Summer Studies

[lexi]

My son now goes to a hybrid private school where he goes 3 days a week and does work at home the other two days. It’s been a good choice for him because he is a reluctant (and struggling) learner and I found homeschooling him during puberty to be a huge challenge. We are both happier with our new arrangement and it’s really helped our relationship. Being with peers has also pushed him in academic subjects and he’s putting a bit more effort into his work. However, I still feel he’s not quite where he should be. 
 

He’s going into 9th next year but I’d like to do some things over the summer to review and make sure he’s ready to move forward. 
 

I’d like to focus on math (he’s finishing prealgebra and his school used CLE math for that) and writing/grammar (his teacher based writing off literature books they read). 
 

Any ideas?

I’d like a prealgebra/algebra workbook or something that we can use for practice this summer. Suggestions?
 

And I would like to do some more writing and grammar with him. I was going to do narration based on books we would read this summer but I would like some grammar too (maybe editing practice). Thoughts?
 

I will also do spelling with AAS since he needs more help in that area. 
 

Any other ideas to help prepare him for next year? 

[HomeAgain]

I don't know how formal I'd go over the summer.  If I was planning this out, I'd probably do two things:

-encourage him to keep a blog and teach a format for posting stories each week about what he's doing.

-Prealgebra With Pizzazz worksheets.  They're free online.

Summers here are literally the best time of the year.  After 8, 9am, it's beautiful outside and near perfect weather.  We end up doing so much that schoolwork is mostly integrated in or just a fun thing to do first thing in the morning.  For us, our plans this summer are:

-listening to The Man In The Iron Mask

-a TOPS math unit in August

-a Fluency Matters reader (Brandon Brown veut un chien)

-Legonium once a week

-blogging adventures once a week

 

It sounds like a lot, but it's all things my kid is interested in and will want to do, plus they apply his skills that he has worked hard on all year.

[smfmommy]

If doing more 'school' in the summer is going to cause friction and ruin the healing your relationship has done, I wouldn't bother.  The teenage years are hard enough, don't make it harder for 8 weeks of academic improvement (maybe).

I agree the pizzazz worksheets could be fun.  You could also do the Hands on Equations and/or Dragonbox Algebra apps.

You could review books/games/whatever on Amazon (or the like) for real life writing.  Taking his reviews through the editing process would cover basic grammar.

Read and discuss a couple classics together.

 

[PeterPan]

On 4/9/2022 at 5:20 AM, lexi said:

I will also do spelling with AAS since he needs more help in that area. 

Does he type? Might be a better goal than spelling at this point.

On 4/9/2022 at 8:54 PM, smfmommy said:

If doing more 'school' in the summer is going to cause friction and ruin the healing your relationship has done, I wouldn't bother.

Yup, or hire a tutor if he agrees he sees certain needs. He's coming to the age where you let things drop and only provide what they recognize the need for.

On 4/9/2022 at 5:20 AM, lexi said:

And I would like to do some more writing and grammar with him.

Where is he going in the fall?? Won't they teach grammar there? It's ok to take a break and some kids make big gains by being given a BREAK. Especially on all things language. I'd just give him a language rich environment and access to amazing things. He'll learn more language by engaging with something he's really into than he will from a grammar curriculum when he's coming out of a school year tired.

On 4/9/2022 at 5:20 AM, lexi said:

make sure he’s ready to move forward. 

Or grade adjust him if he's that far behind. If he's not that behind, let him have a break. I school year round too, but he was working at grade level and completely a year's worth of assignments, yes?

On 4/9/2022 at 5:20 AM, lexi said:

Being with peers has also pushed him in academic subjects and he’s putting a bit more effort into his work.

Will he be with them this fall or is he going to a different school? What does he want to do? Does *he* perceive some gaps that could use remediation to be in a stronger position for fall? You might ask him. That reflection and buy in would be worth a lot.