Summer is nearly upon us! As I’ve done for the past two years, I created a summer learning program for our daughters. This gives a sense of structure to our days and allows our children to study topics they’re interested in.
A couple of weeks ago, we decided what subjects they wanted to include and I assigned each one to a particular week. Once we begin, we typically visit the library every Monday and check out books related to our theme. I try to incorporate an activity and an outing each week as well.
We chose Washington, D.C., as one of our themes as we are planning to travel there in the fall. (I realize that a baseball game is not necessarily associated with Washington, D.C, but since that theme will fall during the week of July 4th, we always attend a minor league ball game around the holiday.)
There are more than six weeks in our summer, but with a vacation in the mountains, Vacation Bible School, one of the girls attending basketball camp, and a trip to visit family in Virginia, that’s about the number of weeks we’ll have for our program.
Week 1 Theme – Authors
Books: Biographies of famous authors
Activity: Have each child make her own book, including a brief story and illustrations.
Outing: Visit bookstore.
Bible Memory Verse: Joshua 1:8
Week 2 Theme – Washington, D.C.
Books: Read about history of the city as well as popular sights and monuments.
Activity: Have each child write a list of five must-see attractions.
Outing: Baseball game
Bible Memory Verse: I Timothy 2:1-2
Week 3 Theme – Planets
Books: Outer space, planets
Activity: Make model of solar system.
Outing: Nighttime stargazing
Bible Memory Verse: Psalm 8:3-4
Week 4 Theme – Europe
Activity: Color and label a map of Europe.
Books: History of Vietnam War, battles and generals
Bible Memory Verse: II Timothy 2:3-4
Week 6 Theme – Horses
Books: Horse breeds, training and riding horses
Activity: Choose a famous horse from the past to study.
Outing: Horse-drawn carriage ride downtown
Bible Memory Verse: James 3:3-5
The following will also be included in our daily learning time:
- piano practice
- complete a page from a critical thinking skills workbook
- English and/or Math review worksheet (Both girls have some leftover workbook pages from the school year. Once those are gone, I will print appropriate grade-level worksheets from online resources.)
- typing practice (I plan to use freetypinggame.net. It seemed to work pretty well last summer.)
- foreign language practice (I still need to see if our library has anything we could use in this area.)
Click on the links to see my summer learning program for 2010 and summer learning program for 2009.
In case you wondered….yes, we still have plenty of time for fun during the summer! We typically spend an hour to an hour and a half on this, leaving plenty of time for swimming, bike rides, board games and playing outside.
Do you have any outings or other activities planned for summer?
What a great idea! It sounds like so much fun, and the girls must love it 🙂 I'll have to file this away for when my girls are a bit older!
I LOVE this! Your homeschooling. 😉 Very creative….I could definitely take a lesson from you. I have a hard time coming up with my own ideas for homeschooling my DD which is why I buy the curriculum.
Even though your girls are on summer break, it looks like they are going to be having a great time while learning at the same time.
Thanks for sharing!
Jennifer @ http://justpeachyindixie.blogspot.com
Jennifer,
Yes, my "teacher gene" definitely comes out in the summer! I would certainly use a curriculum if I homeschooled full-time, but it's fun to create our own little program for the summer.
What fun ways to keep your daughters minds engaged during the summer! Do their schools assign summer reading? We always had that, but the books were never any fun to read…at least for us kids.
I plan to start school this summer with my oldest so that we can take a nice, long break this winter when the baby comes. I don't want to have to worry with school and a new baby. But I think we'll wait until after we move!
This is a really good idea. I've noticed my girls need more structure to prevent boredom in the summer. I can see how this would help.
Janet,
Yes, mine need it to minimize boredom, sibling "disagreements" and other situations that arise when they lack any structure in their day. 🙂
Love your plan! IT sounds like you will have fun!
I haven't made a plan of yet. Dd and I are going to Wichita this weekend and then a week after we get back they go to camp and we head to Branson. Busy first part of June!
Wow, your summer program sounds wonderful – and very exciting!! 🙂 You are so organised!! I love it! 🙂 After homeschooling through the rest of the year, I don't really have anything planned for our summers – we usually wing it, and we usually do a lot of hands-on lessons or activities rather than bookwork. Oh and we do a lot of reading. We don't always have time for cooking and sewing and sometimes art (and other such activities) during school time because we're so busy, so summer is the perfect time to catch up on those things. 🙂
I'm so glad you blogged about this – it certainly gives me a few ideas even for general homeschooling – I'm always keen on new ideas!! 🙂
Clara,
I am confident that if I homeschooled through the rest of the year, our summers would include a little less structure. 🙂 I also enjoy having the girls help me with cooking and other household tasks on a more regular basis during the summer.
Great ideas! We did a American Revolution theme last July and August to get ready for a trip to Boston in Sept. The kids didn't even realize they were learning during summer break. They had so much fun!
Tracey, this looks fabulous…again!!! I'm so behind on my blog reading after our last busy couple of weeks, but I was looking for this one. Once again, I think it would be fun to be your *student*!!! Blessings to you and your girls for a fun and fruitful summer! =)
Your girls are blessed to have a Mom who takes the time for such things!