What do your summers look like?

[songsparrow]

I am thinking ahead to this summer. Everything goes more smoothly in our house on school days, because we have a rhythm, and because the girls have things to do that engage them. On the weekends, with more free time, the kids are much more likely to bicker and beg for screens. Now, I could just homeschool year round, but if I mention anything like school during the summer, I'll have a mutiny on my hands! LOL But on the other hand, the girls attended a very school-like camp for 3 weeks each of the last 3 years and loved it and never thought of it as school.

 

I do plan to have them do lots of physical activity - several hours at the pool most days, gardening, bike riding, nature walks, etc. We'll do field trips, I can plan crafts, I want to do some star gazing, we can do some cooking/grilling, and the girls have asked to do our own mini summer "camp" on Ancient Egypt.

 

I am thinking this may also be a good time to explore unschooling more.

 

So, what do your summer routines look like? How do you disguise educational activities? ;-)

[Aurelia]

Summer looks just like the rest of the year. We school year-round; if I have to work all year, DD gets to do school all year. ;) That said, we do less/go slower when she has more activities, like May and June will be lighter because she's on the swim team this year, so she'll be practicing 5 days a week plus swim meets on the weekends. This last month has been kind of light due to Girl Scout activities (camping, cookie sales, etc) and gymnastics meets.

[MrsH]

I LOVE summer, and not having the pressure of having to complete anything in particular!

 

First, we have a family meeting and have everyone share a few things they really want to make sure we do during the summer. We schedule those in as best we can (think: all-day tv marathon, swim, day trip to a new place, beach, sleep in late, have a pajama day, visit 10 different playgrounds, go to the zoo, go hiking...). Then I ask what they want to read and talk about. My ds7 and dd3 came up with: bugs, birds, water, cooking, and crafts. Great. I write each of those into their own week, and add a few other activities that we do each year: VBS, week w/ grandparents w/out us, week or weekend away with just us, and annual extended family vacation.

 

For our themed weeks, I try to find books, a craft, a field trip, a movie, a snack, a project, an activity, all around that theme. We visit the library weekly so we can easily pick up books then. Having a theme really helps me to narrow down our choices and just go with something.

 

Each day does have somewhat of a rhythm, and I make a board for them so that in the morning they can visually see what the plan is. Our morning and evening routines are generally the same each day. On days that we have lunch at home, we follow it by a rest hour, but on field trip days that doesn't always happen. When they know that today we'll do our morning routine, then do a craft and go to the library, followed by lunch, rest hour, and a trip to the pond, it helps the day go much more smoothly. They don't have to participate in any of the themed stuff, but they generally like to.

 

That's it in a nutshell. I like to plan and it feels good to not have the pressure of really thinking that this is so important for them. It's just fun for us.

[Jaz]

We school in a less rigorous mode through the summer. We'll do math and Spanish daily then add in some music and art appreciation along with study skills this year.

 

For fun, we host a movie-themed unit study with friends. We've done the science of Star Wars, characters from Night at the Museum, animals from Swiss Family Robinson and different versions of Cinderella movies and books. I'm thinking about Titanic this year.

[momma2three]

My two older kids will go to camp all summer. I'll keep up the reading, handwriting and math, so that it stays fresh. I doubt I'll do them all every day: probably 1 or 2 a day, depending on how tired and busy we are.

[Ellie]

Our routine was pretty much the same year round when the dc were young:

 

Monday and Tuesday: stay home. No errands, no field trips, no crafts/sewing for me, just...stay home. Official School Stuff out on the kitchen table for dc to do or not, but since we were Staying Home, the dc would usually pick up the Official School Stuff out of boredom.

 

Wednesday: Library, usually a large, very cool library. :-) After the library, we'd just come come. Sometimes we'd go goof off with friends, occasionally there'd be an errand.

 

Thursday: Field trip. Sometimes we'd work on a Camp Fire badge; sometimes it would be something we'd read about in the newspaper; sometimes it would be an Orange Julius at the mall (social studies, lol). That worked for us in serendipitous ways, as when we went to the San Diego Zoo and found a crew filming Joan Embry at the children's zoo, or when we were at a mall that had an ice skating rink, and there was a recital of sorts of all the classes, and Dorothy Hamil was the special guest. :-) Mostly it was just us, but sometimes we'd invite a small group of people to go with us if it was something that required more than four bodies.

 

Friday: Clean house--all the laundry, move the furniture and vacuum, dust, clean the bathrooms, everything. Park day once a month. That left weekends free of major housework, clean underwear on Sunday morning, and the ability to just...get up on Monday and stay home.

 

From Thanksgiving to about the middle of January, we didn't do Official School Stuff on Mondays. We also took off random times as needed for Mental Health Days or a trip to Disneyland on a Wednesday in March.

 

By the time the dc were, oh, 9 and 12, we were doing more Official Stuff weekly, although we still took off Thanksgiving through the middle of January.

[PentecostalMom]

We don't take a big break during the summer, we do that in the winter. Over the summer, we will keep doing what we are doing. We will more than likely have to move as dh graduates from college in June, and we will also have a new addition, so we will modify as needed. Mostly, I intend to school heavily in the mornings, have little ds take a nap while we finish school or straighten up the house, then we will hit the pool and play outside. I like afternoons free!

[2_girls_mommy]

2 mos off (June and July) but not really LOL. One week of June is usually crazy: day camps all day and VBS at night. Then occasionally they go to another VBS w/friends another week.

 

The rest of the month we go wherever we want to go whenever the mood strikes us, including the library at least once a week. We do the library summer reading contest. They read whatever they want for that, but keep track of it, reading required daily. 3 days a week I babysit a niece, 1 of those days I also babysit another child. So one of those days is definitely a field trip day (zoo, museum, spraypark, what ever.)

 

BUT when we are home, we continue w/school lightly: Math for one child, spelling for the other (the subjects they both can;t afford to fall behind in.) Plus they have summer workbooks, right now the Complete Book of Maps and Geography, Mindbenders, and stuff like that. I also keep up reading SOTW year round, and we do art whenever we want.

 

We spend a lot of time in the yard. I garden and hang dry laundry, which keeps me out a lot, which in turn keeps them following me out. And my niece loves to play in the sprinkler, so they usually do that in the afternoons that we are home. So we keep busy.

 

July is pretty much academics free. Between the 4th of July, family bday parties, an annual event that we attend w/family most years, and just taking a break, we stay busy. It can be a good time for nature observation for us too. Plus, I need to clear my head and plan for the next year and just have some down time.

 

We are planning some house projects this year which will fill the hours too.

[Mom2OandE]

We are planning a 8 week summer. The kids get week 1 and 8 off. Week 2-7 they have to do one hour a day. 30 min reading, 20 min math and 10 min journaling/writing. The first week we are actually road tripping and seeing multiple presidential sights as well as other educational attractions. I'm also in the process of putting together a science trunk filled with a manual and simple supplies for them to do experiments on their own with friends. I think we are going to host a weekly book club as well.

[duckens]

This will be my second summer to over-schedule dd6. Mostly it is because I suck lemons at arranging playdates for her. We don't belong to a church, aren't close emotionally or geographically with cousins, and don't have a lot of kids in our neighborhood that aren't in public school and daycare all day.

 

Our general plan for this summer, so far:

1) two sessions of swim lessons (8 days each)

 

2) two sessions of Nature camp (mornings only, 1 week each)

 

3) Clover Kids (4H) and the county fair (1 or 2 items to take to fair)

 

4) Girls' (t-ball) Softball (during the months of May/June)

 

5) Library Reading Program, and possibly their weekly K-Club activities. Our library has extra summer activities like "Hot Dog Dinner Theater", story tellers, "Read to a dog," and Free Friday Flix.

 

6) Naturalist's Lunchbox: Our local Nature Center has free programs under the trees every other Friday in the summer. Pack a sack lunch and hear a story or two. Afterwards, there are crafts and activities for the kids.

 

7) Frontier Girls: Last summer, we adopted a city garden at one of the parks. The city provides the flowers. We plant them and weed them all summer. We are hoping to do the same this year. We do this to earn volunteer hours....and as an excuse to go to the park. :001_smile:

 

8) Dd6 said she wanted to try dance, so I signed her up for the Zumba class for kids (6-8). She is entranced by the adults doing Zumba as we leave gymnastics, so I hope she enjoys it. (Once a week).

 

9) We have access to a little pool at our trailer court. After morning activities, we often take a sack lunch to eat at the pool and swim for an hour. Once a week, I send out FB invitations to friends to swim with us on a certain day. Sometimes we have company swimming. Sometimes we are alone.

 

10) A trip to Grandpa's house (out of state) for a week of family vacation. We don't do this every summer.

 

Dd6 has said that she doesn't want to do Gymnastics this summer. If she changes her mind, I will sign her up for gymnastics and gymnastics camp.

 

I am also waiting for information on Engineering Camp and programs at the local Butterfly House. If those don't work out, I'll sign her up for beginning Tennis (if she still doesn't want to do gymnastics).

 

Dd2 is finally old enough to have activities of her own. She will be in Tumblebugs ( gymnastics fun stuff).

[Rosie_0801]

Every time I see this thread title I think "Yellow grass." Maybe now I've posted it, I'll get over it. :p

[PachiSusan]

We're actually considering schooling nearly year round. Since we're in LV, its going to be hotter than the sun during the summer and we won't WANT to be outside anyway. The other thing we're considering is having her "break" be during the winter holidays instead.

[boscopup]

We school through summer and take off more time in fall/spring when it's nice out. Alabama is hot during the summer, and my kids will melt if they go outside. :tongue_smilie:

 

I do take off most of June, because that's when they have scout camp, and we can do swim lessons and other such things. We don't have activities all summer long though.

[linders]

Summer is a constantly changing schedule, which seems so much harder than the school year!

 

Throughout, there is swim team, with practices, meets, parties, and hanging out at the pool to play. There is a week of Boy Scout camp, a week of Cub Scout camp (where I will chaperone), tennis classes, and Lego classes (unless I can hide the brochure from the boys). We continue music lessons, but on a constantly shifting schedule to accommodate the rest. Reading, Lego-building, drawing, and semi-educational videos (e.g., Blue Planet) during downtime.

 

And I optimistically think we'll do unfinished history and science during the summer.

[kwickimom]

I sign the kids up for everything I can. Our community center offers free classes all summer like gardening and drama. We have a big easy set pool we put up so only my 10YO dd will get a public pool pass because I can drop her off with her friends and she can hang out and get away. My church group usually meets at the park once a week. I am babysitting a 6YO all summer, but I can take her wherever we go. I have a pass to the Magic House and the Zoo and we will do a bunch of day trips to St. Louis. They all go to Grandmas for a week and I stay here. No family vacation this year as money is tight.

We will be doing Math (dd is a little behind because we switched programs) and they want to study geography so we are going to do GTG and just pick a country a week and study it.

We will do maybe an hour or two of school every morning and then off to activites and fun!!

[Melenie]

In the summer we do 2 months of "light school", this is the time we catch up on missed work. We do projects I wanted to get done during the school year and could not get to, and finish up curriculum that took longer than expected. The last 4 weeks of summer we take off school. We go on field trips, nature walks, play dates, free summer movies with friends, visit family etc.

 

On days I do not have anything planned and the kids are not playing well, I will have a few projects ready to suggest. One year I pulled out the recycle bin, paints, tape and glue, and told them to make me a turkey from what they could find. They both came up with great turkeys!

 

We also do lots of baking, I get them involved in the daily cooking. We do lots of trips to the library and they are allowed to get DVD's, I often look for DVD's about the books we have covered during the school year. They also love to listen to audio books.

 

I am interested to see what others are doing, so I can add ideas to my list.

[Kelly1730]

Every time I see this thread title I think "Yellow grass." Maybe now I've posted it, I'll get over it. :p

 

Ok, that just made me laugh out loud! :lol: Thanks for the morning chuckle, Rosie!

[Wheres Toto]

We school year round but tend to only do our skill subjects (language arts, math) in the summer. We do a lot of nature study between camping, hiking, and just spending time outside.

 

This year the kids may do VBS at our UMC church. They may do a summer session of martial arts and see how that goes. We'll go to the pool a lot but I prefer to be inside in the hottest, sunniest part of the day so that's when we'll do some school work.

[JFSinIL]

The summers around fourth grade were used for the crafty state history unit - I forget which company sells it, tailored for each state, but it is very popular. We'd double down on lessons and add in field trips to the State Capital, etc.

 

Also, depending on the needs of the kid, math would continue over the summer. That way, too, in the fall we'd be able to skip the first 40 or so "review" lessons of the next level - since the kid had not had time to forget stuff - and plow ahead.

[Chelli]

Our summers look like temperatures in the upper 90s to low 100s with humidity that fish could swim through.

 

Therefore we school. We got to the pool in the morning, come home at noon, and school all afternoon.

 

Not to mention that in the summer all of our extra-curriculars (ballet, homeschool co-op, sports) are over so we actually have more time to focus on school then anyway.

 

Right now, when the weather is in the 70's is when we are taking more days off. We will do the same in the fall as well. This is why I like year round school...adaptable.

[Mommy22alyns]

In June, as many library summer reading program events as we can. Rebecca is going to have a lot of gymnastics, so we'll be driving into town several mornings a week. Summer Bridge. DH taking the girls to the splash pad or bowling (Kids Bowl Free). VBS in July, AHG day camp the first week in August. Hot, hot, HOT and humid! Hopeful trip to Atlanta at the end of June, hopeful one week dance camp for Sylvia in July. Did I mention, HOT?

[Ravin]

Well, the last several summers have included a good chunk of DD spending it at Grandma's House in TX. With mom's health and family drama (my sister not speaking to mom, etc.), we (both my mom and I) decided that would be a no-go this summer. So, DD will be attending a day camp pretty much all summer. We'll probably keep doing some light math and a bit of Latin to keep it all from falling out of her head, but I'm doing an intensive 5 week 5 credit hour writing class, followed by an externship with a superior court judge. DH is also taking a full summer courseload.

 

Basically, DD gets to spend the summer doing fun stuff in a social environment with other kids, including swimming every day.

[briansmama]

I could have written the OP! My boys thrive on our daily rhythm- without it, they are more likely to bicker and get in trouble.

 

While I firmly believe in taking a long break over the summer to digest everything they've worked hard to learn over the course of the school year, we do stick pretty closely with our daily rhythm. This means we still have a daily structure in place surrounding mealtimes, daily afternoon quiet time, dinner-bath-stories-bed by 7:30-8. The morning block that we usually spend doing lessons is now time I still claim for the boys and I to do outdoors stuff together (swim, hike, park, dog walks, science/nature activities). Afternoons (after quiet time) are free, so they usually spend the time playing in the neighborhood while I catch up on laundry, read, make dinner, etc.

 

I'm also planning to take the boys berry-picking, and we usually always work with science kits that are specific to the outdoors (geodes, butterfly habitat, etc).

[m0mmaBuck]

I'm probably the odd-man-out on this but we just have fun. We are usually done with school by mid-June and don't start until mid-September. I pick up extra hours at work covering vacations and the kids hang out with DH, play with friends, go to various camps, hang out at the lake, and go on fun day trips. We have lots of visitors and we take them all over the state.

 

Occasionally we may play an educational game or watch a DVD/Netflix with some redeeming educational properties but there is nothing structured.

 

I love summer. It's the only time of year that I really enjoy living in the Pacific Northwest.

[Donna]

Our summers consist of music camps and travel with weeks in between where I work extra hours to make up for those I miss while away. I do a little school with dd when we are home...keep up with math mostly and sometimes finish up any science or history we didn't get to.

[FairProspects]

Summer camps! Great opportunities for the kids to take fun classes from someone other than me and a good chance for me to plan next year's stuff.

[antsam]

 

 

For fun, we host a movie-themed unit study with friends. We've done the science of Star Wars, characters from Night at the Museum, animals from Swiss Family Robinson and different versions of Cinderella movies and books. I'm thinking about Titanic this year.

 

This sounds fun... can you share a little of what you did for these movies? Thanks!!

 

Jodie

[Jaz]

Sure, for the Star Wars study we met every other week. We watched one of the movies together each meeting and had short presentations based on science from the movie. For example, one session the kids presented current medical devices like Luke Skywalker's arm or Darth Vader's breathing aparatus. Another session, the kids researched space travel. One was about weapon technology. I let the moms decide how elaborate or simple they wanted their child's presentation.

 

For Night at the Museum, the kids all choose a character from the movie before getting together and came to watch the movie in costume. Then, we had a human timeline with the kids lining up in order. (My kids did a unit study at home of all the characters.)

 

HTH! :)