Saturday, April 27, 2013

Make Summer Learning Fun


Summer is swiftly approaching and we all know what that means. SCHOOL'S OUT!!! Really? Is school ever out when you home school? For us, its more like SCHOOL'S SLOWING DOWN!!! ::smile::

Still though, it will be harder to keep learning going during these gorgeous but hot months when kids just want to run free.

I was in an education store today looking for activities that will spark the girls' interest this summer while the lapping water of the swimming pool does the same.

A lot of the items in the store were kind of pricey to me. I mean, I love those stores, I could go in there and actually spend a couple of hours just looking and comparing games, books, workbooks, crafting supplies and more. However, there were items in there that I could find else where for literally 25% of the cost that I found it in there. Oh well, I still ended up purchasing a workbook for Chelsea to work in over the summer by Scholastics called Success With Sight Words. I just feel compelled to support those stores. I think it's because I'm a home schooler and it just feels so grass roots or something. I don't know.

Disclosure: page contains affiliate links

At any rate, keeping the kids engaged over the summer might prove to be quite the undertaking. In this fast-paced world where everything seems to be vying for our kids' attention though, we remain diligent in our purpose to train their little minds and to make sure that they  retain as much information as possible for the next school year.

A mom friend of mine who has her boys in public school told me about how last summer, she didn't go over sight words with her 6 yeaer old. As a result, his 1st grade teacher was ready to have the boy evaluated for a learning disability and placed in a remedial class. Needless to say my friend was stressed and very unappreciative of the idea. What did she do? She covered sight words with him and in a matter of a couple of weeks, he was on target for his grade level.

This is not a slam on public school, but I think it does show that just a little bit of continued review and learning over the summer break will go a long way to keep those brains exercised. And possibly keep them out of remedial classes if you public school.

The Summer Bridge Activities workbooks are one way to do it if your are prone to a traditional education style, like me. Madison loved hers from last year and I believe that it helped to keep her mind active and sharp to be ready for second grade for this school term.

As homeschooling moms, we are always teaching, everywhere we go, using every opportunity to reinforce a concept. That is one of the beauties of it, don't you think?

Even still, what will you be doing over the summer? Some Delight Directed home schooling (summer seems like the perfect time for that, so much to do)? Traditional? A little bit here, a little bit there? None at all...let them eat cake...I mean...let them play? Leave a comment and feel free to leave a link so we can find you to get some summer learning fun ideas!


4 comments:

  1. Not gonna lie, I usually spend the summer outside, hopefully in our pool. :) But the outdoor adventures do make for good learning moments, especially teaching new words to a 2yo and 1yo. Thanks for the tips!

    ReplyDelete
  2. Hey...there is NOTHING wrong with spending the summer outside and in the pool. I am hoping to get A LOT of that in this summer as well. Thanks for stopping by and the follow!

    ReplyDelete
  3. We school year round - 3 weeks on, 1 week off from late August to late May. Then every other week June and July. We take off 3 weeks at Christmas and early August. It has worked the best of any schedule we've had these past 23 years of homeschooling. Thanks for linking up with me this week!

    ReplyDelete
  4. I'm impressed, I must say. Seldom do I encounter a blog that's equally educative and interesting, and let me tell you, you've hit the nail on the head. The problem is something that not enough men and women are speaking intelligently about. I'm very happy that I stumbled across this
    in my hunt for something regarding this.

    Here is my web-site; วัฒนธรรมญี่ปุ่น

    ReplyDelete

Share This

Share
Related Posts Plugin for WordPress, Blogger...