Yep, that would be me!! We school over the summer- what about you? Do you get funny looks or interesting comments when friends or family find out you keep up with school during the summer, too?
Now, I will say, that my kids aren’t chained to schoolwork all day long, looking wistfully outside at all the neighborhood kids playing. We have play dates with our friends and schoolwork is a bit lighter. But, there are lots of reasons to keep on going through the summer.
- FLORIDA IS HOT!!!! I want my kids to get some fresh air and sunshine every single day. So, we’ve built in a time for them to get out, even just for 30 minutes. But, when it’s super hot and *rainforest* humid outside, they are complaining about it and begging me to keep them inside. For us, it’s just so hot during these summer months that my kids don’t really want to do outside activities anyway. (Except for the occasion fun outing or free event!) We tend to save our vacation time for when the days a cooler and it’s actually enjoyable to get outside.
- I remember being a kid and feeling like I had forgotten how to add by the time summer was over! I hate the thought of spending so much time to really make sure my children understand a concept only to have a huge three month break during which they forget most of it. The brain is a muscle that must be exercised – you give it a break and it gets mushy!
- We are able to spread out our vacation throughout the whole year. We don’t have to experience that “blah” feeling of a vacation time that’s several months away. We can take a day off here and another day off there and feel refreshed throughout the whole school year.
What about you?
Why do you school through the summer? Why don’t you?
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This is actually the first year we will go ALL through the summer. We usually take the entire month of July & December off.
My husband’s job had him traveling quite a bit this year and they said we could go along (paid for hotel, rental car & gave an amount to eat off eat day) We brought along arithmetic & language arts and used the museums and sites to study science, history, art & etc. We were in Houston, TX for over 4 months and saw sooooooo much. But we let a lot of math & language arts lesson kind of go by the wayside, so we are spending the summer catching up on things we really need to know (ie multiplication tables, parts of speech, etc)
Yes, I have gotten some comments but I usually ignore them. Or tell them that we are going to take off Thanksgiving until New Years. Then they get jealous. That is what is so wonderful about homeschooling, you can cater to what your family needs.
Hi Mrs. Dani!
What an AWESOME opportunity to be able to travel and enjoy so many new places and things!! I am sure it was a learning experience that none of you will forget! I definitely would have taken the chance as well.
I love the schedule that we can keep through homeschooling. Just think of the extra teaching opportunities we get because of our flexibility – and so many other benefits!!
Happy summer schooling!
We are homeschooling over the summer as well =) I don’t get funny looks that I notice, but I most likely just don’t pay enough attention! I have a busy year coming up (I’m finishing my MA in English), so I’ll probably take off weeks here and there when I need it! But, I’m also doing this over the summer because I have a 4 yr old begging to do school work–she actually cried yesterday when I said we had done enough for the day! Talk about different from her sister!
Thanks for your visit, Jennifer! (Love your name!!
except that I feel like I’m talking to myself when I type it out!! There certainly are a lot of Jennifer’s in the world!)
CONGRATULATIONS on going back to school for your MA!!!! What a TON of work you must do between homeschooling AND getting yourself through school!
My kids sound the same as yours! They just LOVE to do school! I was a little worried about my youngest son – at first, he had a hard time paying attention for too long, but now he is singing right along with my daughter, “I can’t wait to do school time, school time, school time!” Music to a homeschooling mommy’s ears!
Have fun schooling this summer!!
We are doing a modified Summer schooling. We are traveling all Summer and take the opportunity for lots of field trips- castles, museums, national parks and monuments, aquariums etc. Plus we read a LOT and do creative writing.
After six weeks of just this we have started adding a daily hour of math which the kids actually enjoy. I am from Germany where kids get six weeks off from school in the summer and have always found a three months break ridiculous and ineffective.
It is still enough of a change form the regular school year to be “special”.
I LOVE Germany!!! Not only am I married to a native German, but my wonderful in-laws are still there and it is such a beautiful place to visit. We were able to take in one palace in Potsdam while we visited and I would love to go back and see some castles and museums!
The summer vacation here is a long-standing tradition that really needs to be revisited. If my information is correct, the reason we have such a long break is so that children could help on the family farm. Chores like planting and harvesting needed everyone’s muscle power in the early days of the US! Certainly, in our day and age, children would benefit much more from vacation time spread throughout the year instead of so much at once.
Thank you so much for stopping by all the way from Germany!