We’re officially in summer mode though the weather is refusing to cooperate! Seriously, May was HOT, HOT, HOT, and so far June has been FREEZING! Slight exaggeration, but it’s definitely been colder than normal. Last year we decided to give “summer school” a shot since we found that after a couple weeks of “free-as-a-bird” syndrome, even with activities planned during the day, our kids started experiencing “tired-of-freedom-and-getting-into-trouble” syndrome. The experiment of doing some school went well, and since we’ll be pretty well house-bound in the afternoons due to Miss E’s naps, we decided to repeat it this year. Here’s our 10 ways we’re planning to “summer school” for 2013!
1. Bible studies and memory work 
Grapevine Studies is perfect for every day during the school year and summertime. You can do a lesson in 15 minutes, or take longer digging into some of the new “vocab” words and concepts in the verses.
We’re currently working through Joseph, and getting VERY creative in our interpretations of the drawings. Here’s JJ acting one of them out :D
Joseph, Esther and Ruth are on sale right now, so scoop one up!
We’ve been slacking off on our scripture memory and need to get back on track. Last summer we started memorizing Psalm 103. This summer we’re going to be focusing on Psalm 32.
At Teach Them Diligently in Nashville we visited the Doorposts booth and picked up A Brother Offended which is based on the Matthew 18 instructions for approaching someone who has wronged you. We have a BIG problem in our house with tattletaling, and are constantly reminding the kids to “talk to your brother/sister first, THEN come to me if they won’t listen!”. Hopefully this will give us some help and encouragement in the right direction in talking about offenses.
PS If you didn’t make it to any of the TTD conferences, make sure you check out the 9 up-coming Marketplace locations!
2. Read alouds
I can never ever get enough of reading! We could spend hours just reading if nothing else ever needed to be done. But alas, that is not the case.
This summer we’ll be continuing our history (we use Ambleside’s recomendations and are currently reading selections in Trial and Triumph, Our Island Story and A Child’s History of the World – these are books you should ALL have on your shelves for reference! They fit in great with Mystery of History, Story of the World and Tapestry of Grace as added resources!
The Boy is also going to be reading through some of the YWAM Christian Heroes: Then and Now – some of the tougher ones (like Corrie Ten Boom) we’ll read as a family. I’m excited to see him excited to read them! My favourite is definitely George Meuller. PSST! They’ve also just recently started releasing them on audio book!
As far as what else the kids are reading, I can see we’ll be hitting the library for reading materials! I found this fun reading challenge from Scholastic – read around the world and back!
3. Math
This is a must, and since our lessons are fairly short, it doesn’t take much time during the day. I find if we keep it up during the summer we have no catch-up to do when we start fully back in September!
4. Writing
The Boy is pen-pals with my friend Kelli’s middle boy, and the rest of us will continue to write to our Gospel for Asia sponsored children.
5. Geography and missions
My friend Jessica alerted me to this fantastic Around the World in 60 Days geography and missions study from Thriving Family. In 60 days you’ll visit 27 different countries, learning about the people, traditions and so much more! What I’m looking forward to the most is the recipes ;0) Each child has their own passport with “stamps” from each country – I think we’re going to LOVE this!
6. VBS
One glorious week of full-day VBS at our church, and a 2nd week at a soccer + discipleship day camp. Hurrah for mom getting homeschool stuff organized at home :D
7. Working on skills and diligence
We’ve been introducing the kids to some new skills around the house – vacuuming, mopping and dusting (for Keekers). Summer is the perfect time to really hone those skills, going over the process with them, and getting them to repeat it after you’ve shown them how.
8. Swimming lessons
We have a full 5 days of almost one-on-one with the most amazing swim teacher ever. Last year in just 3 days JJ learned to swim. She’s that good!
9. Science
We’ve been working on Apologia Swimming Creatures of the 5th day since January and will continue reading and doing the notebooking projects through the summer. The kids don’t really see it as school, they BEG daily to read more and more! There’s an aquarium supposed to be opening up in Toronto in September, so I’m hoping to meet up with my friend Aurie at the Niagara Falls Aquarium until we can get there ;0)
10. Family time
This isn’t really school, but we do need to practice taking time as a family, learning about each other, what makes us laugh and just love on each other! I’m planning on using this great new e-book, Kidventures, to help us enjoy our outdoor time to the fullest! We have some other fun stuff planned, I’ll be posting our family bucket list a little later on.
What are your plans for the summer? Do you summer school?
