Every year two things make me chuckle: Homeschooling moms who race to get all of their work done before the end of May so they can start summer, AND those same moms who start school back up in July or August so that they can be done again in May. That circular reasoning makes absolutely no sense to me.
In my family, we’ve adopted the attitude that learning is a lifestyle, and a lifestyle is something you live all through the year. So I don’t formally start the next school year until after Labor Day and I can take their official “Back-to-school” photo. But I don’t formally end school either, although we may taper some things and add others.
And while some families will argue with me that they just want to be done. done. done … I can still remember times when I had a baby or got sick, or the year that my mother died and school became a low priority. By keeping education going all year long I didn’t feel pressured. Allowing myself to ignore the formal school year was very freeing.
Here are my top 20 reasons for homeschooling through the summer:
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.
Rosie is off to college next fall and her first two classes will be Anatomy and Physiology. In her free time this summer, she is already reviewing her high school A&P Textbook, because that is what she is used to doing in the summertime. She will hit the ground running when she gets to school.
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.
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3. Reading new and different books might be a good thing to try over the summertime. Try some new titles or authors. Last summer, Miss C and I are reading The War that Saved Me and The War I Finally Won by Kimberly Brubaker Bradley. They are set in England during World War II and they deal with a girl learning her own value despite the mistreatment and neglect from her own mother. It has sparked many great conversations so far! These books are also very different from the Little House in the Prairie books we tackled last school year! Pointing out the contrast in time and place has been interesting as well.
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.
Once I gave Miss C, age 9, a box of cake mix and told her she had to make the entire thing by herself -which I totally thought she could do. And now she has proven that to herself! This year we’re going to let her try a cookie recipe alone.
6. Summertime homeschooling is a great way to pull ahead academically. The one area where Miss C. fell a little behind was in reading comprehension – and by behind I mean she was only a grade ahead instead of two grades. So by reading together this summer, we have a chance to spend extra time on that.
7. It’s a great time to play catch up too. The year my mother died we were about six weeks behind. By having the summer to play catch up we were up-to-date when September came back around.
8. Summertime homeschooling keeps the family from getting too scattered from each other. Gardening, traveling, reading, biking, hiking, and working together as a family builds great memories too.
9. No law says you can’t include the neighbor kids! In fact, sometimes the neighbor kids enjoy the read-aloud 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. Watercolors, chalk, 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! I’m still up by 6 to get my exercising in and ready to start my day with Miss C. by 10. If I’m not done with all of my chores she joins me in watering the plants, walking the dog, or prepping for lunch.
14. We do movie day all during the school year, but we can REALLY ramp it up during the summer and have a 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.
This week, Miss C and I are watching Soul Surfer, based on the life of Bethany Hamilton, the young surfer who lost her arm in a shark attack when she was a teenager. We found her on Instagram living her best life with her husband, three little boys and a new baby on the way! Both the movie and the follow-up have sparked many great discussions this summer.
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 used 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. This summer, both of my college-bound daughters are reading the bible with The Bible In a Year podcast. Miss C is going to vacation bible school at church, but she is also learning the 23 Psalm and the Angelus.
First posted 2012. Updated 2020.