Schooling during summer

[Elisabet1]

I do not want to take a break during the summer. I especially want to continue reading, math, and something else during the summer. I am fine with taking a break from spelling and only doing a journal during the summer.

 

I feel a little guilty about this. But we never seem to get an entire year worth of work done during the school year. There are always field trips and other outside activities. And I hate going to museums and such during the summers because they are very crowded with all the out of school kids. 

[Rebel Yell]

How old are your kids?

 

Does it have to be all or nothing?  Can you do 2 or 3 days/week over the summer?

 

Also, what I do, so we never have that "Never finish any book" feeling: At the beginning of the year I photocopy the table of contents of each book, then I mark which lessons are absolutely essential, which can be condensed/combined, and which can be skipped if needed- usually insultingly easy review at the beginning or subjects that are only barely introduced at the end of the book (think Saxon Math, LOL!), or topics that will be covered again next year or were recently studied. That way, we're never really behind, and we almost always get to the end of the book.

[MotherOfBoys]

I take my curriculum for the year and figure out just how much we can get done in a regular school year, with sick days and museum days (to get the off season discounts :) ) figured in. Then whatever amount of lessons are left over (usually about 15 -20 lessons of a couple subjects) is what I schedule for the summer. I do the bulk of my summer days when it is too hot to go outside, like the end of July. (I live in Michigan)

 

 

I also do the bulk of my regular school year in Jan-Feb because we are usually snowed in or the temps are too cold to play outside.

[Clear Creek]

We do math and Latin year-round, no breaks in those subjects or too much is lost.

[Ellie]

I do not want to take a break during the summer. I especially want to continue reading, math, and something else during the summer. I am fine with taking a break from spelling and only doing a journal during the summer.

 

I feel a little guilty about this. But we never seem to get an entire year worth of work done during the school year. There are always field trips and other outside activities. And I hate going to museums and such during the summers because they are very crowded with all the out of school kids. 

 

There are 365 days in a year, which begins January 1 and ends December 31.

 

Children learn all the time.

 

I don't know why you would feel guilty about anything. :-)

[SKL]

We do school work almost every day of the year (and I'm an afterschooler).  Last summer was probably more rigorous than the school year.  If the kids are used to it, they don't think anything of it.

[madteaparty]

Well, he will be in some sort of camp most of the summer, but I plan to continue Math, daily pleasure reading, and foreign language daily. But I also work during the week part-time, so I feel like I need the summer to keep up. One hour of schoolwork a day nevery killed anyone, summer or not.

[madteaparty]

 If the kids are used to it, they don't think anything of it.

I think this is key. It's best not to offer it as an option ;)

[73349]

We keep going in the summer, though not with everything. I'm planning to use this summer to gently introduce history and Spanish, carry on as usual with math and reading, and finish the science book.

 

Knowing DS and changes in routine, he would get bored if we didn't do anything--and then have fits when we started back up again.

[OneStepAtATime]

Don't feel guilty.  Really helps with retention.  But break things up, too.  Maybe only do normal school stuff 2-3 days a week.  The other days, take a break or maybe do some practical application project based math, or add in some great vocab building games, or math games, etc.  or some cool history or construction projects using multiple disciplines so it gives all of you a bit of a mental break but they aren't losing anything over the summer.

[Woodland Mist Academy]

Each season has its unique gifts and opportunities (at least where we live ;) ).  There has never been a reason for us to see summer as the ultimate break time.  We do the same school load year round and seize opportunities when they present themselves--no matter what the season. It's always worked for us.

[RootAnn]

It depends on the kid, but we usually continue with math and one other subject through the summer. If a kid has problems with something or needs extra remediation, I add that in. Last summer, we did math & typing for the older two. This summer, I plan on keeping up with math for the older four, having the oldest finish her Latin book, dd#2 do Writing Tales I (one week of lessons each day to finish it), dd#1 & dd#2 to continue w/typing, and .... maybe do a couple of one week projects - like a writing intensive, or a grammar binge, or a science investigation. 

 

It usually means only an hour and a half of work. They get it done in the morning so we can go to the pool in the afternoon. Also, they don't have these things if they are doing swim lessons or are at camp.

[Mommee & Baba]

We school through-out the year. We take random breaks here and there. I try to offset our breaks with those of the public school system. This makes visiting parks and the adventure science centers really low key and mellow! My kids prefer this. We take shorter winter/holiday breaks and many times when our public schools are out due to weather we are still in session. My kids prefer to have a little bit of school rather than nothing. They get too squirrely without our standard structured day. The weekends is enough for my kids. My oldest daughter could skip school and be fine with it, however my other kids feel the complete opposite.

 

We continue with reading, math, history, and science through the summer. We only do history and science that's left that we didn't complete during the "school year". My kids are expected to read 1 chapter book a week during the summer. My oldest decides to spread it out over the week whereas my middle child will spend an afternoon and early evening reading the book and have the rest of the week. My husband usually stands his ground and calls for a full 2 week break for the kids each summer and I'm ok with that. :)

 

Don't feel guilty. You are doing what any mother would do. What's best for your family!

 

I'm expecting our little grand finale baby #4 this spring and only plan on taking the first week home off!! Our schooling is so light and structured that the only thing will depend on my pain levels and sleep exhaustion...but even then I'm still able to manage a few hours of school with my kids. It's time they get with me regardless of a new sibling or not and I like that!

[idnib]

We school year-round with breaks as we need/want them. We probably take 9-10 weeks off/year.

 

I've been thinking of a plan for using summertime to just do math and also get all the little things that take 10-15 minutes/day out of the way. So spelling, McGuffey, AAR, handwriting, memorizing times tables and perfect squares, etc. Then we can really dig into the more meaty stuff with less "switching" during the school year. I'd love to start September with the "only 10-15 minutes/day" stuff completely out of the way.

[Loowit]

I don't think there is anything wrong with doing stuff during the summer.  I tried it one year and we burnt out.  I think I tried to do too much and it didn't work.  I need to break in the summer, it is for me not just the kids.  Also, as my kids are getting older they have a lot more going on during summer breaks with different camps and such so trying to keep up lessons would not be consistent for us.  Every family is different and has different needs, you shouldn't feel guilty doing something that works for your family.

[Plink]

Summer school is easily my kids favorite part of homeschooling.  You should hear them talk to their friends.  It is hilarious.

 

I take it as an chance to continue with the basics, but switch up our studies to include more of the fun hands-on projects that the kids crave.  Last summer we built a giant physics playground in the back yard.  In other years we have thrown ourselves into a literature series or history period. 

 

Don't feel bad.  Learning isn't a punishment it is an opportunity.

 

 

[Coco_Clark]

We did a "light" summer school last year.  It was always my plan to have summers off but my son was at a point in learning to read that I knew I couldn't stop at without major back sliding.  Anyways, I ended up loving it.  We didn't forget things and have to backtrack a bunch on our skills, we didn't have a hard time getting back on schedule in the fall because even if it was only for 1/2 or 1/3 of the time we were still used to all meeting for school every day, we didn't get bored.  I think it will continue for the foreseeable future.  

 

We did read aloud, phonics/reading, math, and nature study (learned about the trees that we often see hiking, learned about the life in and around the lake we go to, learned to identify the birds in our backyard, ect) last year.  It took about a half hour to 45 minutes and we got around to it 2-4 days a week.  This summer I'm planning read aloud, phonics/reading, writing (aka write something, anything at all), math, and dinosaurs (new and HUGE interest).  With writing added and longer read alouds we will be closer to an hour a day but I plan on still doing it just the 2-4 days a week.

 

   

[My3girls]

We're planning to school year round as well. We are going to finish our curriculum for the year, and as we finish each subject then summer school will start for that subject. For example, when dd12 finishes WWS, she will start journaling; when she finishes MM6, she will focus on LoF only for math; when she finishes CK12 Life Science, then she will choose a project for the summer related to anything science, etc... Summer school will be "looser" in time and content. We'll start up new curriculum for 7th grade after Labor Day. I don't plan on a this is the last day of the school year now summer starts timeline. We'll just sort of transition into it sort of like a transition into school starting. We'll have some time off in July and August for trips... Maybe a week or 2 each month? I'll play that by ear. We gave our school dates to GA DOE as August1- July 31 so I didn't have to worry about the 4.5 per day 180 days per year. We'll easily go over that amount by the time all is said and done.

[Soror]

We've done some school all but one summer and I really regretted it that year. Usually we do a lighter schedule of the basics to keep up on skills. This year I plan on delving deeper into some projects we want to do and mostly do fun practice. I like us to do more of an all year schedule taking breaks as we want, when the weather is good or we have something we want to do.

[MistiDelaney]

We have never taken the summer off.  We are not a part of the school system and we are not farmers, so the "agricultural break doesn't apply to us and we don't feel any need to fall in with it - as several people have mentioned, having time off when school kids are at school is a great way to get "field trip" and "fun adventure places" almost to ourselves!

 

I design our curriculum by "units".  I decide what we need to cover in the unit, and we work on it for as long as it takes.  When we finish a unit, my son gets three weeks off, a book, a movie, and a little memento of the unit.  (And I go into overdrive collecting material for the next unit!) :p

 

We take most weekends off, birthdays, and time when we are traveling.  (I work full time while my husband supervises at home, so when I have  a legal holiday off, *I* get to study with the short guy!  He really loves that!)

[Farrar]

We've done it different ways.  My personal preference is to do school in the summer.  It helps us keep up a routine.  It's usually too hot to do much outside anyway, and as the OP points out, the museums are way more annoying in summer.

 

The problem I've run into is that the world is less set up for school in the summer.  We usually end up having to travel at least once to see family.  It's nice to be able to take advantage of a good summer camp.  Anyway, it can just feel like swimming against the current sometimes.

 

Anyway, we usually persevere and school in the summer then take time off in the fall when the weather is nicer and there's lot of new stuff happening.  I'm going to try to do that again this year.

[MolleenCarie]

We take July off. It's a nice balance between summer break and not losing everything they've learned.

[Berta]

 We school year round and take a lot of time off in the fall and spring. We live in the South and it's just too hot to do anything during the afternoon hours. My kids have never complained about school in the summer.

[Julie Smith]

If we are home, and Dh is at work then it is a school day.

[daffodil]

So far we've always schooled year round. Our days go more smoothly when we stick to a routine, and the summers are miserably hot here, anyway.

[Maela]

This is only our second year, but I don't plan on taking summers off.  I'd rather do a couple of hours of school each weekday year round than have to cram it all in nine months.  Also, I want my kids to be in a nice habit of spending some time every day on school work.  I want it to seem like a normal, everyday thing to them.

[Irishmommy]

Where I live (and have lived in the past - really hot places) you really can't be out in the heat too much past 10 in the morning, until about 3-4. Even being in the pool or at the beach, unless it is shaded is too much for my fair skinned bunch, so we really have time to do more school, or "fun school" as we call it. We have time to do all those fun things that we rarely seem to have time to do during the school year!

[Korrale]

Growing up in Australia we never had the extended summer breaks that kid in the US have. I can't fathom taking off that much time. We used to get 6 weeks and even as a kid I read every day. And I was always creating my own school type projects for fun.

[MotherOfBoys]

I think it's important to repeat what a previous post said... summer camps make it really hard. There are so many and I don't want him to miss out but you could end up doing one every week all summer. That makes school impossible.

[DragonFaerie]

We do "homeschool lite" in the summer, which means math and usually one other subject, one to two hours per day.  It's light enough to still feel like summer but just enough work to keep their brains turning. :D

[Haiku]

We school year-round and always have. We just do math, writing, and Latin in the summer. This summer I anticipate history bleeding into the summer a bit. We usually spend about 2 1/2 hours a day working on school. The continuity in routine is good as is the fact that the kids don't have time to forget. It also allows us to be a bit more relaxed during the year, as we aren't rushing to cram everything into 36 perfectly structured weeks.

 

This past summer we did not do school due to my being out of the country for a month and the kids attending two camps. The kids liked it, of course, but I didn't like it, and it was no fun trying to get back into "school routine" after their last camp. I should have started doing school with them right after I got back from Ukraine.

[SKL]

I think it's important to repeat what a previous post said... summer camps make it really hard. There are so many and I don't want him to miss out but you could end up doing one every week all summer. That makes school impossible.

 

My kids were in a number of camps last summer; every day, actually (except for the week we went to India).  They also had evening stuff:  math camp, piano lessons, vision therapy, and gymnastics, each once weekly.  We still did school work most days.  Obviously some days were lighter than others.  :)  But for kids who forget easily, it's more humane to do a little review every day (or at least every week) than to let it go for a while (IMO).

 

[Woodland Mist Academy]

I'm not sure I understand the camps. Do you send your children to summer camps for 3 months every year?

 

My daughter attends camps, but they don't get a three month reign/priority in our lives.

[Loowit]

We don't do camp for three months, although I think there are people who do.  However, I am a volunteer camp director for a day camp, so up until camp is over, and usually about a week or two after, I am working full time plus getting ready for camp.  It is a lot of work, and things that kid help me with and can be a learning opportunity.  My kids also get to go to one resident camp per summer which for my youngest is still only a 2 night camp, but for my older two is a week.  They are all at different times.  Plus my DD usually has at least 2 if not more weeks of dance camp that is exhausting.  One of my DS's would love to do a soccer camp this summer if we can squeeze it into our budget.  And my older DS will just be getting into his new Boy Scout troop so I am sure there will be several summer activities for him to participate in.

 

It isn't that we don't do anything educational during the summer, but nothing formal.  The kids still read books, just not ones I assign.  I still read to the kids, which they enjoy.  We do a lot of learning, even though we don't spend time "doing school".  I think it is great that it works for some families to keep plugging away all summer.  But it is not a one size fits all, and reading this thread makes me feel a bit like some people think taking summer break is a bad thing.  For me it is necessary for my sanity and keep me able to homeschool the rest of the year.  What I love about homeschool is not having to follow the crowd and making my own schedule.  We don't follow the public school calendar either.  We don't take off many of the days that our local schools have.  Typically if DH doesn't have it off as a holiday we are doing school, which includes many of the early in the year holidays like MLK day, President's day, etc.

[Woodland Mist Academy]

 

 

 . . . But it is not a one size fits all, and reading this thread makes me feel a bit like some people think taking summer break is a bad thing. . .

 

Isn't that what something not being one size fits all means? Some people think it's a bad thing to take a summer break, some people don't. I think the OP wanted reassurance that it's OK to not take a full summer break. It stands to reason that many people that post will be of the same mind.

[Loowit]

I think there is a difference between thinking that taking the summer off is bad for everyone and feeling like it is a bad choice for your family.  I fully support those who want to school all summer.  I don't think any parent should feel guilty if they want to do school all summer, year round, school year, or whatever works for them.  Taking the summer off may be bad for some, but it may work wonderfully for others.  I think parents should feel free to do what works for them without judgement that doing it or not doing it a certain way is bad.

[Woodland Mist Academy]

I guess we can agree to disagree. I think it's impossible to escape judgement. People judge and have opinions--it's just part of life. As long as no one is preventing me from taking a break, or forcing me to take one, they can think whatever they like. People have the right to their opinions.

 

FTR: I don't have a particular stance either way. We school year-round because it works for us. There are people who think that's dreadful of me. I'm OK with that. Doesn't bother me at all. :)

 

 

[SKL]

I'm not sure I understand the camps. Do you send your children to summer camps for 3 months every year?

 

My daughter attends camps, but they don't get a three month reign/priority in our lives.

 

There are some great opportunities I've found for my kids.  1-week or 2-week day camps focused on specific science themes, theatre, math enrichment, culture/heritage, horse riding & other outdoorsy stuff, and lots more.  It could take up the whole summer if you wanted it to - or not.  :)

 

[Woodland Mist Academy]

There are some great opportunities I've found for my kids.  1-week or 2-week day camps focused on specific science themes, theatre, math enrichment, culture/heritage, horse riding & other outdoorsy stuff, and lots more.  It could take up the whole summer if you wanted it to - or not.  :)

 

 

We live in a place that offers great opportunities like that year-round (schools are not on a nine-month schedule). Activities and camps could take up the whole year--or not! ;) 

 

Sometimes the decisions are tough!

[happypamama]

Our state requires 180 days and a portfolio; we are allowed to start counting things toward those requirements on July 1, so this is what we do:

 

We finish for the year right before Memorial Day. We then have off completely (last year I did require that they read something of decent literary quality every day, and I might do that again this year) from then until July 1, so about six weeks. The weather is still good for being outside a lot (not too hot), and that's just enough time for a good long break but not boredom. Then we start our new year on July 1, or very close to it, a few subjects the first week, more the second, and more the third. By then, it is so hot out that nobody wants to play outside anyway, so we might as well do schoolwork and leave time in the spring to enjoy the outside. All birthdays, holidays that DH has off (not many), and our anniversary are all holidays, and there will be random days when we do nothing that looks at all schoolish. We also will have tennis three mornings a week, starting the last week of June, for five weeks, and as I learned last year, it's too much to expect a lot of work afterward, so we will probably just do schoolwork on the non-tennis days, and be glad for the PE on the tennis days.

[Above The Rowan]

We don't get very long summers here, unfortunately. 

So my plan for our summers (this will be our first homeschooling summer, so take this with a grain of salt lol) is to continue with our math and language arts, and the rest will be outside exploratory time - nature journalling, running free at the beach time, hiking, etc. We are so lucky to live in a rural area with breathtaking natural beauty so we will capitalize on that. We've been working pretty hard during our "deep freeze" months up here, so come spring/summer we will be outside as much as humanly possible. We'll see how it works. But I don't want to follow a PS school year, I have never understood the long breaks to begin with. 

[texasmama]

We keep a lighter schedule during the summer. This summer we will be doing math and lots of literature read alouds.  Last summer I did unit studies in puberty, drugs, and alcohol with my boys, in addition to other subjects.  They loved this.  :)  Summer is "catch up time" for all the wonderful books we hoped to read during the school year and didn't quite get to.

[ThatHomeschoolDad]

We always do summers, with a modified and way lighter sched.  Just a bit each morning, slower, maybe going into more depth on a side track.  We stop for weeks of vaca, girl scout camp and whatnot.  

[madteaparty]

I'm not sure I understand the camps. Do you send your children to summer camps for 3 months every year?

.

Well, yes, we easily could, but for summer travel. Programming camp, science camp, tennis camp and just general traditional camp. I personally think it's an amazing way to spend a summer!

[SKL]

I am also thinking that summer will be when we read a lot of books that are not on the "AR list" at school.  :)  Lovely older books that I suppose are out of print or something....

[llifeon18wheels]

We work year round because of our lifestyle (read profile ) and I couldn't handle long periods without structure. We got ourselves on an October to September schedule the last few years. We can vacation anytime we want because my husband and I work the same job.

[momma2three]

Last summer (between K and 1st) we kept up with reading and math every day.  My daughter did 8 weeks of summer camp, and then after I put the younger two to bed we'd sit on my bed (in the one air conditioned room in the house) and do a page of math and read a little.

 

This summer I would like to continue the daily math, and she'll have to practice the piano every day.  And she'll be encouraged to read for fun a little every day, too.  I don't really want to lose handwriting and spelling so I was thinking of doing those every few days, too.

[ThatHomeschoolDad]

No full summer camp here. One week of girl scout day camp, and a short week of choir camp in August, which is really just a series of big rehearsals with other activities before the season starts.

[Rubix]

We don't follow a traditional schedule.  We school in 2 month increments, with one month "off".  When we are "off" we still do these things:  finish up whatever we didn't finish, if anything; field trips as available; we will occasionally work ahead just by a little.  One math lesson or two  week for 4 weeks will put DD over a week ahead in math when we start the next cycle. 

 

FWIW, we take off in December, March, June, and September.  June and September are more temperate months here, December is Christmas activities and prep, and March is just because it fell in that rhythm, although this year, we will have a newborn so it makes sense :)

 

When schoolwork just is a part of the summer, they don't really question it as part of the routine.  We still have plenty of fun days in July and August to enjoy summer when it isn't unbearably hot & humid!