When summer rolls around, most homeschool parents and students are ready for a break just like everyone else. Our family is right there with you…until about 2 weeks into our summer vacation. It soon becomes difficult to figure out what to do with all of those long, hot days. Honestly, I never hear the words “I’m bored” from my kids. Still, I do notice their actions when there is a lack of routine and too many hours that cannot be spent outside due to extreme heat or thunderstorms. They will often begin picking at each other or asking to watch a movie or play on the tablet. While I am not opposed to some screen time, I don’t want to waste opportunities for deeper learning or review during our time off. This has challenged me to add in strategic learning during our summer break.
I had read about the “Summer Slide” a couple years ago and realized it was happening to my kids! They were actually sliding backwards and losing the abilities they had worked so hard to gain during the previous school year. This is why so many textbooks provide a whole chapter of review in the first few weeks of a new grade. Perhaps television, video games, and apps have something to do with this. They are definitely a culprit of wasted time among children. I know they are not the only things to blame because my kids don’t have access to these very often. I do think that, as with anything, when we stop using a skill, we begin to lose it slowly. I didn’t want this to continue to be a problem, so we decided to incorporate a strategy to avoid this pitfall.
What do we focus on during the summer?
1. Reading– It has always been important to me that my kids know how to read well. This is a huge part of our summer learning. We choose fun books, educational books, family read-alouds, and even science readers. If a child practices reading or listens to stories for at least 20 minutes each day, it can help improve comprehension and vocabulary skills. A trip to the library and a stop at the local ice cream shop is a great summer outing. If your library has a summer program, get involved (or come up with your own fun system with rewards). Pizza Hut also offers a summer camp program which rewards readers with free pizza!
2. Math facts– If a child memorizes basic math facts and can recall them quickly, it will help with harder math skills in later grades. We are using XtraMath this summer each day to review facts and build speed. It takes less than 10 minutes and I have noticed an improvement so far. You can also find songs with addition or subtraction (and beyond) facts that will enhance the memorization process while being fun! Taking time to work on fractions in the kitchen or money concepts with play food and a pretend grocery store are great rainy day activities that won’t feel like school.
3. Science– What better time to focus on hands-on learning than when you can spend your days out in nature or be more flexible with experiments. My kids love science but I find it difficult to find time for all the extras of this subject in our normal school routine. We have found that summer is the perfect time to expand our understanding of how things work. We also take nature walks and spend more time observing God’s world which means we take advantage of the natural curiosity of our kids to gain knowledge.
4. Foreign Language– Kids soak up new languages like little sponges. Using summer break to focus on learning a different language, culture, and even geographical location is a great use of time. It benefits my children greatly to spend their time trying to speak and understand a language that is different from the norm. You may be able to contact a missionary that your church supports to ask if they have some cool stories about a location you are studying.
5. Subjects of interest– For any young learner, there are often so many interests and so little time. A great way to solve this problem is to focus on those extra interests during the summer months. It could be cooking, sewing, gardening, photography, woodworking, etc. Take some time to get to know your child and what he or she wants to learn. In doing so, it won’t feel like “school”, but can provide for amazing opportunities and growth.
6. Areas of struggle– Each child has areas of strength as well as subjects that take greater effort to master. Reduced schoolwork demands can take off some of the stress and aid in learning a particular subject more easily. Summer break is a good time to gently incorporate these areas of struggle into daily activities. Depending on your child’s learning style, you can use colorful workbooks, real life scenarios or even music or videos to emphasize concepts in fun ways!
What does this look like for our family?
We have found that morning is our favorite time to be outside. We still do our Bible study and may do some reading on the front porch before lunch, but that also seems like the coolest part of the day. Generally our time spent outdoors happens prior to lunch. This can be used as play time or to incorporate learning that naturally takes place outside . Once we finish lunch, it has been too hot to venture out for at least a couple hours. Instead of plopping the kids in front of the TV or tablet, I utilize their free indoor-time in ways that will help them maintain skills or learn something new. If I have a plan or some materials on hand, it becomes simple to add in light schoolwork on most days of our summer break.
We also spend cooler days enjoying the outdoors and often move our learning to the woods or practice reading in the hammock. If we are taking a car ride to visit grandma or swim, we can listen to an audio book. Occasionally we use a summer day to experience a field trip to a local museum. There are things we do everyday (such as XtraMath & reading), but we are also very flexible. I don’t want them to feel like they are doing school year-round. I don’t want it to be overwhelming. We still have plenty of time for swimming, jumping on the trampoline, using imaginations through play, making memories, and helping out around the house.
In my opinion strategic summer learning is valuable to all students, regardless of what type of education they receive during the regular academic year. You may be able to figure out where your child needs extra practice, but if not, you should be proactive and ask her teacher. Summer is also a great time to focus on life-skills. Having extra time is a benefit of summer, but children do not always use their extra time in a way that is productive or even wise. As a parent I want to guide my children to use their time wisely. Too many kids are allowed to waste their summer days without realizing they will never get that time back. Even as adults we need to remember this truth. If I am careful, I can include all the fun activities of summer as well as preventing the summer slide.
Seeking Wisdom,
