Homeschool Summer School Plans

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I’m not doing it this year.

I’m not creating a bunch of grand plans for our homeschool summer school, only to ditch them the first week of June!

I’m not creating a chart for the kids to track their books (they hate that!), I’m not dragging everyone to the library to sign up for a library program that they will only be interested in for 5 minutes.

Instead we have chosen books to read together. We have chosen a few activities (with the exception of Math – that is my command) that they have been asking for, but we don’t always have time to get to during the bulk of the year.

I think we have settled on some nice plans for summer. We are more on than off, especially with Math and read alouds. Math and reading are pretty non-negotiable. My oldest three are fairly self sufficient with the guidance of Teaching Textbooks and if they have questions then they ask Dad. Works for me! Read alouds are easy to do anywhere, the couch, the lanai, and even the tree fort.

Our Summer Plan

– Math everyday

– Reading everyday (me reading to them and then each child reading or “reading” on their own)

Our Read Aloud Choices for Summer

– Wind in the Willow (possibly an audio version)

– The Penderwicks

 

– Laddie

– Bible Stories – I’m using this Bible to read through stories with my younger kids. Even though we spent a great deal of time doing First Holy Communion prep with our younger two, I feel like they need a good refresher on the Bible stories. Sometimes those are things that I just assume they know because the older kids do, but then I realize that they don’t!

 

– Poetry/Tea Time – I wanted to spend some time on poetry this summer, but we just may not get to it. I’m planning for one Tea Time per month for June, July, and August. Perhaps it will carry over to September too. We have also been reading A Midsummer Night’s Dream, using both of these resources:

I can’t believe how much my kids have enjoyed Shakespeare! My only exposure before these was reading Romeo & Juliet in high school. I thought it was the most boring thing ever, but then I got a copy of the DK book and then I listened to the RAR Podcast with Ken Ludwig and was inspired to give it a try. I feel like if my kids are liking Shakespeare, any kids will like Shakespeare.

– Scheduled one week off per month for June, July, and August

– One week of Vacation Bible School at our parish. The three older kids and I are helping out and the three younger kids are participating.

– Jonah is doing one week of a summer survival day camp.

Other than that we will just we hanging around for the summer. Last summer was incredibly busy so we are looking forward to a pretty open calendar. The kids will spend a great deal of time swimming and playing in the tree fort. When the summer rains hit we will read. The tv and all other electronics will mostly be in the off position and they are more than welcome to get bored!

Happy Summer!