Home Schooling Through the Summer

As the title states, we do school throughout the summer, but it looks a little different than it does through the rest of the year.  We do a lot of seasonal things like gardening and canning, so that is part of their education.  It is incorporated with every day life, so we don't skip the application of things learned.

What about "book work?"  Well, we actually do sit down after lunch for about 2 hours to do Bible, Language Arts, and Math.  We do those subjects, sometimes Science too, during the hottest part of the day because we're hot and want to sit and just do nothing much by way of activity.  We don't just sit and vegetate in front of television or computers watching shows or movies or playing games all day.  That would be a waste of perfectly good learning time.

Why?

I hear many parents mentioning their children lose information over the summer when they're out of school.  Some parents of public school students have their children do workbooks to keep up with their skills for the following school year.  For us, this is where our home schooling comes in.  So our kids don't loose those valuable skills, we continue on at a regular pace through our curriculum.  We usually pick all subjects back up after canning season is finished.

Because all of our kids are working through the summer until noon this year, at least until berry picking is finished, this is pretty much what our schedule "roughly" looks like:

12:30--While 1 child showers, the other two do their chores and have lunch, then they switch until all have showered, done chores and have eaten lunch.
1:15--Bible Reading, Copy Work & Studying the topic of the month (corresponding to Polished Cornerstones or Plants Grown Up)
2:00--Language Arts
3:00--Math
4:00--Ready for Dinner
Dinner, clean up then outside gardening.  The sun has gone past our trees, so we water the garden at this time, mow and weed wack at this time.

Sometimes Math and Language Arts lessons don't take an hour, but just a half and hour each.  If that's the case, we pack up our things and go swimming.

Of course, there are the days when we hike up to the blueberry patch to pick those berries.  In those cases, all the school work above goes out the window in favor of reading books.

Then there are times when we have friends over.  Those are also times when we practice hospitality which is part of our Bible study as well, so it is serving and loving those who grace our doorway.

We send our affidavit and objectives via certified-return receipt requested mail shortly after submitting the kids' portfolios so that we can start counting days after July 1st.  While, admittedly,  it makes me nervous to not start school on July 1st this year, it is a much needed break for my kids to have that time off  and so that we can get some other projects done around our home.  We'll start back to school on July 16th.

Does that mean, though, that learning is just delegated to book work?  No!  We learn about everything around us in ever increasing increments every day.  Learning is a lifestyle for us, so essentially we could mark every day as school, but we don't.

Isaiah 28:10  

"For it is precept upon precept, precept upon precept; 

line upon line, line upon line; here a little, there a little."