1. Good habits built up in the school year can easily go kaput during the lazy hazy days of summer! Why should we lose all that hard-earned ground!? Year round homeschooling helps to turn those good habits into a way of life.
2. Use it or lose it… and some kids do lose a lot over the summertime! Summertime homeschooling keeps those math, reading, writing and spelling skills sharp.
3. Reading new and different books might be a good thing to try over the summertime. Try some new titles or authors.
4. Two words – field trips. Summertime is a great time to work some social studies, geography, history and science into the curriculum in real life!
5. Summertime homeschooling need not be all drudgery! Learn how to make a pie or sew, paint a room, basic car repairs… all of that is educational and counts as homeschooling.
6. Summertime homeschooling is a great way to pull ahead academically.
7. It’s a great time to play catch up too.
8. Summertime homeschooling keeps the family from getting too scattered from each other.
9. No law says you can’t include the neighbor kids! In fact sometimes the neighbor kids enjoy the read alouds or other homeschooling activities and my kids enjoy having their friends see what their school day is like.
10. Having something to do keeps mom from hearing “I’m bored!” too many times in a day!
10. Dig deeper. So you studied the French Revolution and one of your kids is now fascinated with Marie Antoinette! Now is the time to really dig into her biography and follow all of those rabbit holes that you had to skip over due to time constraints during the school year.
11. Mess. As in, take the messy art project outside. Water colors, chalk, to clay – all if it seems a lot less intimidating outside where everything can get hosed done when we’re done.
12. Science is more fun in the summertime! From planting and growing, to astronomy or simple tools. All of it just seems to lend itself to the long warm days (and nights) of summer.
13. Homeschooling in the summer gives mom some structure too!
14. We do movie day all during the school year, but we can REALLY ramp it up during the summer and have movie night to include dad and even the neighbor kids. It’s a great time to introduce them to films and stories they might not have chosen for themselves and to get some discussions going.
15. For older kids, summertime might be a great time to introduce them to test preparation, how to take tests and test strategies. This is especially important for high schoolers who may not be use to taking a lot of standardized tests.
16. In the laid back summertime it’s a little easier to practice those foreign languages the kids have studied all year. Take one day aside and have Spanish day or Latin day, or just use your American Sign language!
17. Summertime is a great time to try out new Curricula. If Saxon math doesn’t work for one student, maybe trying Seton or Modern Curriculum Press would work better. Try it and see!
18. Summer camps and lessons definitely count as homeschooling. Take pictures and make sure to document!
19. Memorial Day, Flag Day, Fourth of July… all great times to set a day aside and talk about our country’s history and heritage.
20. Time to look at the family’s spiritual life and make adjustments. Older kids might be ready to add more bible study time. Maybe the youngest has never heard of Noah and the Arc and doesn’t know how to say the rosary by herself yet. Summertime is a great time to evaluate everyone’s spiritual needs.
Stay tuned for part 2!
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