Summer homeschooling offers a variety of fun activities for kids, including scavenger hunts, making popsicles, making homemade snowcones, rock painting, BBQ dinners, visiting local farmers’ markets, and stem experiments. These ideas can be tailored to any schedule and provide a structured summer break for both homeschooling families and non-homeschooling families.
To make summer homeschooling enjoyable, it is essential to find a rhythm, incorporate favorite educational activities, and have fun. Activities such as playing outside, reading, getting together with friends, VBS, crafts, and gardening can be beneficial. Homeschooling during the summer has a relaxed schedule that encourages discovery and exploration.
Some fun summer homeschooling activities include creating a DIY slip-n-slide, studying lightning bugs, getting messy with outdoor squirt painting, carving a sandcastle, and taking field trips. Some people prioritize reading daily, continuing to write throughout the summer, memorizing a new Bible verse each week, and studying nature by spending time outdoors.
In summary, summer homeschooling offers numerous benefits for families, including a change in routine, enriching learning experiences, and fostering a sense of community. By finding a rhythm, incorporating favorite educational activities, and having fun, summer homeschooling can provide a memorable and engaging experience for both homeschooling families and non-homeschooling families.
📹 HOW I DO HOMESCHOOL||SUMMER BREAK?
Homeschool #summerbreak #planning Ashlee?? how do you do?____ That is where the inspiration came from for this playlist.
📹 My Summer Homeschool Plans | Tips and Ideas 💡 | The Good and the Beautiful
Do you homeschool during the summer? Today, I am sharing my family’s summer homeschool plans! I also wanted to share some …
I totally agree about summer break being for moms also! When I taught in the public school system I loved my breaks because I got to recharge. I was always ready and eager for the new school year to start because I had taken time to relax, reevaluate, and renew👍! I feel the need even more so as a mom/teacher!!!
Amen to the mama needing to recharge!!! I 100% relate to that! It’s not good to start the school year already exhausted. And I’ve struggled with thoughts of, oh, let’s finish up this science unit over the summer. But then it doesn’t feel like your mind is actually free even if it’s just 1 subject. I feel that so much!! And 8 weeks is about right. Yes. How do you feel recharged, though, with all the YouTube and work stuff you do, though? I’m struggling with this. I kind of want a break from it all!! (Also not sure if I can do that. I’m always looking for the next thing to do also. Slowing down can be hard to make yourself do….unless a vacation is involved! Then I have no qualms about it! 😜😎
This is great! I have been thinking about this a lot recently because we are already done with our curriculum, so summer is coming early! I might host a photography class for my older son weekly for 4 weeks and host our neighborhood PE on Monday’s but that’s all- just pool time, library reading challenge, creek time, kayaking and travel!
Totally agree about needing a break for you as the teacher during the summer! I would love to hear you talk about friendships for your kids in homeschooling especially as your kids get older. How do you facilitate or make time for them to get together with friends one on one? As a fellow homeschooler we are involved in weekly park days, a homeschool group, and also do classes a weekly enrichment program, music lessons, host a small monthly bookclub at our house and sometimes participate in sports throughout different parts of the year but I find that as my kids get older they want more relationships with their own aged kids. They also love being home and being with mixed ages in our homeschool group but especially one of my kids needs more social interaction. He has friends in these pockets of things we do but I find it hard to find extra time for these friends to get together on a regular basis. I sometimes I find it hard to coordinate all the stuff we do as a family socially, school, and time for them to spend individually with friends if that makes sense…It gets to be a lot for me and sometimes it feels a lot to coordinate…. Can you relate?
YES to recharging. We take about the same time off as you and I don’t assign anything. If our break was longer then getting some review in there would be helpful but I’d rather take a shorter but solid break for ALL of us and then get back into things refreshed and ready to go. It’s funny because our first year I don’t think my brain really turned off from homeschool things during our break but this year I already put our plans together together for next year more or less and am looking forward to setting it all aside – as much as I enjoy what we do!
Me too on needing the longer break to recharge and plan for the year ahead! I just never see us doing smaller breaks throughout the year instead of a good long break. Although maybe it would be nice to take that break one year in the fall instead to take advantage of the beautiful weather. We’ll see, maybe someday!
I agree with you so much. We go so hard Sept- May, I need summers to reset. While we do light summer school, its nothing like our regular home school schedule. I am in it for the long haul, and have realized that summers are for traveling, relaxing, and getting myself excited for the following school year.
Last summer, I tried something new with my kids and technology. We all sat down and discussed what our technology use should look like, how much time, how to earn it, and how they feel when they use or done use it. Talking together was helpful so everyone could have a say and more importantly, everyone could understand the guidelines we were all agreeing to. In the end, we decided certain days were allowed for certain activities, ie playing article games is only on Saturday. We chose to keep technology off on Sunday and Wednesdays. Time on screens was earned in 20 minutes increments and when the timer went off, they had to finish up and turn it off immediately (we’ve struggled turning things off). Of course this reward came only after our essential activities were complete. And, we all agreed that personal screen time couldn’t happen after 5pm. They knew they couldn’t ask for it after 5. Once all the parameters were determined, I created a contract that everyone signed agreeing to keep. I am amazed that we were pretty successful in sticking to our contact and plan on recreating it again this summer.
Our summer schedule starts with breakfast and then 3 hours outside in the coolest part of the morning. Then it is back inside for a snack and daily chores, and reading time. Afternoons when it is hot the kids work on projects and skills (think musical instruments, learning to sew, woodworking, etc). Late afternoons we may go to the pool, or go bowling with KidsBowlFree, visit a science center or museum, etc, or just keep playing and working on projects at home.
Love all this. We make a little game wheel with a spinner. It has all the subjects on it, including fun subjects like art, field trips, exercise, handwriting, math, language arts, science, history. We spin the wheel Monday, Wednesday, Friday and the kids do the subject they spin. We also continue daily reading and no screen time except the 30 minutes I give them while I’m making dinner in the evening. Lots of outside time. I love the service ideas!
We have been consistently improving our home school and general schedule (this was our first year!) Your supportive candid generous guidance with real examples has been a Godsend for our family- Thank you ❤ we are so inspired and grateful… we JUST made a daily schedule, printed it out and gave everyone a copy. My 7 year old loves schedules – who knew?! We are eating breakfast outdoors every morning then reading for an hour (Little Glass Lake Series) one chapter a day as a start.. it’s a fabulous way to set the tone for rest of the day and she looks forward to this routine already even though we just started it. 🙏🏻
I love the points system… thanks for the great idea. I’m doing a modified version to encourage more effort in school work and chores. They get 1 point for each session of school work (with good effort and no sandbagging!) and 1 point for chores, etc. 2 points for taking initiative and doing chores without being told. They lose points for breaking house rules. Lose 2 points if you get a timeout. They need 15 before they get TV time. It has worked like a charm all day long with my 6 yo, 4 yo and 3 yo ❤❤❤
It makes me good to hear we aren’t the only ones that didn’t complete the course books this year. We are going to do math & LA each day during the summer. Our plan is to do those subjects outside on the picnic table!!! It’s amazing how their attitude is better when we do our lessons outdoors! My plan for screen time is only 30 mins total screen time this summer after they complete their lessons. I love the idea of service projects! Thanks for the tips! You are amazing Jenny! Thanks for these inspiring articles!
I really appreciate your article. We’re moving (again) which disrupts our year-round schooling and in the past has increased our screen time. What usually works for us in the summer is to continue math language arts, and handwriting as usual, but I quietly remove our history/science curriculum so we can going to the library and beach more often or strategically placing books around the house.
This is so wonderful! We started a similar reward system for school the second half of the year and it’s been working well. This will work great to transition to summer, thank you so much! Some of our rewards for the school year were a treat out with mom or dad, lunch out with mom or dad and small craft/creating items.
This is great thank you for these ideas. My child is 7 so is unaware of screen time thankfully and will try keep it this way for as long as possible. Our rewards are books, book sets and experiences like going to the cinema, a trip to the city, those paid indoor playgrounds. We do have it on our fridge to keep tally so it’s exciting when we are close.
I have been praying about what to do for our summer, and I’ve felt that we need to work on emotional resilience and developing Charity, as well as getting to know our Savior better. I found a lot of stories in the Gospel Library that help model kindness and service, so one of those will be part of our reading every day. Past Friend issues broke down The Living Christ into manageable chunks, so that is going to be what my kids look at during the sacrament on Sundays. And for FHE, we are going to work on the Emotional resilience workbook the Church put out to help my kids (and me) be stronger that way. We will do math facts and reading programs, and I love your idea about the points. We do something similar, but it’s less structured, so I’m looking forward to trying your way.
Came back to say our family has been using the magnet/point system for our schoolwork for several weeks, and the shift in attitude has been amazing. If they finish certain responsibilities by a certain time, then they receive double points (for example, math must be done by 9:30, all daily responsibilities must be done by noon). One catch: if they don’t help the family by doing a “nice to do” chores and don’t finish all their daily responsibilities, they don’t get any points. My eldest has been waking up early to finish math before breakfast and hasn’t complained since we started the system. My kids are also helping out with extra chores, and while I have to deliver some reminders, I haven’t needed to nag or threaten. For motivation, I like to offer rewards for activities that I want to do with them anyway, like a family movie night or a special snack.
Each week, whether it’s during the school year or the summer, I make a list before the week starts with each child’s name and what activities they need to complete by the end of the week (example: 3 x reading with Mom, 3 math lessons, 1 page cursive, etc). Then each day I give my kids a list of what needs to be accomplished that day. It differs each day based on what activities we have going on that day or how much time we have. They are required to complete each item. It’s pretty simple, but has worked well for us. I cross the items off the master list for myself.
We do screen free summers (June, July, August). We are too busy with 4-H for my kids to even notice they aren’t getting screen time. We spend 1-1.5 hrs in the mornings for working on skills that need improvement (spelling for my high schoolers, language arts for my elementary student) and 30 minutes of quiet reading time. Afternoons are for working on 4-H projects, swimming, hiking, zoo visits, volunteering at our local animal shelter.
I have a 2-month old, a toddler (who just started potty training), and a rising 2nd grader. Our summer structure includes a Bible reading time together (the Jesus Storybook Bible) with the younger and the actual Bible with the older (i let her choose… So far she’s chosen Revelation 😂) and we talk about it as we go. Then we spend 30-40 minutes together cleaning/organizing/cooking together so they understand that we as a family (not just Mom!) are responsible for taking care of the space and things God has given us. After that, usually my oldest opts to read or make art on her own. The older two play together for much of the rest of the day except during an afternoon mandatory quiet playing/reading/resting time.