SUMMER SCHOOL

Summer 2009

I know I've talked here before about how we school year round and I like to have our school year start in January and end at the end of the calendar year.

But, then June rolls around.

Public school kids get out of school.

Homeschool families start talking (either online or in person) about how they are finished for the year.

The Homeschool group plans more beach and pool days.

And, it hits me.

    Distraction.
      
      Lack of focus.

         Excitement about future plans (going to Germany in September).

Ultimately, I start thinking that maybe it is better to follow a typical school year.

SORT OF.

With breaks where we need them and never taking 3 months off completely. 

I start thinking how nice it would be to do something totally different in the summer, like a unit on marine biology or cats or travel to Narnia for the summer.

Or to just plug away at the skills stuff (math, reading, writing), but let the rest be child-directed.

Or, work on that math and reading and then just bake and play games and play with friends on the street and watch documentaries.

Or, have the time to clean out the school room or clean out a closet or organize the junk drawer.

So, this week was not a typical week.

At all.

I knew when it started that Momma had a very intense to-do list of business-type stuff that would completely distract me from school.

Like getting passports for the family and completing the application for my children's health insurance or the paperwork involved in my student loan payment plan and paying bills and balancing the checkbook and doing laundry and going to the post office.

So, I tried to just have a checklist of the basics for the girls to do on their own while I "worked".

In all honesty, that worked well for the Hippie, but not so much for the Princess.

Then, I just let things be this week and I started to formulate a plan for our summer.

I made a list of my goals (what things I do want to accomplish this summer) and how we might meet them.

I made out a "Summer Schedule" that allowed for a small amount of "school time" each day (an hour to an hour and a half) and then some time for baking and games and playing with friends and household projects and getting ready for Germany and Momma's planning time for next school year.

And, I decided that we will start "Summer School" next week.

And, I will plan how we want to proceed and start 2nd and 4th grades when we return from Germany.

I'm excited.

What does your homeschool do during the summer?