Summer Goals

[hands-on-mama]

This might mainly be a thread for those who do school or school lite over the summer season.

It gets unbearably hot here during the summer, so we normally do school during those times. We're taking our break now while it's nice enough to actually go outside without being knocked down by the humidity.

 

I decided to come up with some summer goals. It helps give me a way to measure how we're doing through the year.

 

Here are my plans:

 

• Finish out AAR Level 2 (we have about 12 lessons or so left)
• Complete Singapore 1A (over halfway through) and continue working on math facts through games
• READ ALOUDS: This is seriously my biggest goal. I'm compiling a reading list for us. My DD6 still struggles with listening comprehension, so we are going to cuddle and read every day. She just started enjoying being read to in the last year or so. She has come a long way. We have restarted Wizard of Oz a few times and now she is finally getting into it. We will try to read through that series (however long it takes us). We also have a healthy dose of library trips for picture books.
• Handwriting: DD6 has had handwriting issues since the beginning. We have seen an OT and found that she has low core muscle tone and retained primitive reflexes. Some days we forget to work on our exercises. We plan to buckle down with this everyday and also work on the physical act of writing. I purchased DWN books and she loves those. If anyone has any sites with exercises for low tone, please link me. ;)
• Possibly start back with Little Hearts in July. We do a co-op and only do our core 3-4 days a week right now. We ended at Unit 23. I am fine with this now because it will give more time for her writing and listening skills to mature. She will only be starting 1st grade, so I am in no rush. We already own all the Beyond materials and it will be here when we are ready to move on.

We will of course add in lots of swimming and field trips. School only takes us a couple hours for both kiddos anyway. :)

 

So what are your summer goals? What do you want to accomplish?

 

[CrunchyGirl]

I'm toying with spending the summer drastically simplifying. Like pretty much LCC style. It's hitting me how much time we spend (waste?) on duplicate learning such as covering grammar in both grammar and Latin and covering dictation in both spelling and writing. LegoMan is an odd kid though and I'm not sure eliminating grammar or drastically cutting back (or eliminating) spelling would be a good idea for all my kids but I think it's possibly a good option for him.

[Targhee]

Our goals for summer are also simple.

 

We will finish LOE for older two

 

Copywork - hoping to get some quotes that will entice them in to doing it happily

 

Math - daily short work

 

Read Alouds - mostly audiobooks for car traveling

[OneStepAtATime]

Math, daily short work 

Reading aloud or through Immersion Reading a lot.

Continued remediation of spelling and reading issues (dyslexia) through Barton Reading and Spelling but at a slower pace for summer

DS Practice at least 3 days a week in cursive for remediation of dysgraphia

Exploring and developing skills that the kids have expressed interest in (DD - Sketching; DS - Computer Programming)

DS (at his request) continuing his on-line self-paced history lessons, though maybe not every day

DD is starting Science Fusion next week and thinks she would like this to be something she does on a regular basis through the summer

Typing

 

Edited to add that we plan to take at least 2 full weeks off from everything, then start back with above schedule in June, work through July, then take 3 weeks off in August before we get back into full swing.

[mom31257]

Here are our goals for summer which will begin after May 23rd. We should start back mid-August, so that's almost 3 months. 

 

FAMILY:

Take a family vacation to DC as early in the summer as we can.

 

Clean out garage and storage spaces in house

 

Do some day trips 

 

Help my dad with the 2 houses he is now left with (Mom passed away in February and was already sick when her mother passed away.)

 

Begin a study of astronomy

 

DD:

Begin BJU Economics online course and finish by December

 

Do some searching for scholarships (will be a Senior next year)

 

Possibly visit a college or two

 

DS:

I will give ds some weeks with absolutely no school work at all. I didn't do any school work in the summer. I didn't even read that much. 

 

LA: Do at least 2 CLE light units over the summer (We are behind where I would like to be because of changing curricula over the last couple of years.)

 

Math: Continue math plan in place now but 2 days a week (I want to make sure he keeps up his skills.)

 

Reading: read a few good books 

 

 

[mommymonster]

For the oldest, I think we're going to spend about an hour a day on academics, specifically spelling, keyboarding, and math skills. I'm sweetening the deal by permitting 15 minutes of video games for every 15 minutes of keyboarding he does. He's never had computer games, so this is a big deal. I feel like I might be opening Pandora's box with this, but he's at least motivated to do keyboarding ...

 

For the youngest, I think we're going to work on handwriting and maybe OPGTR. He's a bright boy, but has the attention span of a gnat. We might practice sitting, just to see if sitting is a possibility for this kiddo!

[OneStepAtATime]

For the oldest, I think we're going to spend about an hour a day on academics, specifically spelling, keyboarding, and math skills. I'm sweetening the deal by permitting 15 minutes of video games for every 15 minutes of keyboarding he does. He's never had computer games, so this is a big deal. I feel like I might be opening Pandora's box with this, but he's at least motivated to do keyboarding ...

 

For the youngest, I think we're going to work on handwriting and maybe OPGTR. He's a bright boy, but has the attention span of a gnat. We might practice sitting, just to see if sitting is a possibility for this kiddo!

:lol:   My mother actually suggested we try meditation to help with this.  I am considering it.  :)

[MotherGoose]

I have ordered a proclick and I plan to use it to bind some things for my dd to do independently, maybe 3 days a week--a math sheet to keep her from forgetting, maybe some spelling, and handwriting. Would take her perhaps 30 -45 mins but would be enough, I hope, to avoid a drastic review in the fall. My 5 yo has started with OPG and I want to keep going with that, 5-10 min 4 days a week or something...don't want to start over when she's just starting to figure it out, and school is SO much easier for me when kids can read the directions!! And we'll keep going with readalouds.

[mommy2ella]

We'll be continuing math and spelling half time, playing math games and reading some living books on math, doing some science experiments and reading through The Story Book of Science, doing a geography unit, playing logic games and doing some logic workbooks, doing more art, perhaps starting piano, practicing the Spanish we've learned and watching some Spanish DVDs, starting The Private Eye, and reading literature and poetry from the ever-growing basket of read alouds we're collecting.  Summer is not really a break for us, it's more of a "slow down and do some different things" time.  Our main break is over the holidays. 

 

Julie

[Targhee]

:lol: My mother actually suggested we try meditation to help with this. I am considering it. :)

Look at the book Peaceful Piggy Meditation

[hands-on-mama]

I want to design some lap books for our read alouds. I might be crazy though. I can't find exactly what I want though.

[Mandy in TN]

Doodle will be continuing with a little math, Khan and Alcumus, and some reading, just reading list type reading. The big summer things are From Then to Now: A Short History of the World and A Really Short History of Nearly Everything. I may also toss in some KISS grammar.

 

However, we still have three weeks this year. Then, we will take a two week break before beginning summer session the first week of June.

 

That's it for us. :)

Mandy

[MiMi 4under3]

I'm toying with spending the summer drastically simplifying. Like pretty much LCC style. It's hitting me how much time we spend (waste?) on duplicate learning such as covering grammar in both grammar and Latin and covering dictation in both spelling and writing. LegoMan is an odd kid though and I'm not sure eliminating grammar or drastically cutting back (or eliminating) spelling would be a good idea for all my kids but I think it's possibly a good option for him.

 

Duplicate learning is one of the best parts of our day...  "Hey mom! That's just like (blank) when we learned about in (blank.)"  

 

My kids love pointing it out.   :laugh:

[MiMi 4under3]

All 4 DC will continue Saxon 3-4 days/week.

 

One DD will start Barton.

 

I may have them work through some MP Literature guides.

[musicianmom]

Dd6: continue OPGTR and AAS, work on memorizing addition and subtraction facts.

 

Dd8: astronomy and Greek (her choices for summer), plus math review using Singapore IP 5B

 

I only plan to do school 2x/ week.

[Farrar]

Hm...  not sure.  We will do school but now I'm seeing how trips and camps are going to really interrupt us.

 

Still...

 

* finish modern history (we're up to the 1950's so I feel it's doable)

* keep going with math - one kid to start MiF 5a and the other to finish BA 4b

* keep going with spelling - one kid needs to finish AAS 4 (please, please, please...)

 

That's pretty much it, I guess.  That sure makes it feel more doable.

[tori729]

Haven't started yet, but I'm thinking I might try to do some things in June or July, depending on how much material I have by then. We are definitely going to do a few different summer reading programs and this time I'm going to make sure my 6yo reads most of the books to me instead of the other way around.

I might try doing Life of Fred for math this summer, and I'd like to start Phonics Pathways or OPGTR or something similar with both kids.

[rutamattatt]

We are going to continue math thru the summer for all three and finish up our last few weeks of history, too.  

 

We are totally revamping what we are doing with DD16 educationally which will take a lot of planning and phone calls and research so that will be a huge part of my summer.  I also need to find a Bible curriculum that will work for us next fall.

 

I am DETERMINED to help my kids discover a love of reading...I'm going to jump for joy if I can get them to start and FINISH books from the library this summer!  (I do not have a good plan for this yet though, so feel free to tell me how to accomplish this!)  :)

 

Want to do more read alouds this summer and some projects to go along with those.  

 

The reality is that DS12 and I are starting black belt training in two weeks that will go until the end of August when we test for our first degrees, and my main goal is to survive (and try to semi-enjoy) that challenge!  ;)

[plmzk]

Duplicate learning is one of the best parts of our day...  "Hey mom! That's just like (blank) when we learned about in (blank.)"  

 

My kids love pointing it out.   :laugh:

 

:iagree:  Mine says the same thing as we go back and forth between Russian and English. I LOVE it!! It proves that the stuff is sticking to SOMEthing in between those two ears. :laugh:

[plmzk]

We are going to keep up with math and some easy handwriting/copywork/dictation over the summer with the oldest and read, read, read with the second. My 3rd is BEGGING for school, but she just turned 4 and I don't want to rush it.

[Kelly1730]

Ok, if you mean school then I will be finishing Physics with my middle one and making sure my youngest does math 2 or 3 times a week to keep it fresh.

 

However, my goals for the summer are:

 

To teach my daughter how to cook.  I will let her pick out recipes and supervise.  Perhaps even go to the grocery store and let her buy things.

 

To teach my children how to REALLY clean their bathroom.  To daily check it and make sure it is a decent level of clean...  I HAVE to do this or the spouses of my 3 children are going to come find me.  Their bathroom is at the other end of the house and I never go in there.  Mine and the half bath is spotless.  Theirs is disgusting.  I must do this.  I must.

 

When my husband and middle one are on vacation I'm going to clean out the craft closet and my clothes closet.

 

Those are my goals.

 

This. I recently decided that this would be the summer of teaching the boys (13 in July) how to REALLY clean their bathroom! I hope my future daughter-in-laws bless me for this!

[Mrs Twain]

OP,

To increase our read alouds, we have been listening to audio books in the car. I check out DVDs from the library or download them from our library's website. It is amazing how many more books we have listened to just on our way to practice or running errands.

 

Summer for us is a little readin', 'ritin', and 'rithmetic.

 

Reading--2,000 pages for which we give the kids a reward. Half of the books are assigned, and half they choose (with our approval)--books on at least a somewhat challenging level and good quality (i.e. not Star Wars).

 

Writing--journal once per week or so, such as describe one event that happened in the past week.

 

Math--practice workbook or worksheets reviewing math facts and skills from previous year.

[KarenNC]

• Finish physical science (picking this back up in May once some other classes have ended)
• work on the last two Key to Algebra books as review to keep things fresh
• work through the public site of the Big History Project in prep for history and biology next year
• start Spanish 2 with Harari College Worldwide (their semesters are on a different schedule, so this will run June 16-Sept 22)
• do some grammar and vocabulary, using The Writer's Tutor workbook and Vocabulary for College Bound Students
• work through A Workbook for Arguments, which should be a fun class for her
• a two week internship at a morning theater camp for young children (assisting her art teacher) and at least one more week of drawing classes, perhaps two more if we can work out the scheduling.

 

[serendipitous journey]

Our goals are to finish up our school year -- my focus this year was on finding "tracks" that work for us, which I pretty much did, but we will not complete our history cycle (History Odyssey Early Modern), our Chemistry, or our Ambleside readings by the end of the "school year".  So I'm scheduling that through the summer.  I hope to have it schedules by the end of today. 

 

Last summer, which was more standard, we did math at a decreased pace, spelling, handwriting, reading, poetry memorization and drawing. 

[madteaparty]

This was our first year homeschooling so I was not as prepared with the content subjects. I hope to take the summer to prepare an excel spreadsheet for our science in the fall, including list of materials I need, etc. I hope to do the same for history, only with documentaries/living books.

 

For DS, he has one week of programming and 10 days of French. The rest of the summer is tennis camp/vacation travel. I only hope to keep a very light math schedule this summer as well as read alouds, indipendent reading and duolingo.

[73349]

 

• Teach him to sing a few songs.

 

Introduce history and timelines.

 

See if he can get the hang of a soroban (Japanese abacus) and strengthen his recall of 5 friends and 10 friends.

 

Continue to progress with reading and handwriting.

 

Dip our toes into Spanish.

 

Go swimming. There's someone I want him to take lessons from, but she's a pain to communicate with, so I'm not sure that will pan out.

 

[Gil]

I reserve the right to change my mind about any and all of this but some of the things that I want to do this summer is:

• Have the boys do more general reading on the higher end of their ability level.
• Do a lot of history centric reading (Story of the World vol 1.)
• Polish off their current math materials (MM workbooks, ARME, Keys to...) etc.
• Have the boys make their own 'Math Reference' book that summarizes their knowledge of basic math to date, in their own words.
• For me to set up their new Math binders
• Plot out/map out their next stage of math education
• Continue doing Spanish and hopefully finish LSLC1
• Figure out everything outside of math for next fall.

[Sahamamama]

General Goals

1. Pediatric exams for all three children

2. Vision exams for all three children (1 down, 2 to go)

3. Dental exams for all three children

4. Family Vacation A (one week)

5. Family Vacation B (long weekend)

6. Vacation Bible School (one week)

7. Swim while we can (backyard pool, short season)

8. Take the girls fishing a few times

9. Sort out & organize the garage

10. Dig out the unwanted koi pond (came with the house last year) & fill in the hole

 

School Goals (we work year-round, from October to October)

1. Read Alouds -- Farmer Boy, The Magician's Nephew, Egermeier's Story Bible, My Book House 4, Fifty Famous Stories, Norse Myths, The Story About Ping, Miss Rumphius, Stone Soup, The Little House, Keep the Lights Burning Abbie

2. American (Girl) History -- wrap up by mid-September; we're on the era of Addy (1864) until mid-May, will combine Samantha (1904) and Rebecca (1914) until the end of June, Kit (1934) in July, Molly (1944) in August, and wrap up with Julie (1974) by the end of September. Woohoo!

3. Math -- keep working, we're on track

4. Writing -- keep working, we're on track

5. Spelling -- keep working, also on track

6. Grammar -- keep working, also on track

7. French -- continue learning

8. Latin -- continue learning

9. Music/Instrument -- continue learning & practicing

10. Prep for next school year -- fit that in, somehow! ;)

[Julie Smith]

Just to keep doing what we are doing.

 

I do have the goal of one day Youngest reading a book all by himself. He is getting closer. 

[kubiac]

Starting a geography unit. Map on the wall with pushpins for locations of books we read, get out the Geopuzzles, watch some videos. Love someone's suggestion from somewhere in the hive that starting a history cycle is easier if you have a geography background first.

 

Plus more reading (Phonics Pathways and BOB and some books in the wild) and math and some handwriting practice.

[julie4]

Continue, but at a slower pace, in math & writing.

Review phonograms bi-weekly.

Continue reading literature, science & poetry, independent & read alouds.

Start an online typing program.

Camping, field trips, star gazing, nature studies, swimming & family vacation.

[rebbyribs]

Here goes....

 

Family trip back East to visit grandparents and go to the beach

Lots of read-alouds

Library summer reading program

Park days & hikes with our HS group

Gardening

 

Oldest:

Continue WWE2 (should get to about week 20)

Continue OPGTR (should get to about lesson 180)

Review AAS1 & AAS2 - no new teaching, just a thorough review of all the words and rules she's learned so far.  I'm aiming for about 15 words per day.

Review lessons from GWG2 (we skipped them during the school year)

Plant unit from RSO Life (we're not going to get to it during the school year)

Start piano lessons at home with me

Math, but I'm not sure what (the options are: Khan Academy, Dreambox, the 2nd half of MEP Year 2, Math Mammoth reviews, or Singapore 2B)

1 week of science day camp

1 week of engineering day camp

 

Twins:

finish Singapore Essential Math A

continue OPGTR and BOB books - I'm hoping to start moving beyond CVC words to short-vowel words with consonant blends

1 week of science day camp

1 week of gymnastics day camp

[Rebecca in KY]

We plan on continuing math 3x/week, handwriting/copywork 2x/week, and reading aloud (both son reading to me and me reading to son) every day.  Keeping it light, but at the same time trying to avoid the summer backslide.

[Kelly1730]

OP,

To increase our read alouds, we have been listening to audio books in the car. I check out DVDs from the library or download them from our library's website. It is amazing how many more books we have listened to just on our way to practice or running errands.

 

Summer for us is a little readin', 'ritin', and 'rithmetic.

 

Reading--2,000 pages for which we give the kids a reward. Half of the books are assigned, and half they choose (with our approval)--books on at least a somewhat challenging level and good quality (i.e. not Star Wars).

 

Writing--journal once per week or so, such as describe one event that happened in the past week.

 

Math--practice workbook or worksheets reviewing math facts and skills from previous year.

 

Mrs. Twain

 

I like the idea of reading a select number of pages and assigned/free choice books! May I ask how you decided on 2,000 pages and what the reward is going to be? 

[Mrs Twain]

Back when my son was in public school, there was a prize for each student who read 1,000 pages over the summer. We liked the idea, so we continued the tradition after we started homeschooling. I'm not sure, but maybe we picked 2,000 because we wanted to outdo the school. Ha ha.

 

We pay the kids 1 cent per page. My son told me he wants to read 3,000 pages this summer so he can earn more money. I will be happy to pay it if he does read 3,000!

[Kelly1730]

Back when my son was in public school, there was a prize for each student who read 1,000 pages over the summer. We liked the idea, so we continued the tradition after we started homeschooling. I'm not sure, but maybe we picked 2,000 because we wanted to outdo the school. Ha ha.

 

We pay the kids 1 cent per page. My son told me he wants to read 3,000 pages this summer so he can earn more money. I will be happy to pay it if he does read 3,000!

 

 

Awesome! My guys would really love that, I think. They are great readers but tend to get stuck in the same genre/author. This way they read a little of their choice, a little of my choice and get rewarded in the end. Win-win!;)

[Coco_Clark]

We live in an area of the country where we want to be outside in the summer months.  Its raining or snowing every other month!  So we are basically treading water from June-August and pursuing interests, he's already requested learning about Astronomy.  

 

Math- miquon, backing up and going over what we did in singapore over the year.

 

Reading- read to me and silently to himself every day.

 

Writing- copywork 3x a week of his choice.

 

 

[iona]

Here is the plan. We have five weeks left and will finish up quite a bit of our L.A. (wwe/fll/opg!!!) so that area will be lighter during the summer.

 

Older two 9 and almost 8

June week off, vbs, swimming, math and reading

July-Aug. math, cursive copy work, memory work, reading, map the world, probably spelling, swimming and piano lessons(maybe)

End of Aug beginning of Sept. Two week trip to the east coast.

Resume in the fall adding in next level of fll/wwe

 

youngest(5) will start opg and listen in on readings

 

Readings-continue a variety of lit and u.s./modern history

 

We may start piano lessons and map the world now....still working out my plan

[laughing lioness]

We are going to finish FFL I and hopefully get deep into FFL II. Read HOTAW and if possible HOWRW. Both kids finish RS German I. They'll go through a very informal book list. Drama Camp, Shakespeare Camp.

 

[Jaz]

Math 2x a week

 

Spanish vocabulary review

 

Vacations

 

Swim in pool

 

Hang with friends :)

[MotherOfBoys]

Oldest:

We are doing two chapters in MM 3 that I want done before Beast 3. One in June and one in July. Practice +- facts flashcards randomly.

 

I have a readaloud picked out to start each Monday. We will finish it over the week.

 

Copywork in cursive three times a week.

 

Youngest: Finish last Rod n Staff book

[pehp]

LEARN. TO. SWIM.

 

Don't let the weeds take over the gardens. 

 

Otherwise: continuing with Miquon, reading lessons, and read-alouds.  We may also continue CHOW because it's easy and we enjoy it.  We'll continue with our gentle narrations of Aesop's fables b/c it's a good skill to continue to develop. Nature walks and art lessons continue as well.  I think I'll be shelving US history and science until fall.