Tuesday, July 15, 2008

Why Homeschool in Summer?

I've been asking myself that question since Memorial Day...WHAT was I thinking?!
Okay, maybe I'm overreacting. After all, ball games and swim meets don't take up the entire day. There's also the swimming for fun, playing with friends, riding bikes, computer games, and anything else we can come up with that we'd rather do than "school!" There are definitely benefits to homeschooling year 'round. I just don't like to think about those when I'd rather do school "tomorrow."
Tomorrow will get here eventually. Really, it will. I know it will. Won't it?!
We've been doing "school light" this summer, which is better than nothing, I guess. But for the past couple of weeks we've just plain been lazy. Admittedly, we have had swim meets to contend with, and when you are at a swim meet all day, the last thing you want to do the next day is crack open the books. So we have used creative play, educational videos, and computer games to help keep brain waves moving at appropriate speed.
While we are finishing up our final work before starting on our new books for fall, I have had a blast checking out the new curricula I've selected for science, history, and Bible. I'm so excited, and can't wait to get going with it. I will share more about the curricula we use when fall approaches. For now, I'm just trying to stay motivated, keep the kids turned on to learning, and enjoying the sunshine while we have the chance. Before long, we will be under a foot of snow for a month, and we'll have plenty of time to learn everything we need to then- I'm sure of it!

4 comments:

Anonymous said...

We homeschool 'light' in the summer, too. I used to be afraid to take any time off, because I was afraid my dear darlings would forget everything over a week or two vacation. I've learned that we "need" a break once and a while from all of it. After a week away, we usually all come back refreshed, rested and excited about what we're going to learn next!

Anonymous said...

I guess seasons apply to learning as much as other things!! We too have just dabbled over the summer -looking forward to gearing up again though!
Good post - thanks!

Anonymous said...

This is the first year I have done any school in the summer. I made the decision mostly because of the weather here. It is hot now, so we took our break in the spring.

The only thing that has been hard is that the neighbor kids are home and want to play every day. Guess that's our "socialization." :P

jugglingpaynes said...

That is a healthy attitude! My goal this summer is to homeschool myself. I'm trying to spend more time with my large pile of books I want to read. No better time to do that than while my children are participating in a play, gardening, reading and using the computer!

Thank you for your comment.