Whether you are a homeschooling family or a traditional schooling family, when summer approaches you start to wonder what you should do about keeping the children’s minds working over the break. For some homeschoolers the answer comes with schooling year-round. Many traditional schooling families make use of the summer bridge workbooks available.
I think just about everyone recognizes that we have opportunities for learning every day… it’s all about what we do with those opportunities.
I’ve shared before that we head into summer with a combination approach. I consider us year-round schoolers but we do take breaks. We take a short break at the end of our academic year to recharge and celebrate what we accomplished in the year (even especially if it was a year full of ups and downs).
I also recognize that we all do better on a consistent schedule.
For us schooling through the summer is a chance to have embrace more of the ‘fun’ than the ‘work’. We don’t focus on ‘doing school’ everyday, but instead look to provide some rich learning opportunities outside of their usual school books.
I would encourage you to embrace some of the fun too.
If you’re using a workbook, put it aside for a couple of weeks!
Try a nature study with The Outdoor Hour Challenge if you haven’t yet. They really are a fun opportunity for everyone (including yourself). They’re also easy. You don’t need to own a field guide or a anything fancy, just get outside for a bit and explore your yard or your neighborhood. Want to look up interesting things you find? Just search the internet.
Last weekend was the opening ceremony of the 2012 Summer Olympic Games. Are you tuning in? Use this special event as an opportunity to learn along side your children (whether you’re a homeschooler or not) and to have fun together. We downloaded the free Family Fun Pack from What’s in the Bible? The children are enjoying the bingo pages and holding their own version of the games in the backyard. They’ve been playing volleyball using the deck rail as their net!
We also purchased the 2012 Summer Olympics Lapbook and Study Guide by A Journey Through Learning from Currclick. For just $.50 this is a great way to explore a unit study and lapbook if you haven’t yet had the opportunity. The guide includes geography, history, and creative activities (and so much more for so little an investment).
This is week seven in the Family Connections {for Summer} blog hop. This week our theme is Summer Learning. Join Missional Mama, The Daisyhead, Walking in High Cotton, Our Good Life, and me (CreativLEI) each week by linking up your post relating to family fun or summer activities. Please be sure to add the button (code available in my sidebar) with a link back to this post. Visit all of the participants for more great ideas for family connections this summer!
emmaline hilton says
Today on Super Why and the Cat and the Hat Knows Alot About That, both shows were talking about spiders. So we did an impromptu “lesson” on spiders. We made spiders, talked about their features, what they ate, how they help the enviroment and even about webs. Then I gave Millie, Jude and my niece about 10 yds each of yarn and they transformed Millie’s room into a spider web lots of fun. Thought you may like to share with your kiddos.
Wish I had known earlier about the Olympic Book. 🙁
CreativLEI says
That’s a great idea! Thanks so much for sharing.