Summer Learning

Posted by LisaV | 0 comments

After six years of homeschooling, we attempted summer school this year for the first time. It lasted about two weeks. We were in “summer mode” and simply could not get much accomplished. When our 13-year-old son finished his grammar book, I declared summer school officially over. If he could do math after breakfast while our 9-year-old son completed a grammar page, that’s all I expect on our busy summer schedule. The kids have baseball, swimming lessons, and basketball camps in June and July. Add in some art in the park with our homeschool group, church activities, all of our birthdays and anniversary in June and July, and time with friends and family, and our summer is nearly booked.

I’ve learned from past years that we need that summer break, a time to refocus, relax, and rejuvenate for the school year ahead. Even if the kids didn’t need the break (and they do), this momma reaches the end of her rope by the time June rolls around.

What I’ve found is that the kids need time to process what they’ve learned the past year and apply it in their own ways. At times I’ll catch them talking about something that I didn’t teach them, and it reassures me that they’ve been learning all along. Even at baseball practice, our 9-year-old will converse with his teammates about exponents in math. Or the kids will tell me they want to learn more about sports science or how the body works, even though we studied that in Life Science. Apparently they want to learn more than was covered and summer is the time to do that.

We’ve signed up for our library reading program for several years and the kids enjoy reading books of their choosing from our public library, which is conveniently located down the street from swimming lessons. Today I caught them reading Clubhouse magazine and the Wall Street Journal. Formal lessons were not needed.

We gave our older son a spiral-bound notebook so he can journal throughout the summer his thoughts and feelings, what he learns, and what he accomplishes. The journal is his and his alone, not something to be graded. How blessed I was to see him writing in his journal into the night, actually enjoying the process of writing which he had only endured before.

I know some families are able to school year-round, but we are not one of them. Learning takes place all the time, but formal lessons are kept to a minimum during our short summer months.

How do your kids learn during the summer months?

Lisa Van Dong has been teaching her two sons since 2004 and attempts to incorporate study, work, service, and play into their homeschooling days. She takes an eclectic approach to homeschooling and enjoys reading, writing, editing, and essential oils. Lisa blogs publicly at Pockets of Time and privately at Scooter and B.