Summer Homeschool

Yep, you read that right, we intend to do “Summer School” here in our neck of the woods.  Why on earth would anyone do such a thing?  Well, I’m glad you asked. Here are my reasons for continuing to homeschool in the summer.

1).  We lose too much over summer

My girls are both at very challenging places in their educational careers.  My youngest has just learned to read, while my oldest is just mastering multiplication & division.  These are skills that can’t be simply put into a box and pulled out later. They have to be practiced and perfected.  I find that daily practice is the best way to keep things fresh and help everyone stay on top of their game.

2).  To improve weak areas

My oldest daughter is an amazing reader, while my youngest excels in math. However, if you switch that around, not so much.  Weak areas cause problems in our homeschool day.  They produce excess complaining, as well as laziness. Firming up these weak areas, while we don’t have so many other stresses works well for us.  Our relaxed summer schedule allows us to focus more on these areas, which in turn improves the fall/spring semesters.

3).  We stay in the school mindset

This one is true even for me.  It’s so hard to recover from time off when you homeschool.  No one wants to voluntarily go back to math or English after a nice long break.  Plus I am a tad bit compulsive by nature, so I like to have a consistent schedule to stick to.

4).  We are ahead the following year

There is nothing worse than going into April and realizing that you have 10 chapters of math left.  We love to take a nice long break at Christmas, and being ahead allows us to do this.  Someone gets sick for a week?  It’s no big deal because we are ahead on the things that matter.  We always tend to taper off some during the spring as well, because by then momma has had enough.

5).  Rainy Days (AKA Mom’s Sanity)

“Mom, I’m bored,” words no mom wants to hear on a nasty rainy day.  My standard “Go Outside” can’t apply in this situation.  Guess what though…..Extra school is always available!  Now don’t get me wrong, forts in the living room are fun, but enough is enough!

Now, don’t mistake me for a total tyrant.  Our summer schedule is MUCH more laid back than in the Fall/Winter/Spring.  We do their hardest subjects most days and then rotate through their easier ones.  For example my oldest’s schedule may look like this:

Monday:  Math/English

Tuesday:  None

Wednesday: Math/Science

Thursday:  None

Friday:  Math/Reading

We also do read aloud and reading challenges for both of them all summer long.  “Summer School” is not guaranteed to happen every day either.  Some days are good park days, movies days, or craft days.  This is why I have two built-in “off days.”  We plan to read tons of read-a-loud books, purely for fun.  I also hope to do some fun history & science activities.  So how about you?  Do you keep going in the summer?  If so, what does your schedule look like?

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