If you school through the summer...

[momschicklets]

do you school more lightly? How does this work for you. I hate taking three months off of *all* academics because kids tend to forget so much; but I also would like a break from school as we do it. Does anyone have a middle-of-the-road plan? Maybe a fun unit study? Just concentrating on books and field trips? Would love to hear how others use their summer!

[Wendi]

I do a lighter schedule in the summer, and we usually do something like two weeks on/two weeks off. That way, he gets enough lazy days, but we keep up with school enough that he doesn't forget everything!

 

We'll do math (ds's weak area), history (we both love it), alternate between grammar and outlining (maybe 20 min. a day), and literature (I give him a list of books to choose from). By his request, he'll do some writing, too.

 

He'll still be taking guitar lessons during the summer. We'll probably do a few educational and fun day trips (hiking, historic places, maybe even the Grand Canyon).

 

Wendi

[Mesa]

We have done a regular school schedule and a lighter school schedule. I think this summer we will stick to our regular schedule through out the summer.

I also schedule a lighter work day on Thursdays when we have park day with other area homeschoolers.

[King Alfred Academy]

Lighter work load. The boys and I need the structure or we will be at each others throats! We don't do school daily, however. If we want to spend the day at the beach, we will. If we feel like going to the zoo, we'll do that too. We have several little mini trips planned through out the summer:auto: (WA, IA, camping along Hwy.1) and family/friends who are going to visit.

 

As far as what we do, Right Start Math games, ETC, nature study, and a fun unit study of some sort. We pick something from homeschoolshare.com to do.

[skaterbabs]

We do math and language arts year round; everything else is "school light" during the summer. This year we're adding in a few unit studies of things we'd like to cover but don't have time for during the regular school year.

[lauracolumbus]

We do a couple of hours a week on math and lang. arts. This summer we'll do some Latin. I'm hoping using more fun books like Life of Fred and Mimimus will help ease the pain. I'm planning on 2 hours 3x/week of seat work in addition to educational field trips, games, videos as well as reading before bed.

[LUV2EDU]

do you school more lightly? How does this work for you. I hate taking three months off of *all* academics because kids tend to forget so much; but I also would like a break from school as we do it. Does anyone have a middle-of-the-road plan? Maybe a fun unit study? Just concentrating on books and field trips? Would love to hear how others use their summer!

 

We will only do Math, Reading, Writing and Grammar during the summer.

 

 

Grammar Example:

 

Sentence:

 

The girl is pretty. (Simple Sentence with a natural word order)

 

The=article

girl=noun

is= being verb

pretty=adjective

 

The girl=complete subject

girl=simple subject

 

is pretty=complete predicate

is=simple predicate

 

:001_smile:

[rafiki]

.

[Matryoshka]

Other than a week of some kind of camp (ballet or gymnastics, usually), and early-morning swimming lessons, we don't do any outside activities in the summer. This alone makes it much more relaxed. Wednesday is park day and sometimes biking.

 

Last year we did different things in the summer - LOF instead of Singapore math, German grammar reinforcement (rather than weekly German classes), and some journal writing. This year I'd like to add in a science unit (on the human body) and our Spanish class will be biweekly rather than weekly and use a different book and much lighter homework. If they like it, I may have them work through Writing Magic rather than just journal. We also continue history all summer, but a lot of that is done in the evenings so I forget to include it when I list summer subjects.

[CatMomof3]

I am the odd ball, we school HEAVIER in the summer than other time of the year. I live in the deserts of So Cal and don't own a pool. When it is super hot we stay inside.

 

Alison

[Brindee]

We school lighter. It varies what exactly we do each summer, but always some math! This summer, ds15 will need to finish up his history, do some vocab. studies some math. DD12 will need to brush up on grammar 2-3 times a week and do some math. It's only an hour or two 2-3 days a week though, usually.

 

I may throw in some other stuff to give them a head start for next year. A couple of weeks before we officially start, we hit math and Engish harder, and add in History. This year I may add in their Write Shop class instead of History.

 

This summer will be rather crazy though--ds17 will be graduating from a Christian highschool and getting ready to go to college. He'll need to get a driver's license (he's had his permit for some time now), and we'll need to find him a car! He may work for a couple of months at a place that does summer programs for kids. DS15 may try to work at the same place if they let him, or he'll volunteer. We go to a wedding in July, and take ds17 to college in August---unless he does a last minute change of mind and goes to the local Community College....Anyway, BUSY!

Edited May 6, 2009 by Brindee

[JustGin]

do you school more lightly? How does this work for you. I hate taking three months off of *all* academics because kids tend to forget so much; but I also would like a break from school as we do it. Does anyone have a middle-of-the-road plan? Maybe a fun unit study? Just concentrating on books and field trips? Would love to hear how others use their summer!

 

We're going to try it for the first time this summer mainly because we want to have more room to be flexible in our schedule throughout the rest of the year.

We are planning continuing our morning routine but making it light and fun. We'll have some math games and Calculadder drills, music practice, a unit study we'll all do together and of course lots of personal reading and reading aloud. We want to keep it to about 2-2.5 hrs max, not counting our personal reading time.

 

Our summers activities always include putting up veggies and fruit, taking a couple of week-long camping trips, a 10 day family vacation, one week of youth camp, and park days with our home school group, so "summer-school" will flow around these activities.

[LoveBaby]

We will do math/LA through the summer. We may pick some fun things to do at homeschoolshare.com as well.

[dragons in the flower bed]

do you school more lightly? How does this work for you.

 

 

No, we don't school more lightly. We're light all year round, and the only way we get everything done is to continue at that casual pace steadily.

[EKS]

I usually look at what they are most likely to forget and then go half strength on that for about 6 weeks during the summer. So, math is usually something that gets done over the summer and they might do a lesson every other day or split one lesson over two days instead of doing a whole lesson every day. For Latin, I might just have them review previously learned vocabulary and grammar once per week.

 

As for new material, sometimes I will introduce topics that don't fit well into our regular curriculum or things that I want to deal with separately for some reason. Last summer, my son and I watched the Teaching Company lecture series called Big History. I wanted to get through it before we started the history rotation again. This summer, my 7yo and I might do a small study of world religions. We do study these as part of history, but I'm thinking it would be spend some time separately on it as well.

 

HTH!

[amyco]

This is the first year we'll be doing much in the summer as far as school. It took us several weeks to get caught up again last fall. So I'm planning on continuing with Latin work and simple math review, and maybe state history. That's about all. Maybe an hour per day, then we'll all have free time to do whatever!

 

I am thinking of switching to a modified year round schedule anyway, if I can ever figure it out. But then, this might work too--just light school in the summer.

[Karen sn]

We'll probably do a few educational and fun day trips (hiking, historic places, maybe even the Grand Canyon).

 

Wendi

 

Get to the Grand Canyon!!!

If you are that lucky, hike to the bottom.

It is beautiful.

There is a small stream from a waterfall and it is cool and clean.

[momtolgd]

We will continue our normal schedule through June and July. We take most of August off, but may continue with a few things even then so that we can move onto the next books on time. We change it up by doing school outside on our back patio while the kids take turns playing with the toddler.

 

We had a lot of interruptions to school this year and really need to continue through the summer (we bought a house and moved in the fall, then the Holidays were crazy with traveling, then we went through 3 bad sicknesses from mid january through mid april.) Plus I don't think a long break will do them any good. I'd rather have days off here and there throughout the year then have a long break for the summer...more freedom of scheduling works better for us! :001_smile:

[Karen sn]

We are relaxed all year long and think in terms of semesters.

4 semesters/4 seasons.

We lighten up in some of our core subjects (3R's) because Science is a huge part of our summer.

 

This summer I have 2 priorities.

Science (because it's everywhere) and Math (becuase we are getting ready for Life of Fred in the fall).

 

Science - I have her enrolled in 2 summer camps.

One week in a 2,000 acre state park for half a day (Invertebrate Zoology).

The other at a 200 acre city park all day (Nature Camp).

 

We have field guides, we will hike, we will take advantage of the classes offered -local parks offer guided wildflower hikes, bird hikes, bat hikes, etc.....

We will get books from the library when we find things we want to study.

 

Math - We're basically wraping up elementary math because dd is ready to get serious and I'm gonna call 6th grade (this fall) "middle schoool".

We are also doing Dave Ramsey's "Financial Peace Jr."

 

English - she will do Growing With Grammar grade 5 on her own.

We'll do some Sequential Spelling.

A little creative writing. Lots of pen pals.

 

History - continue SOTW Ancients which I am loving.

 

WOW, I look at that and realize we do alot for unschoolers.

 

We take off when we want.

We study where we are.

When in bf's hometown last fall we studied Mark Twain because that's where he grew up.

 

ETA - and typing because we didn't get to it this spring.

Edited May 6, 2009 by Karen sn

[Guest 3 Princesesses]

Have you thought of doing a KONOS unit? My plan for the summer is to take the time off of doing the same old same old classical stuff and do a fun unit study that goes in tons of directions. I have not researched KONOS thoroughly, I just have friends who use it and love it. There is something about it that really appeals to me. We will see how it actually works.

[Amy loves Bud]

We live in a neighborhood with A LOT of kids who are great friends. For that reason I typically follow the PS schedule and take summers off.

 

This year, most of the moms have agreed to have a two hour quiet time where all the kids go in at the same time, and no knocking on one another's doors during those two hours.

 

We'll use that time to do some reading and history, math drill with Calculadders, memory review and Mavis Beacon typing. I anticipate this will take about an hour.

 

For the second hour, they will be required to set a goal to accomplish during the summer and work toward it. This will be all theirs and I'll just help provide the tools they need. Sort of a forced unschooling thing. ;)

At this point I imagine one will set goals related to guitar and the other related to cooking.

 

On Fridays, instead of quiet time, we're going to be doing a community service thing with some of our friends. We'll be taking lunch to a park near a local school that has 90% of its students receiving free lunches. Since free lunches aren't available during the summer (unless the kids are in summer school) we're hoping to fill that gap a bit.

 

That's our plan. I hope it works!

[tricia]

Normally we look like this.

 

devotionals

bible

latin

math

literature RC curriculum

copywork

vocabulary

Book child has chosen to read for fun and notebook about

penmanship

language arts

 

We do continue through the summer because I have way too many children to allow them to get "out of the habit" of lessons. Only one year I remember not doing any school and September was such a nightmare winding them down for school again that I said no more. Here is what our summer will look like.

 

Reading-usually books from the sonlight list

Math

Copywork

Latin

 

Needless to say everyone looks forward to summer because their schedule is nearly cut in half.

[Wendi]

Get to the Grand Canyon!!!

If you are that lucky, hike to the bottom.

It is beautiful.

There is a small stream from a waterfall and it is cool and clean.

 

Sounds heavenly! I can't believe we've lived here for six years and haven't been to the Grand Canyon yet.

 

Wendi

[TexasRachel]

We do school 4 days/week year round. Summer is for anything that didn't get finished, continuing basics, and fun stuff. Like Harry Potter school, unit studies, or other fun stuff that I can't fit in during the normal school year.

[chaik76]

We school the same way in summer as the rest of the year...not lighter or heavier.

[lovinmomma]

We will take 6 weeks off from Thanksgiving until thd 1st of Jan., and then we take 5 or 6 weeks off in the summer. During those breaks we will also do some fun learning, but nothing serious. We may do math periodically or some LA. Nothing scheduled and only if Mom is going stir crazy or something and to make sure that everything is not forgotten on the break.

[Marsha Lynn]

We do math and grammar 3 days a week during the summer. My son participates in a bowling league one day and then the 5th day is open. We take one full week off in June, July and August and that is our lighter load and our break. :001_smile:

[Paisley Hedgehog]

nm

[SquirrellyMama]

I plan on doing Math, reading or phonics and science this summer.

[Narnian]

We usually take summers completely off, but this year I'm going to have my 7-year-old continue doing math drills, memory work, a little bit of phonics review, and work on his typing skills using a computer program we bought a while ago. Plus, my husband is going to do some kind of science experiment with him once a week since I kind of dropped the ball in that area this year. I don't think it will take more than 20-30 minutes/day to do his summer work--pretty light stuff.

 

How disciplined *I* will be to make sure these few things get done every day remains to be seen. ;)

[skaterbabs]

Assuming we can afford our pool membership this year we'll do school in the morning and spend the evening and afternoon at the pool. Our pool doesn't open until 11:30, so that's plenty of time to get math & grammar done.

[phathui5]

We'll be keeping our regular schedule. However, we have a field trip on Fridays year round, so we're year round 4 1/2 day a week schoolers.

[laurad1125]

Ours looks the same all year long. We take a week off here and there as needed and time off at holidays. I also have 2-3 days a month I loose to health issues and occasional work projects. I keep an eye on how many school days we've done and adjust breaks accordingly. We start a new grade on June 1st each year. Other than that we just keep chugging along.

[PollyOR]

Our back yard is adjacent to the community playground/park. I want to do school, but there are kids in and out of our yard who want to play.

 

But, we had to do too much review this past fall. I've decided that we will do math and Latin this summer. This is what my kids think about the idea ... :001_huh:. This is what I think ... :D.

[LisaKinVA]

Well, here's what we're doing this summer...

 

Bible

Latin

Grammar & Composition

Literature

Math

Music

Art 2-3x week (most likely on non-waterpark days.

 

About 5 hours a day... but we aren't doing formal history or science this summer.

 

Then, hopefully, it's off to the waterpark (I'm planning at least 4x a week).

 

We've also got a few field trips planned.

 

But, our "school year" starts August 1st ... so this schedule really only applies to June & July. We just add things back in gradually (Spelling, Vocabulary, History, Science and Spanish)

[Melenie]

Last year we cut back to every other day instead of 5 days a week and if something fun comes up like a family visit we take the week off. We will probably do the same this year. I only plan to do the basics, reading, writing and math.

[siloam]

do you school more lightly? How does this work for you. I hate taking three months off of *all* academics because kids tend to forget so much; but I also would like a break from school as we do it. Does anyone have a middle-of-the-road plan? Maybe a fun unit study? Just concentrating on books and field trips? Would love to hear how others use their summer!

 

I do roughly 4 weeks on 1 week of year around, but so much is going on right now (vacations, VBS, ect..) that it is ending up being 3 weeks on one week off for the first half of the summer. :D I usually also try to drop a few things for summer, like spelling and handwriting, but I would still have them do dictation.

 

Heather

 

[FO4UR]

I'm schooling through the summer too. My dc are 6, 4, and (will be) 3...so school doesn't take too much of our day anyway. We will change up the daily schedule with the weather. Now, we do school stuff and chores first and go outside by 11-12. When the heat hits, we'll go outside early and school when it's too HOT to be outside.

 

There is no way I'm taking off more than a weekend at this point with ds6- phonics and math are on par with brushing teeth for now.:D

[Guest mmclassics]

1. I want to start an introduction to nutrition - bought a book at the HS convention to help us start. I am hoping for more buy-in on healthy snacks and meals. Our garden has a late start, but if we buy plants this week, we could still do some good. Now that they are big enough to grab it for themselves, they need some wisdom on balancing a meal - when mom is otherwise occupied.

 

2. Continue music - but more informal tunes. Fiddle for the violinist ds-12, and fun tunes for piano for dd-8.

 

3. We missed any literature studies this year. They love reading, but not much formal study about the books. I think we may use the Robinson Curriculum for a little extra oomph to our summer reading. It has vocabulary and questions for many great books. Our consignment store has a copy - Yeah! Another vocabulary possibility is to try Critical Thinking's Word Roots - A1 software. Depending on the interest level, it might be more of a school year program - or perhaps they can earn points for progress here.

 

4. Math facts - software games when possible. Maybe test the Video Text Algebra (Rod and Staff) first module before we quit this year. Saxon continual repetition is driving ds - 12 CRAZY - and the promo material seem right up his ally.

 

5. Occasional grammar review through sheppardsoftware.com. They both love it!

 

6. ?Maybe? give Rosetta Stone Spanish a test run. If it is on the computer, I have to ration the time. Typer Shark will be there as well.

 

7. Probably beginning and end of summer - IEW - Fix-It. Grammar and Editing Made Easy with the Classics. ds(12) has a visual processing challenge called Irlen Syndrome, and it makes proofing his compositions more of a challenge. He loves good stories, so this could be a nice change - but still continuing with the IEW and EEL from Classical Conversations this year. Next year will contain A LOT of writing, so we need to speed it up a little.

 

Less hours - not 5 days a week for most of it. Earlier rising for chores and play BEFORE the heat. Study on "making best friends of brothers and sisters" for the older ones. Frog/toad catching. Pool time. :auto:G'parents time. Crafts for the fair! Local sightseeing - with friends. Fiddle camp! 1 - 2 hrs a day - little more when adding music.

 

OK - now it is written down. We have to give it a go.

 

mmclassics

 

ds 12 - Classical Conversations *Memory Master!*, IEW, Saxon 8/7, violin, less formal science, literature, choir, juggling sticks and wrestling w younger brother.

dd 8 - Classical Christian school close by

ds 3 - Bob books, coloring, dot to dot. Mostly taught by dd, read to by everyone.

[woolybear]

This is the first year I am planning on doing school in the summer. Actually, this is the first year we did school all through the winter. There were some long interruptions, though, due to illness,etc. I cant imagine taking the summer off and then trying to get them (or myself:)) going in the fall. Its been hard enough getting going this year.

 

I do think it will be light and flexible (maybe--we shall see how that goes).

 

I am planning to do adventure boxes, which I read about somewhere else.

I thought I would pick one theme for each of them and let them pick one theme each. Well, ds, 6, asked to do nature. I said I thought that was a bit too broad, but I think we will do that and divide it into smaller themes. Perhaps insects, sea life, and plants. We will see.

 

I will also continue with the basics and read alouds and nature walks.