Our "Summer School" Outline

The time has come again for our "Summer School" and I thought I would share what Works For Me.

My children attend public school, but I see many gaps that need to be filled and skills that need to be reinforced. For the past several years, I have worked on those things during the summer. My children call it "Mommy School" and usually want to spend much more time on it than I had planned. I work hard to make the learning fun and it is time that I treasure with the kids.

I have mentioned before that my favorite resource is Home Learning Year By Year. I use that book, The Well-Trained Mind and many other sources to decide where I want to focus.

I break down their needs into the following categories:

- Language Arts

- Math

- History/Geography

- Science

- Art

- Read Aloud

I look at how to reinforce what they covered over the school year, attempt to give them a jump start on the next year and I ask them what they want to cover in each area. I use that and build some basic unit studies. There is so much information on the web and it is fun for all of us to search for information in our chosen subject areas.

I plan to work 2-3 hours per day with them most days, although we are very flexible. We will do many of our lessons out in the grass and lots of neighbors will drop by to join in the fun. For example, to reinforce math skills, we often use "hula hoop math." The kids spin the hoop as many times as they can and add their numbers down the driveway. There are always lots of extra kids joining in when we do this activity. They think we run a summer camp! No matter what we do, it will feel more like fun than work . . . just as it should.

-Julie