tips for easing into homeschooling in the summer

[workingmom]

DD will be coming home next year for 6th grade. We're hoping to ease into homeschooling with some routines in Mid June. I was thinking just do 30 min each :math/reading/spelling(or grammar) and incorporate independent reading and crafts. She used to love sewing and crafting projects but now if she gets together with a friends she'll spend hours playing with her. Which is fine but I would like her to try to keep some passion projects up. Any way suggestions for encouraging crafts and independent play? I was thinking to rotate projects like Monday and Wed will be sewing and textile crafts and maybe Th/TH painting/drawing. I feel if there is no structure she gets bored and unable to start anything. Underlying inattentive ADHD.

 

 

[PeterPan]

Are you going to treat the ADHD? My dd is very ADHD, and we didn't start until high school, which was unnecessarily late. Just looking at what you're describing, it sounds like a short acting 4 hour med might make a big difference. Was she in school because of the ADHD or another reason? 

My dd really likes the high structure of college, the physical presence. So one of your big tips is structure. Were you looking at working together or having her work independently? You already have the materials bought? She may be used to working independently or have a developmental drive to do that. So a checklist with checkin points can be good, stuff she can do independently. For instance, Abeka grammar was idiotproof and independent for my dd--just open the page and do it. 

I think I'd be cautious about what she used to love. My ds used to love legos and now he doesn't play with them so much. This is an age where things shift. With my dd I had a checklist for the week that had columns for each day. That way, if she wanted to work ahead, she could. If she got behind, again it was obvious. And she usually had an end point, like finish this so you can go shopping with so and so on Saturday and if the list isn't done you don't go. Then at the bottom of the list I had a menu of items. So I didn't say which day for what. I was just helping her remember things she liked she might like to choose from.

I think you might like to try some *new* things with her. People with ADHD thrive on novelty. Now that can be bad, because it means they might not stick to things and follow the skill through to mastery. But it can be good when you have concrete, short term projects to teach skills. For instance, around this age we did things I could break into daily chunks like

-origami (using a daily origami calendar)

-napkin folding (got a book and would send her to Grandma's once a week to work on it)

-opera (it's a little hard to find, but this book is great https://www.amazon.com/At-Opera-Ann-Fiery-2003-10-02/dp/B01K3PM7GG/ref=sr_1_9?dchild=1&keywords=opera+fiery&qid=1589718789&s=books&sr=1-9  ) She'd read a summary each week and then spend Friday watching a video of it from youtube. You could do the same thing with Gilbert & Sullivan ( https://www.amazon.com/Stories-Gilbert-Sullivan-Operas-Bulla/dp/0690776365/ref=sr_1_1?dchild=1&keywords=gilbert+and+sullivan+bulla&qid=1589718864&s=books&sr=1-1  ) , Shakespeare (Bulla, Lamb, etc.), whatever you want. The Ambrose verions are what we used for Shakespeare videos, and they're AMAZING, highly recommend. We watched them and would pause to discuss using free comprehension guides we found online.

-debate prompts- https://shop.scholastic.com/teachers-ecommerce/teacher/books/50-debate-prompts-for-kids-9780545179027.html  

Are you going to go to a pool daily or be taking swim lessons or something? It helps to have some structure and routine so she knows ok finish this by this point because then we're doing this. You can intentionally build in structures.

You could look for an online sewing class or flip things with the friend and start a little sewing club with them where they work for an hour on their projects and then play. I did a quilting class for my dd that way. My dd wasn't into quilting, will probably never be into quilting, haha, but it was a way to work her through a lot of skills and precision. So that's a tip, finding a project she can't tackle for herself and helping make it happen. I didn't need so much to schedule for my dd what she could do for herself. I needed to schedule and chunk and make happen things she *couldn't* make happen for herself. So think in terms of what is a next step, what is so hard she definitely can't do it for herself even if it were listed on her weekly menu as a choice, and break that into chunks and make it happen. 

I will tell you a thing I didn't do well for my dd was teaching her to draw. That takes a lot of steps, several years, and I got some bad advice about art that I took a little too literally. The person was like oh just leave artistic kids to themselves, don't get in the middle of their art. Well with her ADHD, she actually needed some chunking to get through the steps to get those skills. Now maybe that's not what happened, maybe she wouldn't have gotten there anyway, who knows. But it's just the principle. Break things into chunks that she'll enjoy doing that she can't do for herself.

I like your plan of something like 45 minutes a day during the summer. We did that a lot. Does she like grammar? I tended to think in terms of what I could bang out in a block. So like you can do Prima Latina in a summer if you work on it. When they're younger (not 6th, haha), you can get through a science book in a summer. You can get through the projects in an art book in a summer. So then you have very clear goals, not things that drag out. 

I think grammar in the summer sounds draggy. Unless it's pretty cool or something you can complete, why not leave it to fall? Why not get off to a fun start with some cool things and only 1-2 sucky things? I love grammar btw. Studied linguistics and multiple languages in college, am always trying to do grammar even with my ds who has SLDs, lol. I'm just saying get off to a good start by bringing pizzaz and concrete projects that get you good momentum. If you're not going to be able to finish it this summer, it's going to seem to drag.

There's a series of punctuation workbooks I did with my dd that were silly, highly effective, and you could get through them in a summer. https://www.criticalthinking.com/punctuation-puzzler.html  Here, these are what we used. Maybe something in here would be appropriate? And not that I'm anti on doing grammar on a picnic blanket or in a tent. We did a lot of that, lol. But just saying for a good start, look for things you can finish, momentum, things that can be fast, things that can maybe be independent. And give the dc some 4 hour meds so she can actually do them. I'm not saying you have to do meds, but just having btdt you're going to get a lot of synergy with want to do it, would enjoy doing it, CAN do it.

 

[PeterPan]

How is her reading going? There are ADHD kids who love to read and ADHD kids who are resistant readers (slow, poor comprehension, just not enjoying it for whatever reason). So obviously you'd like to see her reading more, so that's a good thing to be tackling head on. If you tell us more what she's like, we can brainstorm with you and hear how you're planning to get to your goal and give you ideas.

My dd read a LOT, probably 2-3 hours a day minimum. My ds doesn't read for pleasure *at all* so I'm not faulting you either way, haha. Clearly I lost my magic wand. No he has SLDs and ASD and we keep working on it. My dd used to (and still does, oy) wake up *very slowly* sigh. Like she would need 1 ½-2 hours to be human and be able to be around people. I've seen other posters say this, and it was definitely true for us, that giving her time to read in the morning was that cushion. So she had books in her room and instructions to stay there till she was human, lol. I wake up *very alert* so if she came out I was gonna be like let's go, let's go. ROFL So not a good situation. 

I can also tell you some dirty secrets. Iirc, my dd was still reading a lot of comics in 6th. Comics. Now you can laugh, because this is a dc who had top ACT scores in reading, is a great reader. But she was reading comics so much I was in despair, like dude I need to hide these, she would find them... I advocate high quality potato chip reading. I would not go for massive quantities of absolute junk, but high quality potato chip reading, things that are well written, things with good vocabulary, books that have stood for years and been republished, books adults choose to read for entertainment. Far Side comics, for instance, are comics adults like. Calvin & Hobbes, Beetle Bailey. I think around that age she got really into those Chicken Soup type books with short stories. These are springboard when you're trying to build bulk. And of course getting her hooked on series books, any series, haha. Not babysitters, mercy. Katherine Lasky, Owls of Ga'Hoole, good stuff. 

My dd says she didn't do things because she 1) forgot she had the things (they were behind cupboard doors, she couldn't see them), or 2) just flat didn't remember. So you'll find a lot of ADHD people are very messy, wanting things around. They might have sort of a pile approach to life. They're trying to make sure they REMEMBER and don't forget the stupid things, lol. So if you set up a station for her activity, with a small table and the supplies, now she can see it. If you put it in her afternoon menu on her checklist, now she can see it. 

I made my dd a reading nest to encourage her to read. Back in the day, we used CDs, haha. My ds can't even operate one of those so he uses a kindle for his audiobooks. If your dd is at all reluctant, I would STRONGLY consider bringing in audiobooks. Nuts, I would do it anyway. I'm trying to remember, but I *know* I was buying audiobooks for dd in 5th. That was the year we had ds or he was underfoot, and I bought everything on audio that I would have read aloud to her. Consider immersion reading. You can get her a kindle fire and get ebooks or audiobooks from your library. Then amazon, when it sees you have that, will offer you the other of the pair on the cheap. And your library/overdrive probably has listings that say available with both parts for immersion reading. You cannot go wrong requiring immersion reading. Unless she's strong that you're like oh yeah don't bother. If it's at all sketchy, what a great thing to do for the summer, kwim? Easy to require, independent, definitely within reach, techy. And if you're worried, you have great parental controls on a kindle fire. You can turn off everything so all it does is that if you want. Great device for the money.

Hmm, you want to work on reading. Well again, I'm going to suggest novelty, something that promotes engagement, and something you can bang out in the summer. Like if you already know you're going to drag through the BJU reading in the fall, don't start that now. Yuck, yuck. Instead, what about something targeted that lets her make measurable progress and gets her engaged? Is there an aspect of reading that is giving her fits? Narrative language and following the plot? Being able to summarize what she read? Or maybe go a different direction and bang through a book on fallacies of logic or a specific reading skill like inferences https://www.criticalthinking.com/inference-jones-beginning.html  

Can't believe I forgot MindBenders! https://www.criticalthinking.com/mind-benders-level-3.html  I'm doing Balance Benders with my ds right now, love them too. https://www.criticalthinking.com/balance-benders-beginning.html

So with my dd, she had independent work and together work, and for together work again I was either breaking up hard tasks into chunks or trying to get some positive vibe and momentum. So if something is just hard enough that she needs to do it with you (Mindbenders?) it gives you some positive vibe and momentum, something she'll look forward to when you have your together time. I was always looking for that with dd and I do that with ds too. I just got him a Walls&Warriors set (Timberdoodle sells this) and the goal is do one a day. Anything like that where you're chunking, helping her get farther than she would on her own, and getting that novelty and engagement to balance out the parts you know are going to be kind of drudgery. So I'd be building the HABIT that coming together with you is going to be engaging, the expectation she's going to have at least a few minutes of it be fun.

Can't go wrong with anything Timberdoodle btw. Like just go through their grade levels and suggestions and find some fun things. Just one thing like that, brought in 5 minutes each day into your together time, could be HUGE. And their stuff is very ADHD friendly. I'm playing their Lion in the Way game right now. For my ds, it's actually kind of rocket science because we're using infinitives, pronouns, etc. I don't get really picky about which grade it's assigned to but just go would it be fun for him. I got him the emotions doodling book they sell. Snoop around, she what she'd enjoy.

[PeterPan]

Do you have a read aloud planned? Kids that age still like to be read to. You want something that gets to her heart, something she wouldn't quite read for herself but that she connects with. I STILL remember my 5th grade teacher reading me A Wrinkle in Time. Talk about life altering! 

I think I read aloud to my dd in 6th. It was just getting harder because ds was a challenge, sigh. But yeah, read aloud to her. That would be high up on my summer list. I think around that age we were doing creepy stories. I had a whole book of creepy short stories. The Monkey's Paw, that kind of thing. So more difficult than she would have read for herself, but not too much time to weave into our day. If you haven't done the Lang Fairy Tales, those are unmissable. Periodicals like Muse are good, but those can be independent.

Are you considering any kind of delayed assignment task? I don't think it's a problem to do that in the summer. Just think of a progression that builds skills you want her to have for fall. Or is there something like that she was doing in school and likes? I've heard about kids who just LOVE writing book reports, hahaha.

https://www.amazon.com/Monkeys-Other-Tales-Mystery-Macabre/dp/0897334418/ref=sr_1_1?crid=22XFT46LHDL7Z&dchild=1&keywords=the+monkeys+paw+and+other+short+stories&qid=1589721449&sprefix=monkey's+paw+short+st%2Caps%2C166&sr=8-1  This is not the exact collection I have, but you get the idea. 6th is a really great age for this. They're into Dystopian, scary, macabre, weird,  morally confounding, anything, lol. They're starting to question so lean into it, kwim? Don't look back at how she used to be. Look for where she's going.

Notice & Note would be something you could work through in a summer. Some links to get you started. There's a book, but these are the browser tabs I have open I keep meaning to do with my ds. 

https://docs.google.com/presentation/d/1h8GFgzFSj26YmAdycfsLSaLv8rHxRZXmhCz85ptLtT0/edit?fbclid=IwAR3icgTuvb6jdB4vgDCyDVZ4iy2alVep5ysnm-cu1eTCEEm-4YhwB2xeCGE#slide=id.p1

https://pernillesripp.com/2015/11/15/great-picture-books-to-use-for-notice-and-note-all-signposts/?fbclid=IwAR2bKncumyunrr51sNEiP66Hd_Z6CkQCU9o3VKhwS0upa052VYk4jA3a6Cw

https://accidentalenglishteacher.com/2015/12/29/short-stories-picture-books-and-video-clips-for-notice-and-note/?fbclid=IwAR1TBcGsFgBG65z7vtAWnfm5n19uJF1FMJMh1dfuBG5klI2lMkZ0mTLmVcI

So you could do one signpost a week and be through them by the end of the summer even with breaks. Then you've frontloaded and now have lots of fodder for lit discussions. You can make a poster together of the signs to keep it VISUAL and in front of her. 

Edited May 17, 2020 by PeterPan

[Lori D.]

Welcome! And enjoys your journey!

Great idea to start slow. I always eased into the school year each. So, first week, just do 3 subjects, plus read-alouds. The next week, add another subject or two, 

For starting to school in the summer, I think your idea of starting off with just a few core subjects + reading + fun hands-on/crafts is a good one. I would probably adjust the amount of time for each, with short "mental gear shifting" breaks and protein snacks liberally scattered in there. Something like:

1st hour:
20 min. = read-aloud / together time 
      5 min. = stretch break with cross-lateral movement**
30 min. = Math
   10 min = snack + stretch break with cross-lateral movement**

2nd hour:
15 min. = Spelling
15 min. = Grammar or Writing
   10 min = snack + stretch break with cross-lateral movement**
30 min. = solo reading

open-ended:
   crafting

** cross lateral movement = movements that increase brain connectivity to increase focus and concentration; ideas:

- alternate marching in place (right arm swings forward, left knee lifting high; high arm swings back, left leg plants; then left arm swings forward while right knee lifts high; etc.)
- draw large figure 8s in the air in front of you -- head and eyes stay looking forward, right arm makes large sideways figure 8s that cross at the midline of the body; then do left arm -- key is that the head and eyes do NOT move with the arm
- more quick cross-lateral exercises here, with photos to illustrate