Even though summertime is when most children are out of school, it can be a great time for homeschoolers to choose to take a break or reset from the usual schooling schedule! I have many friends choose to school year-round, and that’s okay too! This post is still for you, whether you take the entire 3 months off or just a few days or weeks. Making a schedule can help everyone stay motivated to keep learning, while still enjoying the thrills of summer.
Factors to consider before making a schedule-
- Ages of your children
- Work schedule of parents
- Camps or VBS scheduled
- Goals for education/ screen time
All of these factors are going to be apart of what you decided to implement in homeschooling summer schedule, but the most important one to my family is setting a goal.
I personally take a full summer off with my kids, we enjoy going to the beach as a family and like to visit during summer months. But that break, isn’t just for them. It’s for ME. I like to pursue my own interests and extra work since I am less occupied with their everyday education. I also try to seek out more time with friends and family and most of all, I want to let all of our brains rest! It’s so much work to homeschool, and I think it needs to be honored in however way works best for your family. Our goal in summer is to enjoy it!
Other factors like your personal schedule come into play. I know many homeschooling moms like me, who work from home or part time and will still need to have that option in the summer when they are breaking from homeschooling. One of the biggest issues I encounter when we aren’t homeschooling is how much harder it can be to get started back up, as well as the extra downtime that screentime can lead to can cause…well chaos. To put it lightly! Remember that “brain rest” I was mentioning before? With a schedule, I get to think *less* and the schedule is more of our guide, not me. So let’s jump into what that can look like!
Preventing the summer “slide” became a priority after my first-year homeschooling revealed that my children could indeed lose acquired knowledge if we completely cut formal schooling cold turkey during the break. These subjects are non-negotiable to avoid the loss of knowledge retained over the summer.
- Math
- Language arts
- Reading
A simple math practice page even once a week should be enough for upkeep. Remember we aren’t learning knew principals, just reinforcing old ones! Think math facts or multiplication memorization.
Language arts can simply be letter tracing, phonics books, or copy work depending on the age of the child. (We enjoy these for beginner handwriting pages)
Reading is something that is invaluable in general and crams more knowledge in than we realize. (And not just over summer!) One of my favorite pastimes during the summer months, is encouraging my children in reading for pleasure by reading aloud. I found that Sarah from Read Aloud Revival to be so helpful in the area of reading habits, if you care to learn more!
Homeschooling Summer Schedule Example-
This template I am giving you for FREE to download! It will be blank but I have filled out and example to show you what a simple summer schedule looks like. Think of having this hanging on the fridge and when a “Boring” or unplanned summer day rolls by your kids already know what will be expected.
Here is your free blank schedule to fill how you please!
Also! Another Freebie just for fun!
I compiled some cheap or free summer ideas for you on the days that you need to grab one to use!
I hope you have a spectacular summer! No matter how you choose to spend it, I pray you to exhale a bit and just breath, maybe have some fun too so you can gear up for another round of the amazing, fulfilling, hard work of homeschooling!
I’m proud of you!
Happy Summer!
-Hannah
