxes-part-1.html Also, why don't you think about planning it like camp? Have a time for crafts, outdoor games, hikes (with nature study), swimming, but also have a learning hour. Maybe add in a quiet time with books, audio books, etc. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
laughing lioness Posted March 7, 2012 Share Posted March 7, 2012 Geography boxes Astronomy Veritas Press summer reading list K–2nd, 3rd–6th, 7th–12th. VP also has a summer reading contest. Don't forget read alouds. Local homeschoolers put on a yearly drama camp- they now cap it at 65 kids. We also do a summer Shakespeare Camp. Both started as back-yard get-togethers with a few families. Scripts were fairy tales that Mom's added dialog too. I'm leading a History of the Horse unit this summer with girls from my writing class and we'll continue WWS as a group over the summer. We are going to plan a long day evey week or other week, do some intensive writing and then play capture the flag, scavenger hunts, tramp fun, etc on our acerage. Are you traveling? Factory Tours by State. I also have a "Summer Fun" board on Pinterest. I'm going to make a summer "bucket list" for the kids so thier time is directed, but more relaxed than our regular schedule. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SunnyDays Posted March 7, 2012 Share Posted March 7, 2012 We're doing school-light through the summer. Math and reading each day, then maybe a fun read aloud, project, field trip, etc. a few times a week. HipGal, I think your ideas are all good ones. School doesn't have to look the same all year round. What if you had the kids do "lessons" for 30 minutes a day... choose whether it's most important to have them do math, or whatever. Then they have to read each day, then your fun learning ideas. Not at all like full school, but keeps them going with learning. The summer Olympics study sounds fun, I'll have to look at that. Lisa, great ideas... do you have a link to VP's summer contest, or is the info out for that yet?? I peeked at their website but didn't see anything. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
laughing lioness Posted March 7, 2012 Share Posted March 7, 2012 Sunny- here's the link from last year. If you get their epistula, it should be in there. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
momto2Cs Posted March 7, 2012 Share Posted March 7, 2012 (edited) Enroll them in Hogwarts Summer Correspondence School. We did that the first year we were homeschooling. They loved it. We did three subjects. The care of Magical Creatures, arithmacy, amd potions. There is a yahoo group dedicated to it. Hmm, now I am thinking I should do it again. Great idea! Maybe, maybe I will look into this. My plans as of this moment (warning: all plans are subject to change!): Continue Life of Fred elementary series through the summer (We just started Apples last night and read 3 chapters already!) Continue having dd9 practice her reading. She is improving, at long, long last, and I want it to keep improving! We also join in our library's summer reading challenge each year. Ds10 will probably keep writing - he's working on a story/book at the moment. And we're going to cover our state history this summer, through good books and field trips. We also garden, go camping and hiking, so lots of practical skills and incidental nature study. Edited March 7, 2012 by momto2Cs Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
aggieamy Posted March 7, 2012 Share Posted March 7, 2012 I vote for school lite during the summer also. Kids don't get a say because I'm the grownup. Here's what we do: Singapore Math Lots of reading and read alouds SOTW audiobooks German - going to try and start this but haven't worked out logistics yet HWOT cursive As many stories as she wants to write ;) For your ages I'm also going to suggest Sum Swamp, it might be a little too easy for your older kid but he'll still really enjoy it. We're working on multiplication here and it still got requested a few days ago. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
momto2Cs Posted March 7, 2012 Share Posted March 7, 2012 For your ages I'm also going to suggest Sum Swamp, it might be a little too easy for your older kid but he'll still really enjoy it. We're working on multiplication here and it still got requested a few days ago. We love Sum Swamp too! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ThisIsTheDay Posted March 8, 2012 Share Posted March 8, 2012 I'd plan a morning read aloud on the days that you will be home. Alternatively, you could plan a bedtime read aloud. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mamiof5 Posted August 6, 2015 Share Posted August 6, 2015 Another "we do what mom says" situation. When my kids are parents they can decide what to do during their summer Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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