During the school year, there is typically not enough time for my daughters to learn all they would like to about particular subjects, so we take advantage of the summer months to do a more indepth study.
Last year’s summer learning plan worked so well that I am looking forward to the new topics we’re covering this summer. We usually spend about an hour each morning working on that week’s theme, then fit the outing into our schedule on whichever day is most convenient.
Here’s how I’ve set it up.
Week 1 Theme – Weather
Books: Read about hurricanes, tornadoes, tsunamis, etc.
Activity: View dvd on weather; make local weather charts; perform a brief weather forecast for the family.
Outing: Visit local park
Bible Memory Verse: Psalm 147:8
Week 2 Theme – Nutrition
Books: Read about health as it relates to your diet, vitamins and minerals, your body
Activity: Make healthy foods poster; have each child select a new vegetable from the farmers market to try.
Outing: Visit a local farm
Bible Memory Verse: Genesis 1:29
Week 3 Theme – Composers
Books: Biographies on composers
Activity: Listen to cd’s of composers being studied; look through our piano books and find a piece by one of the composers to play for the family.
Outing: Local concert
Bible Memory Verse: Psalm 144:9
Week 4 Theme – U.S. Presidents
Books: Biographies of U.S. Presidents
Activity: Have each child choose one of their favorite presidents and make a fact sheet about him.
Outing: Local museum and historic site
Bible Memory Verse: I Timothy 2:1,2
Week 5 Theme – South America
Books: Read about various countries in South America
Activity: Make a large map of South America including topography, major cities, etc.
Outing: Prepare a meal that would be typical in a South American country.
Bible Memory Verse: Revelation 15:4
Week 6 Theme – World War II
Books: World War II overview, battles
Activity: Draw map showing countries involved in war; mark locations of significant battles. Write a brief newspaper article reporting on one of the battles.
Outing: Local WWII historic site
Bible Memory Verse: Psalm 27:2
Week 7 Theme – Inventors
Books: Biographies on inventors
Activity: Make your own invention
Outing: Daily science experiments
Bible Memory Verse: Exodus 31:3
Week 8 Theme – Birds
Books: Field guides, art book on drawing birds
Activity: Create our own “field guide” of birds we see in our neighborhood or at a local park.
Outing: Visit local gardens
Bible Memory Verse: Matthew 6:26
There are more weeks in our summer, but with our vacation, a trip to visit family and Vacation Bible School in the mix, I’m only including eight weeks in my program.
Please note: I was an elementary school teacher for six years so putting together a program like this is something I enjoy! Spontaneity is also a good thing, and I’m certain there will be plenty of time in the pool, play dates with friends and purely fun activities to fill our summer as well!
Do you make plans for your summer or just enjoy the somewhat slower pace?
Find more ideas for entertaining your children this summer at Works for Me Wednesday hosted by We Are THAT Family.
Looks positively fun to me, Tracey!! Great planning! I would love to be a summer student in your home! 🙂 Ok, your teaching background gives a lot of insight into your unit study approach here ~ very neat!
We both enjoy the slower pace but do also take advantage of the summer for learning new things that we don't usually invest the time in during the actual school year. We are about to go on vacation, also have VBS coming up, and have swimming lessons and other sports…but we try to do a bit of reading, writing, and other studies daily. I love your idea of themed weeks! Thanks for sharing!
Love how you have it planned out! 😀 I would love to do something similar possibly. Do you talk to the kids about it or?
Sherry,
I do talk to the kids and get an idea about what subjects they'd like to study further. I use most of their suggestions and add in one or two of my own that I think would be interesting to them.
Ohhh – I love themes. I was not a teacher and my kids are totally going to benefit from the fact that you were – we are going to modify these for their ages (4&6) and run with it!