Does Anyone Take the Summer's Off Anymore?

[kellycbr]

Am I the only one who just let my DC play all day? The lazy, slow days of summer have been wonderful for us. The kids are outside all day, playing in the giant sandbox, riding bikes, going off on adventures (in our yard). We go to the library only every other week (there are plenty of books here), and the whole neighborhood is here by noon each day to join in on the fun. Oh, and when its really hot, they come in to play with legos, dress up, or board games. We don't have a TV, nor video games, so the kids come up with their own games.

 

Does anyone else do summer the old fashioned way, or is there always a learning opportunity going on?

[Homeschooling6]

We do "Summer" school. Most everything is done orally and read alouds. The kiddos do play a lot more.

 

For Summer school the kiddos do math orally, Queenshomeschool for LA. We just started adding in cursive practice, history and science but those are the fun stuff that the kids don't consider school;)

[HollyinNNV]

Am I the only one who just let my DC play all day? The lazy, slow days of summer have been wonderful for us. The kids are outside all day, playing in the giant sandbox, riding bikes, going off on adventures (in our yard). We go to the library only every other week (there are plenty of books here), and the whole neighborhood is here by noon each day to join in on the fun. Oh, and when its really hot, they come in to play with legos, dress up, or board games. We don't have a TV, nor video games, so the kids come up with their own games.

 

Does anyone else do summer the old fashioned way, or is there always a learning opportunity going on?

 

We've watched tv till we are zombies. Today we are going to the water park till 7 PM. We do everything till we are totally bored and sick of it. We haven't been to the library yet. We've got tons of books here. But, to be honest, I don't even monitor that there is any reading going on. Our school year is so intense, I just can't bear the thought of telling them to do something unless I must (academically).

 

I try and keep all organized stuff to a minimum. The only exception is that everyone must practice their instrument(s) before we go have fun. My dd is practicing harp right now with a big fat grin on her face (scratch the grin-she is practicing though).

 

Holly

[MomOfOneFunOne]

I had all kinds of extravagant plans for summer but you know what we did? Play. Library program. Play. Friends old and new. play. play. play.

 

There was vacation, one camp, we met a couple of families who also have a Y membership and got to go swimming with them. Both homeschool so this fun should continue all through the year! We had a grand summer!

[Quiver0f10]

We don't so school in the summer and I did order vacation stations this year and I find them working through them, but I admit I haven't been good @ making sure they are done. We tried year round school once and it didn't work well.

[Jenny in Florida]

But my kids aren't into it. I think there are a variety of factors are work here:

 

- We don't live in the kind of neighborhood in which there are gangs of kids with whom to play. There is a family next door who have kids younger than both of mine, and my son plays with the a fair amount. However, they are not home during the day (both parents work), and right now the little boy is off visiting relatives until just before school starts.

 

- It's hot. We live in Florida, and it's sickeningly hot many days and raining others. Being outside in the afternoons is pretty miserable.

 

- My kids require pretty constant brain stimulation to be happy. They're not happy unless they're learning something or focusing on something. They've been this way since they were teeny, and since I share the trait, I can't complain too much. Early on in the homeschooling adventure, I tried so hard to give them summers "off," but it was just miserable for all of us.

 

So, while I don't impose a lot of structured "educational opportunities," we do have to include a fair number of organized activities in our summers, or no one has a good time. Neither one did any day camps this year--other than the one we helped run at our church--but my daughter is busy with rehearsals for her second show of the summer. (Opening next week! Tickets available now!) And my son is gearing up for his week at choir camp starting on Wednesday. He also went on tour with his choir at the beginning of the summer.

 

We did have about three and a half weeks in between all of the above when we kind of hung around the house. They played computer games and we went to the library and the beach and the waterpark and got together with friends, and both of them read a lot. But, all in all, everyone is happier when there are places to go and people to see.

 

I took my son this morning to register for this fall's dance classes, and he is so happy to be going back in a couple of weeks . . .

[LisaKinVA]

We have so much going on throughout the "school year" we need the summer months to keep on track.

 

That said, pretty much the entire month of July is "school free" (due to me being gone a week, and my oldest son having camp for two weeks) save reading and math games -- unless the kiddos want to pick up their work books and "do school."

 

We started school "officially" this past Monday... My oldest (4th) can have most of his school work completed by 1:30, and can go swim or play with his friend all afternoon. My two younger "school-age" children are done by 9:00 (but they are K/1st).

 

It's just what works best for our family.

[Jodie]

We take the summer off....but not intentionally! LOL :D I always have good intentions of doing school 1 or 2 days a week just to keep it fresh but it never happens. So next summer I am taking it off! I do have him read books just so at least he doesn't forget how to do that, because it was a hard won process in the beginning. But I do start school a couple weeks earlier than the public school system so I can bring him back up to date and it takes about that much time to do it. But we have a pool so it is torture for all of us to be sitting inside doing school in the summer, when we could be out swimming!:svengo:

[Rhonda in TX]

Summer school lasted 2 weeks here and then I dropped it. Other than that, we've done a whole lot of nothin'. It's been wonderful! I am re-instituting summer breaks here. It's so great to just be a mom for awhile.

[Country Girl]

We take summer completely off here too. In fact, dh actually "forbid" me to do school in the summers. He thinks the kiddos need the traditional "summer vacation" (I found I need it too). Plus, we get so busy with summer activities that trying to squeeze school in would be very stressful.

[Parrothead]

Summers off for us. Our winters are so ugly that summer is for lots of outside play.

[kellycbr]

After looking at my grammar for this thread, I think maybe I should study while the kids play!

[Geek]

Our kids do the same, playing outside all day. We've done a couple of VBS's, and they're finishing up one week of Camp Invention. Other than that, it's outside and the pool.

[Michele B]

If we a had a great neighborhood kids to play with, that's all we would do too! Going to see friends, swim, ride bikes etc all involves getting away in the car. WE have done two days of homeschooling all summer and it gave us the structure we needed. That was two days when I knew we would be home all day having some down time. We tend to over-schedule when we have "free time." The family thinks we should pack up and visit at their various homes, educational outings. It just gets away from me. But when I say "we are homeschooling on Tues and Thurs," The kids get it; my parents get it; and I get it - We are not leaving the house. And I cannot risk dd7 falling behind in math!

 

Michele

[autumndivona]

We definitely take time off - 3 weeks in August. And since our homeschool day only lasts from 8:30 a.m. to 11 a.m. (in fact, it often ends before that), we DO zone out to the TV, run through the sprinkler, go to the park, etc. We definitely are not doing academics all the time and I do allow for my son's input.

 

For us, homeschooling is a partnership. Today in the car, he asked me to give him numbers to add while we were running errands. I spent 30 minutes throwing out numbers, and learning that he knows how to add up to 16 (yes, it was news to me).

 

We'll probably do one or two academic things today, and spend the rest of the day lazing around!

[Tabrett]

We took the whole summer off. But it is sooooo hot here that it might be better if I schooled June, July and August and took off cooler months of the year so the kids could go out and play:glare:.

Hum....That give me something to think about.

[Lydia]

We do. We usually finish around June 10 or so and take off until Aug 25 or so. It is a much needed break and allows the girls to keep busy with their own projects and pleasure reading and spending some days with Grandma in the woods, prairie and lake. Other than continuing piano practices/lessons we have no scheduled activities in the summer, and aside from chores their time is their own. It amazes me how busy they keep and what creative things they do, and makes me glad that they have the time to come up with these things.

 

And it lets me catch up on some chores and consulting, and get the gardening done.

 

To summer!

 

Lydia

[hsmamainva]

We're still on vacation here!!!

 

Our school year ended the week before 4th of July and we won't start back until September 8th (my oldest will start back at the community college on August 25th, however)

[Karenciavo]

We're off about 8 weeks in the summer. My older two have camp, missions trips, and VBS to work and the rest of the time they play, swim, hike, etc. The end of August we ease back into school with lots of reading and review.

[Stacy in NJ]

Am I the only one who just let my DC play all day? The lazy, slow days of summer have been wonderful for us. The kids are outside all day, playing in the giant sandbox, riding bikes, going off on adventures (in our yard). We go to the library only every other week (there are plenty of books here), and the whole neighborhood is here by noon each day to join in on the fun. Oh, and when its really hot, they come in to play with legos, dress up, or board games. We don't have a TV, nor video games, so the kids come up with their own games.

 

Does anyone else do summer the old fashioned way, or is there always a learning opportunity going on?

 

 

The past 7 weeks for us have been one lazy haze, but 7 weeks off is about all I can stand. We begin half days of school on Monday. We'll begin full time after Labour day.

[vanmeterk4]

We take the summer off from school...a full 11 weeks. My daughter attends PS, so we follow the PS schedule. My kids are VERY social during the summer, going to a variety of camps and doing lots of creative things. We also took a driving vacation to Washington D.C. and had a great time.

 

It's funny, because I see much less of my son in the summer and always look forward to things getting back to normal when we start school again. We will get back to work on August 18th.

 

-Kim in Iowa

[SheilaZ]

Me. Mine played all summer. I didn't even make them read. I didn't enforce wake up time and let them stay up past normal bed time. The got to watch TV and play vidoe games. They rode bikes, dug holes, climbed trees and went swimming. I didn't even offer meals until they said they were hungry.

They have pretty much been feral all summer.

 

They are so ready for school to start back that it's not even funny.

I'm "punishing" them by making them wait another week.

My oldest has taken to reading his new school books.:D

[Crissy]

We school year-round, but that doesn't mean we are at the books all day, every day.

There is plenty of playing going on.

The current obsession is a silly two-kid baseball game that my boys created. They take a bat, a mitt and a canvas bag full of wiffle balls to the baseball field across the street and play for a couple of hours.

They come home exhausted, ready to relax and read.

[mompotter]

We take it off! I had planned to do a light summer schedule this year but it just isn't happening!

 

We are going to the beach, pool, playing at home, inviting friends over, etc. We still try to get a little reading in but nothing major.

 

Enjoy your summer!!!:D

[cindyinTexas]

We do not take breaks so to speak in the summer because of the heat. We are in South Texas where some years it can get over 90 for months on end. My kids actually like year round school vs taking long breaks. We take off when the weather gets cool or spring comes around. We take small vacations on and off during the year.

 

It also works better for our schedule and with my husbands shift work.

 

I also think you have to figure out what works better for your family and go with it. Might not be what works for me, or the next person but after all it is homeschooling.;)

[Melissa B]

I consider us year round schoolers, but we take nearly the full month of December off. Like others in Florida, I agree it is too hot and too muggy and it storms nearly every afternoon in the summer. We have found it better to get more schooling done in the summer and enjoy the wonderful weather and winter holidays in December.

[clwcain]

We don't take summer off, but that is mostly driven by our oldest who asks to do "kitchen school" even on Saturday and Sunday.

 

While we're just covering phonics & handwriting, it seems the best way to go.

 

We have a schedule that will allow breaks that we're implementing this fall, but neither my wife nor I are keen on the 12-14 week summer break of yesteryear.

[jamnkats]

We took the whole summer off. But it is sooooo hot here that it might be better if I schooled June, July and August and took off cooler months of the year so the kids could go out and play:glare:.

Hum....That give me something to think about.

 

We pretty much spend May through October inside and the rest of the year outside. Just WAY too hot to be out and about during the summer. We start the A/C in February and turn it off in November.

 

But then we shiver when it gets down to 80F. I'm wearing a sweatshirt and it is 81F (inside A/C).

[cabdriver]

We take off the whole summer!! We have done camps, played, swam and just vegged out. It has been wonderful!!

I can't believe some of your kids want to start school again. That is certainly not the case here. What am I doing wrong?!

I think everyone needs a break- I know I do ! We will start back Aug 25.

[camibami]

Me. Mine played all summer. I didn't even make them read. I didn't enforce wake up time and let them stay up past normal bed time. The got to watch TV and play vidoe games. They rode bikes, dug holes, climbed trees and went swimming. I didn't even offer meals until they said they were hungry.

They have pretty much been feral all summer.

 

Mine too! We even ate in front of the tv.:drool: Drooling veggin-out guy is a good smiley for our summer. Elastigirl had some gymnastics camps (12 hours of gymnastics a day for 2 weeks- yikes!) and PiedPiper swam in a summer swim league, and both are very intense. So the rest of the time, we vegged. We have an awesome neighborhood with tons of kids, I just love it. We did do some dissection, for fun and nothing more.

 

They had exactly the summers I remember as a kid- I love that.

[DB in NJ]

Am I the only one who just let my DC play all day? The lazy, slow days of summer have been wonderful for us. The kids are outside all day, playing in the giant sandbox, riding bikes, going off on adventures (in our yard). We go to the library only every other week (there are plenty of books here), and the whole neighborhood is here by noon each day to join in on the fun. Oh, and when its really hot, they come in to play with legos, dress up, or board games. We don't have a TV, nor video games, so the kids come up with their own games.

 

Does anyone else do summer the old fashioned way, or is there always a learning opportunity going on?

 

Oh you are definitely not alone. We've been enjoying a whole lot of nothingness all summer long :D Late nights watching movies, sleeping in, going nowhere or going somewhere fun. My oldest has been keeping up with his history over the summer since he got behind during the year, but it's his choice to do it.

[LaMere Academy]

this is our first whole, long summer taken off. I planned some school, I think they did 3 days...and I gave up. It's been nice. They play and we go to the beach or pool, and that's about it. We've worked on nature studies but in a relaxed way.

[Mom2GirlsTX]

We have had very lazy days here. We don't have neighbor kids to play with, well one girl, and she splits her time between parents during the summer. My girls do alot of playing, reading, arguing, puttering around type stuff. My oldest took 3 weeks of classes at the Junior College, but other than keeping our reading up and doing math sheets a few times a week, we are just chilling here. It is way to hot to be outside here except in the mornings and late evenings, we don't even swim before 7 or 8:00 pm.

[sfernb]

We have always taken summers off and have enjoyed the long periods of unscheduled time. As they got older, they got summer jobs.

[Chris in VA]

I loved summer as a kid--and I fiercely defend the right of public school kids to have a summer off.

 

There's tons to do around here, but no kids around unless we invite them. So, sometimes we do a little school for fun.

 

We do take off 3 weeks (leave the house) b/c we live on church grounds and dh has to leave the premises or his parishioners would bug him on his vacation!:lol:

[Danestress]

We pretty much follow the school year.

 

My kids read a lot all year and practice violin even in the summer. They did a week of orchestra camp and a 3 day science camp.

 

Other than that, we are on break baby.

[hsmom]

This is our first summer that we took off. Well it is only our second summer since we started.

 

Now the plan was to only take off July. Then we were pretty well burnt out at the end of May so we took off at the beginning of June and we start back the 11th of August.

 

I really enjoyed or whole bunch of nothing summer.

[Tree House Academy]

Am I the only one who just let my DC play all day? The lazy, slow days of summer have been wonderful for us. The kids are outside all day, playing in the giant sandbox, riding bikes, going off on adventures (in our yard). We go to the library only every other week (there are plenty of books here), and the whole neighborhood is here by noon each day to join in on the fun. Oh, and when its really hot, they come in to play with legos, dress up, or board games. We don't have a TV, nor video games, so the kids come up with their own games.

 

Does anyone else do summer the old fashioned way, or is there always a learning opportunity going on?

 

No - but we take a full month off at Christmas from Thanksgiving through New Year and we take many week - 2 week long breaks in the summer. If my kids go 2-3 months straight without any schooling, they tend to have to start 3/4 of the way into the LAST year and work their way back to where they were when we stopped. This just works so much better for us.

[Karen in CO]

We take the summers off from everything except math. We do math in the summer at a white board right after breakfast. I sit with my coffee in my pjs and we do math 5 days a week unless we are camping, have company, in summer camp, or visiting family. So far we have had about 12 weeks of summer and about 4 weeks without math. We are keeping the summer schedule until September. So that will be 16 weeks of summer. I think it is important to let the kids have plenty of time to become "bored" and find new things to do.

 

My dd has leaped forward in her reading since I allow her to stay up as late as she wants to read. Our summer weather is spectacular, and I enjoy the break, but my 7yo is really making progress in math and I won't risk that. I don't want to be back to explaining "trading" again at the beginning of the school year.

[Mom2boys]

It's my dream to have a "do nothing" summer, but the kids have so many activities, we have been running just as much as we do during the school year. I would love to sleep in and hang out at the pool all summer. We haven't really done much in terms of school work, so that has been a nice break, but we really need to work on making our summers less busy.

[mcconnellboys]

No, we do that, too, pretty much. We tend to just hang out in summer (and it's way, way too short!)

[Dayle in Guatemala]

We actually don't take summers off, but, we take different times off during the year for playing and relaxing. Our year is less stressful all around if we can work at our own pace and not feel like we have to finish it all by May 31st! Too much happening here for that to be realistic for us.

[5knights3maidens]

Well, I was going to do school during the summer but it didn't happen. We've done a few things here and there but that is it. They've been playing and taking walks with me. Going to the park etc.

[Mamagistra]

Am I the only one who just let my DC play all day?

 

Of course not...we just prefer to do that when (A) it's not 100°+ outside, and (B) all the other schoolchildren are back in school, leaving the museums, zoo, parks, and beaches peaceful and quiet for us. :D

[Hoggirl]

we try to tackle a summer project. Summer between 3 & 4 ds learned to type. Summer between 4 & 5 we worked on history-type projects for ancients (b/c we never get to them during the school year). This summer ds worked on some composing. I like to have "something" to do during the summer. He also reads daily.

 

I love summers b/c I LOVE sleeping in!

[Peela]

It's not summer here right now, but our holidays are always just holidays- we don't do any structured school at all. I feel the kids need a complete break- they play computer games, do email, visit friends, have friends over, read books, work part time, go on Scout camps, go to the beach, and learn how to be creative when they get BORED. I think being bored is an important part of life and I am not into keeping the kids busy all the time- like most adults are, nowadays.

 

However, our holidays are spread more evenly across the year than I think they are in the U.S.. We have 4 ten week terms, with 2 weeks holiday between each term except for the 7 week Christmas/summer holidays. So for us its 10 weeks on, 2 weeks off for a lot of the year and it works quite well.

 

I feel I need the break too. My kids are very independent during holidays, and so I don't have to drive them all over the place- they just organise their own lives nowadays. It gives me time to spend with dh, planning, cleaning the house and generally hanging out.

[Basketmaker Amy]

We do and I have LOVED it this year. I was going to do some little projects, but then decided I was enjoying being a mom/person too much to do them!

[8filltheheart]

We normally take 11 weeks off during the summer. Our typical schedule has us ending the middle of May and starting back up the first of Aug. We moved this yr and got really behind and didn't finish until the end of June/beginning of July.

 

We are starting back up on Aug 11th and my body/brain is rebelling saying NOOOOOOOO!!! I need the down time in the summer. It rejuvenates me. I also need to start back b/c I need a break about every 6 weeks or so to keep on top of life (drs appointments, grading, lesson planning, house decluttering, and me time) So, this 6 week summer is the shortest we have ever had. The kids are fine with it and are even excited about their new studies.

 

Me on the other hand.....I haven't even opened a book, thought about lesson plans, and I finally just ordered books the last week or so. That is so NOT like me.

[Christine]

Does anyone else do summer the old fashioned way, or is there always a learning opportunity going on?

 

This is our 1st summer off in 5 years. We normally school year round, and with the many moves we've had in those years, it was necessary.

 

This year it was necessary for me to have a summer off.

 

The kids have told me that while they enjoy "summer", they also like having things to do (planned, school things). It has become a habit / tradition, and it has been requested we don't do a full summer off again.

 

Plus, I will admit, I like taking time off in the fall and spring more. The days are ever so much more pleasant at those times, and traveling is much easier.

[Elm in NJ]

We only do math 3 days a week in the summer. We take 8 weeks off and we will be starting Aug 18th.

 

Elmeryl