What do your summer days look like?

[KeriJ]

We are taking a full on summer break after an insane level of busyness this past year. Just reading and music practice. My kids are 14 down to 5. We have a pool membership for the first time which has been great.

 

But I am pondering how to fill our days without resorting to screens too much. I'd love to have a loose schedule even. But my mind is blank...plus I am typically an over-planner. So this year, I am trying to find the balance between much needed rest and all out laziness.

 

Just curious what other summer breaks look like.

[Lorelei King]

Well pretty much working and spending time with my family same as you. Family is everything right?

[Guest]

Honestly, I give us a month of total laziness. June. That's what it's for. Then the camps and practices and everything else resume at the end of the month and we go back on a loose schedule and then screens will be off again until 2 or 3pm. But for now, they have all the screens they want, and they need to entertain themselves a large portion of the day, because I need a break too. And admittedly I think all the downside of screens is a bit overhyped, so I am more lax than some choose to be. 

 

It's freaking hot here as of this week, so we are DONE outside except for the pool. If they were older we would be out there more, but my little ones need constant supervision in the pool, so that's a bit exhausting in and of itself so we're not jumping in everyday. Basically lots of games, legos, toys, oldest reading and watching YouTube and avoiding outside- probably until September. The only thing academic going right now is piano practice. That must still happen. But we are enjoying our 5 weeks of break! 

Edited June 16, 2017 by texasmom33

[Tanaqui]

Usually quite lazy, but this year we'll be doing a few hours of school every day. Due to family and life issues, we missed a good month of school, and we're going to try to do some catchup.

[mamaraby]

I'm with Texasmom, June is for being lazy. Our soccer season ended last weekend and dd1's last soccer related thing was on Monday. I have three kids in soccer and between covering all of that pretty much on my own plus all the homeschooling related things I'm toast. My rule is yes, of course you can do that thing provided you can do it on your own, without my help, without bickering, and clean up after yourself. If you cannot then no, you may not. You have a super creative thing you want to do? Ask me in July.

 

My kids go camping with their grandparents at the tail end of June/beginning of July then a couple weeks after that the kids go to Camp Quest. And a couple of weeks after that we start the new school year.

 

Between now and then we'll work in some hikes, a few trips to the splash park, library summer programming, and lots of free time. We don't completely go hog wild on screentime mostly because I remember my sister pretty much only watching TV one summer and I don't want that for the kids. I definitely loosen up though and if they go over the usual time period, eh, I'm not going to stress.

 

Some math and piano practice on weekdays is about the most structured I'll be.

Edited June 17, 2017 by mamaraby

[Ellie]

We are taking a full on summer break after an insane level of busyness this past year. Just reading and music practice. My kids are 14 down to 5. We have a pool membership for the first time which has been great.

 

But I am pondering how to fill our days without resorting to screens too much. I'd love to have a loose schedule even. But my mind is blank...plus I am typically an over-planner. So this year, I am trying to find the balance between much needed rest and all out laziness.

 

Just curious what other summer breaks look like.

 

When my dc were little, we only did Official School Stuff two days a week, Monday and Tuesday. Wednesday was library, Thursday was field trip, Friday was clean house (and a monthly park day). During the summer, we continued with library, field trip, and cleaning house. On Monday and Tuesday, we just goofed off. :-) 

 

Keeping that same schedule kept us sane. :-)

[Loowit]

We aren't doing much of anything right now.  The kids sleep in, have an early lunch, and then goof off.  DD still has some school work she is finishing up though.  They all still have evening activities like scouts and youth group.  In July there will be summer camps, a week of scout camp for the boys and a week of church camp for DD and middle boy.  August will be filled with taking care of DH after surgery.

[mytwomonkeys]

I'll be traveling to Atlanta for a couple of weeks, then both kids have camp, then we have family vacation planned for a week. It's really going to fly by fast. My daughter's high school starts back August 9th, so that will be my son's first day as well. (Keeping them on the same schedule just makes it easy) Then our co-op starts August 14.

[SKL]

Busy busy busy here.  :)  My kids are in summer day camps most of the time.  June is one of my busiest work months, so the kids need something to do.  Then at the end of June, we all go on a travel trip for a couple weeks.  After that I have lots of work piled up, so more day camp.  :P  By the time things slow down a little at work, it's time to get ready for back-to-school.

 

Outside of day camps, I expect the kids to read, practice music, write, and do some additional academic work depending on individual needs.  We also do some non-competitive sports in the summer.  However, they also have time to bike around town and stuff like that.

 

The pace is not too different from the school year, but it's less stressful in that there are no grades or tests.

 

This is what we're used to, and I think it is best for us not to change up the pace too much.  Yes, we have short periods when we get lazy, but if it goes on too long, things get too chaotic.  Structure is necessary for us.

[fourisenough]

We've been out of school for one week: it was a total free-for-all with no schedule. Next week, we'll be away on vacation. When we return, we have one more week with nothing on the calendar. Then, DD12 will head off to summer camp for one week followed by six weeks away at a ballet summer intensive. While she's gone, DD8 will do summer swim team (daily 8a practices). That will impose some structure which I'll add-to by requiring a 'power hour' of school work (no new material- just drilling multiplication facts, practicing typing, reviewing spelling, and free reading). The rest of the day will be open except for a few half-day camps. No screens until 3p. Mama needs the time off as much as the kids.

[HomeAgain]

We used to live where our summers were insanely hot.  A lot of screen time, a lot of late night/early morning activities, and weekly scheduled outings so we had a nice routine. The winter we went outside a lot more and enjoyed nature.

 

Now our lives are flip-flopped.  We live where it gets bitter cold in the winter.  So far we've filled our summer with gardening, trying new recipes, swimming, hiking, biking......lots of outside time even doing nothing.  We picked a new family read aloud for lunches on the back patio.  Screen time is for after dinner or rainy days.  I put out some underused logic games on the coffee table so that they're picked up again.

 

 

[sdobis]

Our schedule is pretty relaxing. My daughter has Math, spelling, reading, and typing, but not all on the same day. She has daily chores and has a dog walking job in the afternoon. The majority of her days are spent with this list and art all day long. She watches YouTube a lot, but it doesn't bother me.

 

Then there are scheduled days. These include things like VBS Skit practice and set painting, days with friends, Missions trips, and family vacations.

[Momto4inSoCal]

I like to leave summer open. We just hang out with friends. We will have playdates, meet parks with splash pads, go to the beach, participate in the library programs. I'm also set on getting my twins swimming by the end of the summer. As far as school in July I will have my older kids do a short math sheet and I have them pick a book from the mensa list. I will also have them write a short book report for 6 books. We have a fair in Sept that give a ride ticket for each book report for up to 6 rides.

[Garga]

Last year I let the kids do anything they wanted (they were 11 and 13.). They played on screens non-stop. I was dismayed. I thought they'd get sick of them and stop playing after a couple of weeks. Nope.

 

After that little experiment, we're doing things differently this year.

 

Educational:

Learning Spencerian handwriting--about 15-20 min a day in a workbook

DS14: astronomy questions (finishing up from the school year) 10 min

DS14: math worksheet (30 min)

Write their books (they each have a short book they're writing for school/fun) (30)

Read a fun novel for a bit each day (30)

 

Around the house:

Learning how to do a tiny bit of sewing (buttons on pants, repair a rip in a pillow)

Helping me cook each night

General cleaning of the house (vacuum, dust, dishes, laundry, trash out--basic chores)

 

Projects to work on little by little each day:

Rolling a bajillion pennies we have (10)

Shredding some old paperwork (10)

 

Fun stuff:

Some field trips

Playing board games together

Watching a few shows together

karate lessons twice a week

 

DS14:

A job at McDonalds--about 20 hours/week

 

All of the above takes up a bit of time. In between the above, they can play on their electronics. It's made for a nice, lazy summer for them so far, but not where they're only in front of the screens all day.

 

Also, we just decided to host a Spanish exchange student for a month, so that will liven things up a bit. I'm still sticking with the above plan, though, even when the student is here. The only difference is that instead of spreading our field trips out over 3 months, we'll probably do a bunch of them during the month the student is here.

 

I have a strict 10:00 bedtime, but let them sleep in to whenever they want to. I did this to see just how much sleep they need--they go to sleep at 10:00 every night and then let their bodies wake them when they're ready.

 

It turns out that my ds14 needs 9 - 9.5 hours a night and my ds12 needs 10-11.

Edited June 17, 2017 by Garga

[birchbark]

I can't find the thread now, but someone had a similar question recently and one poster had a different activity for each day of the week. One day was library day, one day was pool day, one day was art, one day was baking, etc, etc. I thought it was a nice way to add a little structure to the summer.

 

Our summer here is pretty low-key. We do swimming lessons and Bible camp, and have one family vacation planned. Otherwise it's pretty unstructured. But we are up north, and the summers are nice enough for the kids to spend a lot of time outside.

[Dramorellis]

We ended our school year last week and are taking a week off with nothing much planned before we begin our "summer session". During the summer we try to keep it light and I simply require that they read something, write something and do math daily. That's about 2 hours of our day. We either do it in the morning and go out in the afternoon or go out in the morning before it gets too hot and then do it in the afternoon. We also do theme days because I tried it one year, they loved it and look forward to it now. We do Math Games Monday, Tea-Time Tuesday, Wacky Science Wednesday, Reader's Theater Thursday and Field Trip Friday. It requires no real planning on my part but it still keeps us in a routine. We head to the library when it's really hot and we want to get out, the pool, hang out with friends etc. The break in summer is as much for me as it is for them so I try not to plan much at all. We don't watch TV or use media during the week so they figure stuff out or play outside.

[Mrs Twain]

We took a week off with no requirements as far as academic work.

 

Starting this week, I made a checklist for every weekday for the rest of the summer. The kids have about an hour per day of required light academic assignments Monday-Friday. For example for today, one child has Reading 30 min, Khan SAT practice, Duolingo, and Awana verse review. After that is finished, he can use screens.

 

The screen rules are:

--no screen time before noon

--one hour per day maximum for video games

--two Netflix shows per day maximum

 

My kids do serious sports year-round including summer, so we are also busy with lots of practices and tournaments.

[RootAnn]

Mostly, it is  :willy_nilly: and  :smash: and some  :toetap05:   with lots of  :driving: . Luckily, no  :nopity: .

 

We do 'light school' (math + whatever you need to work on the most). So, usually only about an hour a day per kid. I try to clean the school room, plan for next year, and restack the school room. We also have chores, running, camps, baseball, coach pitch, pool, lap swimming, cooking, cleaning, walking, library, movies, weeding the garden, biking, and lots of reading, sketching, audiobooks, and making-stuff-from-boxes.

 

I'm never going to get my planning done or editing DD#2's copious list of manuscripts that have piled up during the school year if I don't go away for five or six weeks just for that.  :smilielol5: Fat chance there.

[Seeking Squirrels]

We took two weeks completely off of anything structured but my DD9 doesn't really do well with that. So I'm adding in a bit of structure. I made a checklist for her that she has to finish before there can be any screen time. She has to do 30 minutes each of: reading, school work, active play, and chores. It has to be done by 6pm regardless but if it's finished before then she can have screen time for ~ 30-60 min. 

 

I signed DD9 up for one all day, week-long STEM camp.  They each did an 8 day swimming session (just 30 min a day spread over 2 weeks M-Th). They wanted to do the summer craft days at Michaels so I let them pick one a week to do. That's all I did for scheduled things. I wanted to keep our days open for bike riding, swimming/water play in the backyard, and play dates with friends. 

 

I'll probably keep our schedule like this for another couple of weeks or until they complain that it's way too hot to be outside mid-day. Then I will up the school schedule a bit. July is really too hot here to play outside in the afternoon so we might as well get a good start on the school year. 

 

This week's schedule: Visited the library monday and had tumbling at 4. Haircuts and a dr. appt. tuesday. Michaels craft and a playdate Wednesday. A park playdate friday. The rest of the time is open. 

[Heather in OK]

We don't do much in the summer.  My kids don't really enjoy public pools so we don't go swimming.  We're not involved in any organizations that have sleep-away summer camps. 

My oldest two work part time.

My 14yo hangs in her room most days.  She attended a theater class (1x/week for four weeks) and starting in July will have an art class twice a week. 

My 11yo is a homebody and is perfectly happy staying home. 

 

[Spryte]

We're pretty mellow here.

 

Mornings are for outdoor play (after the daily living type stuff is done, both kids help out around the house a bit throughout the day but most is in the morning).  Lunch is inside, all other children are sent home.  Or like today - it's on the porch sitting on beach towels in bathing suits because they are going back to water play after eating.  Normally though, lunch is time to chill out and maybe watch a documentary after, or listen to an audiobook while doing art, or chill with a book.  They do one math lesson, and it's back out to play with friends.  Around 5:30, we do dinner, then reading and showers and crash for the night.  

 

A few days a week that's broken up by scheduled outings: archery on Mondays; Parkour on Wed; Library on Thurs.  Trips to the pool or local beach are thrown in periodically.

 

Friday nights we usually have a gathering at our house for s'mores and general hanging out with friends.  We call this Tiara Night, and the tiaras are for the adults who've survived the week.  :)

 

Saturdays we are hosting a summer-long cosplay event.  So, many children and adults are here on Saturdays.  

[Sahamamama2]

Morning Routine (approx. 7:30 to 9:30 am)

Breakfast & Pet Care

Meal Prep (lunch & supper set up)

Kitchen Clean Up

Chores & Bedrooms

Drink Water

 

School Work (approx. 9:30 to 11:00 am)

Finishing up Science (group; we always save a little Science for the summer, we like to do this.)

Finishing up Composition (6th grader, just a little left)

Typing practice

Music practice (piano, other instrument, or choir)

Spelling (a few more steps to go)

As the school work wraps up, this is morphing into free time (no TV, don't even ask)

ALSO, if the weather is lovely in the morning, they go outside! That little bit of school work that we still have to do can wait until the afternoon... or tomorrow... or a rainy, sticky day. It's cooler in the morning, and there's less chance of a thunderstorm.

 

Household Projects (M/W/F) or Summer Crafts (T/Th)  (11:00 am to 1:00 pm)

Organizing, sorting, cleaning (Fridays), clothing, closets, etc.

Summer crafts (we sort of have a list of things that we'd like to get to)

This is actually more flexible in real life than it looks here. ;) They also might be off "doing their thing," while I'm on my own "doing my thing." Right now, I'm scratching my sewing itch.

 

Lunch & Clean Up (1:00 to 2:00 pm)

 

Afternoon Activity (2:00 to 5:00 pm)

Swim (backyard pool) or Exercise (treadmill, play room, backyard, park)

Library or Field Trip (W)

Homeschool Creek Day (F)

 

Evening Routine (5:00 to 8:00 pm)

Clean Up (yard, suits, unpack the van, etc.)

Showers & Free Time/TV

Supper & Clean Up

Pets & General Pick Up

More free time, if responsibilities are done

Bedtime (we have to be careful in the summer time, because bedtime is always sliding to later and later times, but our kids really do need their regular bedtime, or they start to fade)

 

Weekends are a bit different, with Saturdays devoted to either yardwork, errands, or a fun family outing. Sundays are for church, rest, and a Family Movie Night. HTH.

Edited June 21, 2017 by Sahamamama2

[Tumbatoo]

We do VBS and a couple of camps. When we aren't doing those, we do a little math and musical instruments so those don't fall out of practice. I'm hoping to go camping somewhere quiet next month :)

[coastalfam]

So far, sleep in (sort of--my kids wake early), get a lazy start. We do some reading or math for 30 minutes sometime after breakfast. That is our structured, predictable part of the day. Then we just do Summer time stuff: lots of sports day camps, swimming lessons, they are earning baseball cards for extra music practice and doing extra jobs and chores, hiking, and just plain being bored with no screen time whatsoever (boredom sparks so much creativity lately--such a fun stage). It's been wonderful. My stress level is SO low right now. :)

[Gentlemommy]

We finished official school at the end of April, so we took all of May off. We had a bunch of stuff in May-travel, respite care with extra kids, and our own foster son going home-so we needed time to just be together, reconnect, and breathe. In June we are doing 2 hours or so of school. One hour of math/LA seat work, and one hour of reading. I have planned a world geography year, and it will take us a whole year to complete...maybe even longer. It's morning basket stuff-me reading aloud, crafts, map work, music, poetry, art...My older girls also read on their own for some time. Their gymnastics schedule has increased, so we are at the gym M-F, 4-8. I'm trying to fit in lots of pool, creek, lake time with friends. Every weekend is packed with parties, bbq's, play dates, etc. it's been super busy!