4 Fun Ways to Enjoy Summer Homeschooling ~ 
Written by Cait Curley

Our family just wrapped up a 3-day soccer tournament and the kids are prepping for their year-end piano recital. I need to sign my daughter up for the summer swim team this weekend and my oldest needs to decide which merit badges he wants to work on at Scout camp. My husband just brought freeze pops home from Costco and my youngest is working on a summer activity wish list.

Summer is here, you guys. We made it!

I’m ready to hop grab a slice of watermelon, hop in the hammock, and get lost in a delicious book. But, first… I have to figure out our summer homeschooling plans.

Summer Homeschooling Works Well For Many Families

As much as I would like to while away my summer hours reading in a hammock, my kids crave structure. Early in our homeschool journey, I tried taking the summer completely off and it made for rocky re-entry in September. I’ve learned that our family thrives when we maintain a little structure during the summer months.

Summer homeschooling works for several reasons:

1. Kids love routine.
   
   Routines are important for children and teens. Predictable routines help kids to feel grounded and secure. Routines are especially helpful during times of uncertainty and change.
2. Routines help to keep children and teens busy. 
   
   I’m a huge believer in the value of boredom. My kids always do something creative after complaining of boredom. That said, I don’t want to spend my summer days listening to my kids whine about boredom. Adding a dollop of structure to summer days can help decrease the “I’m bored” whine factor!
3. No summer slide. 
   
   Honestly? I kind of hate the term summer slide, but we all know that those math skills can be a bit rusty come September. Sprinkling a little math throughout the summer can make September reentry a breeze!
4. Allows for time off during the year. 
   
   This is one of my favorite reasons to homeschool during the summer months. It allows for more time off during the traditional homeschool year. Feeling burnt out? Want to enjoy the winter holidays? Dying to take an impromptu long weekend? Year-round homeschooling allows for more space during the year.

There are many benefits to year-round, but summer homeschooling need not look anything like the rest of the homeschool year!

Homeschooling in the Summer Needs To Be Fun

• I need the break.
  
  Homeschooling is hard work, and the past year-plus has been more challenging than in previous years. I want our homeschooling to be fun this summer!
• My kids need the break.
  
  I try to remember that when I feel like I need a break, my kids are almost always feeling the same. Kids need downtime, too!
• The weather is better and we need to enjoy it.
  
  Summer is hands-down my favorite season. I live in New Hampshire and summer is but a blink! Because of this, I want to soak up every last bit of our summer days.

Our summer homeschooling includes heaps of outdoor time, stealth learning, delicious books, and -of course- play!

4 Fun Ways To Enjoy Summer Homeschooling

I’m a firm believer that the very best ideas are often the most simple ones. Here are four super simple, super fun ways to infuse more play into your summer homeschooling:

1. Make your own bucket list
   
   Summer bucket lists can be fun, but they often lead to feelings of pressure and overwhelm. I much prefer a Summer Idea List. The Summer Idea List is just that- a list of ideas. It’s not a to-do list. You’re not expected to tick off every box. Instead, this is a boredom buster. Did your teen just whine of boredom? Refer him to the list.
2. Coffee and Books
   
   Reading aloud is the most important part of your entire homeschool day. In our family, we have a simple but beloved homeschool tradition called Coffee and Books. It’s as simple as it sounds! I drink coffee and read books to my children while they eat breakfast. I’m able to check off the most important thing early in the day and that feels pretty darn good.
3. Outdoor Games
   
   We are gameschoolers, but board games do not need to be confined to indoor spaces. When the weather is gorgeous, we take our games outdoors! We love to play waterproof games in the pool or at the beach.
4. Unit Studies
   
   I love unit studies! The summer months are perfect for getting lost in a long, leisurely rabbit hole. Whether you’re interested in backyard science or you want to get lost in a favorite author’s work, unit studies are a great way to sneak in some fun summer learning.

What will your summer look like?

Whether you’re eating your weight in watermelon and spending lazy days reading in the hammock, or if you’re homeschooling through those hazy hot and humid days, I wish your family a wonderful, playful summer!

What’s Your Homeschool Mom Personality? Take Jamie’s quiz now and receive a free personality report to help you organize your homeschool based on what your personality type needs most!

I have an honest admission to make here: I like to be in control, preferably with an efficient plan of action! Delegation and asking for help do not come naturally for me.

I’m guilty of doing things for my teens that they could not only do for themselves, but would hugely benefit from completing without my input. This is especially true during term time, when our lives are at their busiest, as we juggle many extracurricular activities alongside their academics.

During the summer however, we take a long 9-week break, which offers a complete change of pace. Here there is time for me to surrender control and support my teens in developing critical independence skills for the future.

We’re focusing on three simple areas this summer on encouraging independence:

Encouraging Independence in Teens During Summer

1. Completion of a Real-Life Project

Giving your teen full responsibility for delivering a real-life project brings so many opportunities for growth and learning.

Examples might be redecorating their room; selling their old books; managing a patch of the garden; organizing a summer party or holiday; restoring an old piece of furniture; hosting a fundraiser for a local charity; setting up and running a small business; coordinating a long walk and camp-out; or launching a YouTube channel.

This autumn, we’re planning a 4-week road trip to explore the beautiful country of Spain. Over the summer, my two teens will jointly manage planning the logistics for this project.

This will include:

• Formulating our route, liaising with our Spanish tutor for advice.
• Managing the budget.
• Agreeing time spent in each location.
• Sourcing and booking accommodation.
• Deciding (and compromising!) on which activities to do/places to visit, balancing everyone’s interests, and booking ahead where required.
• Learning about the different places we’ll explore.
• Writing a packing list.
• Determining how much homeschool work we’ll do during the trip.

Through projects, a whole variety of skills can be practiced, such as goal setting, communication, teamwork, time management, negotiation, budgeting, researching and more. Ours won’t be plain sailing – they’re siblings so compromise isn’t easy!

However, achieving such a project, even in imperfectly, will boost their sense of being independent young adults.

2. Self Sufficiency in Your Own Contentment

I don’t believe there is a greater gift in life than learning to be self-sufficient in your own contentment. By this I mean the ability to generate your own joy and serenity, either through time alone or by searching out meaningful connections, rather than expecting someone else to provide it for you.

This has really struck me recently as I spend time with my mother in hospital. She has dementia and psychotic episodes. When I visit, she wants me all to herself and will actively push away the nurses to dominate my attention.

There has always been an expectation that in my role as a daughter, I am there to entertain her, to provide color and light for her life. The sad truth is that she has never learned to do this for herself.

It’s made me realize the importance of not repeating this with my own children. I am responsible for generating color and light in my life as are they for theirs. So, I plan to lead by example and ask:

What do I need during this summer break and how will I achieve that?

I’ve shared this with them and encouraged them to answer the same question. I’m there to help them with the practicalities, and to check progress, but that’s it.

They will be responsible for balancing their own needs (e.g. are they getting enough connection with friends, time outside, relaxation?), as I will be for mine!

3. Food Management

Learning how to budget and shop for food, manage ingredients in your home and cook healthy meals are fundamental life skills. During the busy term, I tend to do most of the heavy lifting. But in the holiday, the children get more involved.

As a manageable objective this summer, they will:

• Each tackle one new recipe, and then cook this each week as one of our evening meals.
• Learn how to plan a week’s menu, create a shopping list and do a weekly food shop alone whilst sticking to a budget (even if it happens once, I’ll count it as a win!).
• Be responsible for ensuring the food is eaten in date order and reduce food waste – one of my husband’s biggest bugbears!

Each summer, they grow in their independence a little more. I just need to remember to surrender and let them find their own way.

I hope this helps when it comes to encouraging independence in your teens during the summer holidays. I’d love to hear any of your thoughts and ideas, too!

What’s Your Homeschool Mom Personality? Take Jamie’s quiz now and receive a free personality report to help you organize your homeschool based on what your type needs most!

The most important thing to do before summer ends ~
Written by Melissa Camara Wilkins

I want to tell you a secret: there hasn’t been much space in my brain lately. The reasons for that are both super involved and kind of boring, so I won’t trouble you with them.

The reason I mention it at all is this: by the time June rolled around, I was so, so glad for summer to arrive.

Prefer to listen instead?

I was glad to let go of routines and bedtimes and the kinds of decisions that don’t relate to swimming and ice cream. I was ready for cutoffs and tee shirts and flip flops and sunglasses, all day, every day. I was ready for “playing with the puppy” to be the only thing anyone accomplished all day.

I was ready. It was time.

My brain was telling me it needed to slow things down. My body was telling me I needed more sleep. It was telling me to put down the nonfiction and to pick up a light, summery novel.

It was telling me I needed to find a handful of things I could say “yes” to every time the kids asked, so I wouldn’t have to decide about anything else.

(Right now I’m saying yes to letting the kids make their own milkshakes, watch movies in the afternoon, and swim every day. I can say no to pretty much everything else, I don’t have to make any other decisions, and everyone still has a glorious summer.)

Maybe you don’t need exactly what I need. (Honestly, that would be a little weird, right? We’re not all supposed to need the same things at the exact same time.)

Maybe what you need this summer is adventure, or to be outdoors for hours on end, or to take one amazing vacation, or to go deep on a creative project while your kids play outside, or to take time to plan for next year. But whatever it is, can I remind you of something?

You know what you need.

The Most Important Thing to Do Before Summer Ends

You are the expert on your own life, and you know what you need.

I bet you’re great at knowing what your kids need—from the daily stuff (whether she needs a nap, or he needs a snack, or they need to get outside) to the logistical stuff (who’s going to need a new pair of sneakers by fall?) to the growth and development stuff (maybe he needs a different kind of math program, maybe she needs a mentor, maybe they need a new project to focus on).

Especially during the fall and winter and spring, when everything seems to move faster, those needs can fill up a day without our even noticing. But as I’m writing this, it’s summer. The days are longer, no one is doing anything that looks like math (at least not at my house), and everything is moving a little slower.

It’s kind of the perfect time to practice listening to your own self to find out what you need next.

You are a whole person: mind, body, and spirit—and all the parts of you are trying to give you good information about how you’re doing and what you need.

If your body is exhausted and your muscles are tense, there’s probably a reason. If your mind is racing, there’s probably a reason. If your soul is whispering that something isn’t okay, there’s probably a reason.

If we ignore our bodies, minds, or spirits, we’re going to end up burned out and not able to show up for our families or for the wider world in the ways we want to.

And that’s not what I want my kids to learn from me, either. I want them to learn to listen to their whole selves and to pay attention to their own needs, just like they see me taking care of what I need.

Listen, and then take one next right step. You really do know what you need.

And I’ll be over here with my big old glass of tea, making as few decisions as possible.

Because that’s what I need right now.

What is the most important thing you need to do before summer ends – for your brain, body, or spirit?

What’s Your Homeschool Mom Personality? Take Jamie’s quiz now and receive a free personality report to help you organize your homeschool based on what your personality type needs most!

Celebrating Summertime Freedom Days~ 
Written by Amber O’Neal Johnston from Heritage Mom

Teaching our children the value of freedom is a gift that will pay dividends through the generations. In the United States, summertime is a lovely opportunity to celebrate liberation because of Juneteenth National Independence Day and the Fourth of July Independence Day. Both days open the door for diving deeper into history while celebrating how far we’ve come, and most countries have similar days of remembrance that are unique to their historical context.

While some families only focus on one or the other, celebrating Juneteenth and July 4^th offers our children a more complete vision of our nation, its struggles, and its triumphs. The hearty acknowledgment of both days within our homes can set a tone of connection and kinship within communities and across ethnicities nationwide. And embracing our collective freedoms inspires people worldwide who are still fighting for liberty and justice today.

The Fourth of July addresses national freedom by commemorating the Declaration of Independence. It’s a critically important date in our nation’s history, but it’s complicated by the fact that the political freedom it celebrates didn’t apply to everyone. Hundreds of thousands of enslaved Americans were not liberated that day.

Juneteenth celebrates individual freedom as it honors the end of slavery and the early crumbling of contradictory policies and practices incompatible with a healthy nation. National and personal freedoms are cornerstones of the American way of life. Though we are fallible and imperfect in our execution, we can stand united on the ideals and our collective commitment to cleaving to them.

June 19th, a day that has long been celebrated, was first recognized as a federal holiday in 2021. Since then, some media outlets have presented it as a day only or primarily relevant to Black Americans, but that couldn’t be further from the truth. Instead, Juneteenth embodies the liberties we all enjoy, and it acknowledges one of the most pivotal moments in our collective history, one that brought our nation closer to living out its values in a tangible and monumental way.

Juneteenth is for ALL people.

With our summertime freedom days landing only about two weeks apart, it can be challenging to go all out for both days, but not every celebration requires tremendous effort. Sometimes sweet and simple traditions carried out consistently over the years are more meaningful to our children than occasional grand displays. And though some things are more associated with one day than the other, there are also celebratory aspects shared by Juneteenth and Fourth of July:

Valuing Family and Friends

Both holidays are traditionally celebrated with gatherings of friends and family. The weekends proceeding each day are especially popular for family reunions, but smaller and less formal hangouts are also the norm. These family celebrations often involve storytelling, laughter, games, music, and delicious food.

Preparing and Enjoying Traditional Foods

Cookouts are common on Juneteenth and Fourth of July. Dishes like barbecue, hamburgers, hot dogs, baked beans, corn on the cob, macaroni and cheese, collard greens or green beans, potato salad, and pie are often part of the menu on both occasions. Juneteenth dinner tables usually include red food and drinks like red velvet cake, watermelon, strawberry soda, and hibiscus tea.

Yet, some of these can also be found at a July 4^th cookout – more due to tradition than the symbolism accompanying those items on Juneteenth.

Community-wide Displays of Joy

Communities nationwide have festivals, parades, concerts, picnics, historical reenactments or speeches, fireworks, and other displays of joyful celebration for both holidays. The American Flag is often displayed for the Fourth of July, and the red, white, and blue Juneteenth flag is added during special flag-raising ceremonies. People step away from work, distractions, and even the societal positions that can divide us, to join in a collective remembrance of who we are and what we stand for.

Our children need to see more of this.

Use our summertime freedom days to talk with your children about the importance of liberty and justice for all. Share ways that your family can do its part to help our country and its people stand even stronger in unity while remembering others worldwide who are still struggling for what many Americans take for granted. Have fun, live well, and celebrate these Juneteenth and July 4^th weeks with humility and thanksgiving.

Enjoy every moment!

What’s Your Homeschool Mom Personality? Take Jamie’s quiz now and receive a free personality report to help you organize your homeschool based on what your personality type needs most!

Written by Shawna Wingert of Different by Design Learning

It’s June.

The end of another school year. The beginning of summer.

For my family, it means transitioning to a “summer learning plan.”

At least that’s what it means for us this year. The truth is, in past years, summer was a less than ideal season in our homeschool, especially for my struggling reader.

After hearing the same from more than one mom in my homeschool support sessions, I realize now that it was not just me.

Summer can be stressful when you are homeschooling a struggling reader. 

Would you rather listen to this post?

Looking back, I can see why summer was always such an anxiety producing time for me and my son.

I was worried about the “summer slide.” Would he forget the little progress we made this year? Should I use the summer to only focus on reading and help him finally master those sight words? Will he be able to move up a level in his reading program next year if I don’t take action all summer?

My son’s experience of summer was even worse. His mom now required him to do more of something that was a constant struggle.

Summer became synonymous with more reading practice and was not at all what either of us wanted.

I knew it was not working, but I worried and wondered what we should do instead. Even worse, we never really made much progress anyway, no matter how hard I pushed.

A resistant, anxious learner always learns a lot less. I knew this, but struggled with what to do next.

Summer and the Struggling Reader

In a moment of inspiration, or maybe desperation, I made the decision a few summers ago to completely change my approach. With every subsequent summer, I have found more and more success in helping my struggling reader.

Here’s how.

1. Add movement to reading.

For any struggling learner, movement can help with learning.

Whether a child needs sensory input, or his/her brain needs a little extra movement to get the synapses flowing, studies have shown over and over again that moving the body while learning makes a difference in overall comprehension and retention.

I have found this to be true for my son, especially with reading. The good news is, summer lends itself to far more outdoor activities that make learning fun.

We’ve created “water balloon flashcards” where I write sight words on water balloons in a bucket. He picks each one up, reads it and throws it at a target (or me if we decide to duel). I have also written practice sounds and words on a beach ball and we throw it back and forth to each other in the pool.

Adding movement to reading practice makes it far more fun and engaging. It’s a bonus that it is also so much more effective. 

2. Make it even more interest-led.

Although we practice an eclectic, interest-led approach all year long, we really lean in for the summer. One year, we did an entire “Summer at Hogwarts” with all Harry Potter based learning activities and reading practice. This summer, my boys have opted to do only science and history projects of their own choosing.

By turning up the level of interest, I find my son has even more opportunities to practice reading throughout the summer than he would with me pulling out the old flashcards. And, because he is so motivated, I find he is able to make more progress as well.

3. Focus on strengths.

When our children struggle with a certain subject, it’s easy to get super focused on what’s not working. (I am the queen of freaking out and deciding to do a whole new reading program because my child couldn’t read the word “the” in our book. Take my word for it.)

The problem is, when we are focused on the area of struggle, we lose sight of our kids’ natural talents and strengths. Not only is this a little sad, it also gets in the way of helping our children learn.

When I homeschool to my child’s strengths,  it not only builds his confidence as a learner, it teaches him how to learn in general. For the struggling reader, this is critical to overall success.

Incorporating what my child naturally excels at into our summer learning not only supports his reading ability, it gives him a sense of mastery and capability across all tasks and subjects.

4. Have fun!

As I look at this list, I realize this is pretty much what I have found makes a difference in our learning all year long. The only difference is that in summer, we do it at pool, sometimes with snacks, and it’s a lot more fun!

Yes, my child is a struggling reader, but he is a child first. I want him to have the same fond memories of summer that I do and support his reading skills at the same time.

The good news is, we are planning to do just that. I hope you will too.

What are your best ideas for summer reading practice?

What’s Your Homeschool Mom Personality? Take Jamie’s quiz now and receive a free personality report to help you organize your homeschool based on what your personality type needs most!

Springtime is finally here in Ohio, and I’m so grateful. Winter seems to have lasted approximately 472 days.

Okay. Not really.

It just feels like forever since we’ve been able to consistently get outside and enjoy the warm sun beating down on us. We are so ready for a bit of summer fun.

But since my kids go a little stir crazy if their minds are not engaged in new things regularly, I still like to keep them learning all year round.

We follow a very eclectic, self-directed approach to homeschool, so I’m always on alert for things my kids are talking about more than normal or for topics that might pique their interest so I can strew things for them to discover and check out.

Strewing is the secret sauce to my homeschool success. 

It’s a term coined by the unschooling movement to mean, quite simply, that you put things out where kids can find them, hoping to spark their interests in new things.

There is a very important thing to keep in mind when strewing though:

Have no expectations.

The most crucial key to successful strewing is that you — the homeschool parent — do not get tied to the things you strew out. When we’re trusting our kids to figure out what they might be interested in, we need to trust them, too, to know what they’re not interested in.

And we need to respect that.

It’s easy to get caught up in the idea of giving your kiddo all the things at once and, in a sense, creating a mini-unit study to find out on the bookshelf or school table.

With strewing, though, less is more.

The idea isn’t to give your child all they’ll need in order to learn about something you think they should. The idea behind strewing is to “spread a feast” that they can pick and choose from — or ignore altogether.

Put a few books out, queue up a documentary, leave out some art supplies, or set up some science materials to explore. It doesn’t need to be fancy; it just needs to be left up to them.

Strewing is a way to spark your kiddo’s curiosity.

You can find more information about the practice on my site, along with the opportunity to sign up for an email series to help you get started or to download a printable with over 100 ideas for things to strew.

Because we all need a little inspiration, though, here are five easy (and fun!) ideas to strew out for your kids and sneak in some summer learning.

1. Live Insects

Every spring and summer since my oldest (now 17!) was four, I’ve bought a variety of insect kits from Insectlore and other online suppliers. We’ve raised butterflies, praying mantises, moths, ladybugs, millipedes, and more.

When they come in, I leave them out on a table or low shelf with books, magnifying glasses, their habitat needs, and life cycle models.

Some years the kids jump in and do all the work, pulling out their nature journals and drawing what they see every day, and caring fully for them. Some years, though, they mostly ignore them and I do all the work. (I actually love watching them, so I’m okay with that.)

2. A Throwback Toy Collection

Tap into the fun of times gone by and leave out some jump ropes, hula hoops, a Chinese jump rope, or jacks. See what the kids do with them, and wait… maybe they’ll ask you to teach them what the toys are all about and how they work.

Who knows? You just might have a retro summer full of simple fun.

3. Gardening Supplies

This could end up being a fun family project if the kids get into it! Set out mini pots, seeds, tools (real work best), soil, and identification guides. If the kids get excited about the planting, consider letting them have their own garden space in the yard to plant whatever they want to.

One year we did this and the kids created a garden bed next to the Little Tikes log cabin playhouse they had in the yard. They planted so many zucchini seeds that the vines and leaves took over and stretched over top of the cabin. It was such fun!

4. Sun Prints

Have you ever tried sun print paper (afflink)? It is loads of fun and can inspire some great creative thinking.

Set out a few packages of sun print paper and some cut flowers. You can also set out jars of loose parts and other interestingly shaped objects.

5. New Art Supplies

Summer is a fun time to try new projects, so consider stocking up on some art supplies you’ve never tried with your kids. Chalk pastels, acrylic paints, easels, watercolor pencils.

If they pick up some of the supplies and run with them, consider helping them find tutorials on YouTube or even signing them up for online lessons.

One of the things my daughter loves to do in the warm summer months is bring her watercolor pencils with her when we hike along with a pad, brush and small cup. She’s not a fan of immersing herself in nature or getting dirty, so she’ll use the supplies as an excuse to let us explore a creek bed or other area while she sits and draws.

She’ll fill her small cup from the creek and use a brush to spread the watercolors. I love how she uses and interprets the simple supplies I once left out for her and her siblings.

As you can see, it’s not difficult to add in summer fun, strewing-style, to your homeschool.

I hope you’ll use these ideas to set yourself up and be open to new ideas as they come to you!

Do you have any successful strewing stories?

What’s Your Homeschool Mom Personality? Take Jamie’s quiz now and receive a free personality report to help you organize your homeschool based on what your personality type needs most!

I’ve mentioned before that our family takes a structured summer break.

I didn’t set out to be a year-round homeschooler. In fact, I’d like nothing more than a lazy summer filled with simple pleasures:

• Lemonade stands
• Rootbeer floats
• Frog catching
• S’mores galore
• Backyard campouts
• Parcheesi on the porch

And that’s about all we did our first summer or two…

The problem is, September was miserable. Re-entry felt impossible. Power struggles and sibling squabbles skyrocketed.

Some children benefit from a structured summer break filled with super simple learning opportunities

The truth is, while I might want a summer filled with nothing but white space and watermelon, my children crave something else. They feel better when our days have a bit of structure to them. Nothing crazy, just a little predictability.

When we take a structured summer break, September is a friend. We are all ready for her when she arrives. Re-entry is easier, welcome even.

In our world, a structured summer break is pretty simple:

1. Pick a topic of study or a favorite rabbit hole
2. Start the day with a read-aloud
3. End the day with a read-aloud
4. Bonus points for sprinkling related activities in between on some of the days. This could be a field trip, a family movie night, or a fantastic conversation.

(I call this type of learning a “Lazy Unit Study” and if you are interested in learning more, I have a course for you! Just use the code LAZYSUMMER to get 20% your purchase! Sign up here.)

Children who crave structure and routine love this simple predictability. Plus, depending on the topic of study, this simple summer learning can be fun for the entire family.

The first summer we did this, we started and ended our days with Dahl. Every morning, we’d have Coffee and Books with a Roald Dahl book. We’d have a leisurely read-aloud, taking time to pause and answer any questions. Then, we’d carry on with the rest of our day. Later, we’d read Dahl before bed.

And, because it was summer, I happily agreed to those pleas for “just one more chapter” and sometimes we’d read a few more!

On the days when we finished a Dahl book, we’d schedule a family movie night for that evening.

Friends, there is nothing like watching the film version of a favorite novel on the day you wrap up that last chapter! It’s magical! The conversations you have with your children, the memories you are making, all of it.

Not to mention the fact that we added a million literary-inspired sayings and inside jokes:

• “Don’t be such a Trunchbull!”
• “The snozberries taste like snozberries!”
• “Gobblefunk around”
• “Human beans”
• Whizzpoppers

We loved our Dahl rabbit hole so much that we ended the summer by reading Dahl’s book, Boy, which is filled with tales from his own childhood. We still talk about how wonderful that summer was for all of us.

The following summer, we got lost in the world of E.B. White. There’s nothing quite like reading Trumpet of the Swan during a lakeside picnic, or reading Charlotte’s Web over breakfast and then heading to the CSA to pick up your veggies and visit the animals.

This type of learning is a great fit for the summer months.

You can select a favorite author and get lost down a rabbit hole together. Set up a routine to read-aloud first thing in the morning and again in the evening. This simple routine will be calming to your kiddos who crave routine and predictability.

Plus, I promise you, those kiddos will learn plenty and make memories to last a lifetime!

Another idea for a simple, structured summer routine is to explore a current area of passion.

Currently, my three kiddos are all fascinated with biology and human anatomy. Coincidentally, Body Worlds is coming to Boston’s Museum of Science this summer. I decided now is the perfect time to have a Lazy Unit Study featuring health and human anatomy.

With some incredible books from BookShark and a few gameschool favorites, we are off and running. I’m excited to see where this Lazy Unit Study leads us, and what we will think about it come September!

(Psst! If you’d like to learn more about Lazy Unit Studies, I have a brand-new course for you! Just use the code LAZYSUMMER to get 20% your purchase! Sign up here.)

Tell me: Do you take a structured summer break? What simple summer learning activities do you have planned? Share here!

What’s Your Homeschool Mom Personality? Take Jamie’s quiz now and receive a free personality report to help you organize your homeschool based on what your personality type needs most!

Written by Shawna Wingert of Not the Former Things

I don’t call us year-round homeschoolers.

(More in protest than anything else.)

The truth is, we do learn year-round. But that title just sounds so sad. No summer vacation. No days at the beach. No feeling of excitement when late August rolls around and it’s time to begin anew.

No, instead of year-round homeschooling, we employ something just a little bit different.

We have our regular school year. Then we have what I have come to refer to as “summer learning.”

Our first few years of homeschooling, I tried to take the entire summer off.

I wanted my kids to experience the same joy I felt, knowing that school was out for the summer. The endless stretches of time, the lazy afternoons, the sprinklers, the joy.

Turns out, my boys respond pretty poorly to endless stretches of time and no predictable plan.

After three years of summer vacations, I began to dread summer. After four, I decided I needed to create a summer learning plan that met all of our needs – a break, a nod to the more relaxed days of summer, but with structure and the predictability my children crave.

Turn out, summer learning is one of the best things I have ever done for our homeschool. 

How Summer Learning Can Make Your Entire School Year Better

I have come to see summer learning as essential to our overall homeschooling plan and progress. Here’s why:

Trying New Things

Summer is the perfect time to try new things in our learning. I am sure this is more a psychological thing, but it feels like there’s a lot less at stake. I am more willing to throw caution to the wind and see what happens if we only study Harry Potter all summer-long.

Because I have been willing to try something new, I have learned so much about what really works for my kiddos. The trial and error I allow myself in summer is invaluable.

Confidence Building (for all of us!)

Because our summer learning plan has a much shorter time frame associated with it, I find that we all feel such a sense of accomplishment as we work through it.

For me, planning is easy and implementation is much more straight-forward than a September introduction to a year-long curriculum. For my boys, they feel a more immediate sense of accomplishment and completion.

Easier Transition Back To School

Perhaps most surprising has been how easy this approach makes our transition back to school in the fall. We are rested, because our summer learning plans typically require less and allow us more freedom. We are still in a functional routine, which makes a return to our usual days that much easier.

Our summer learning actually prepares us for our learning throughout the school year. 

I am really looking forward to our summer learning this year.

Would you like to join me in creating a plan that works? I am sharing all my best tips and tricks for summer learning, as well as a real life look at our summer learning plan as part of this four week, email only series. I would love to have you come along for our summer!

What are your learning plans for this summer?

If you enjoyed this post, check out Jamie’s newly release book, Introverted Mom: Your Guide to More Calm, Less Guilt, and Quiet Joy.

Written by Purva Brown of The Classical Unschooler

It’s officially that time of year when planning for next year’s curriculum is more fun than completing this year’s. Every spring, it’s like clockwork. Allergies and the last-few-weeks-doldrums hit right about the same time.

Right along with those two annoying old friends, though, also come the predictable questions on homeschooling message boards and Facebook groups everywhere:

“Can I homeschool this year?” “What is unschooling? How exactly do I do it?”

So I thought I’d write a blog post about unschooling. I tackle this topic in great detail on my blog and have even written a book (afflink) on our family’s personal brand of unschooling, so I won’t go into details about us here.

Instead, I want to suggest ways you can unschool this upcoming summer, to dip your feet into a relaxed homeschooling style.

My hope is that if you are considering changing styles or even if you’re brand new to homeschooling, you will come away refreshed, excited and inspired. Let’s get right to it.

1. Plan a week or two of reading and conversations.

I prize conversations over curricula and I have a very good reason for doing so. Covering something once does not work. Just as in math, I find that we have to reiterate whatever it is we have already covered, even if it is something we did in our sitdown work.

“Didn’t we go over this in school work?” is a common refrain around these parts.

As such, I find our dinner table conversations to be more helpful in shaping the character and the knowledge of our children. This is especially true if they share something they have recently read or watched.

A week or two of reading and chatting about what has been read can set the stage for a fantastic unschooling summer.

2. Plan a cook off or a bake off.

I love when my daughter suggests cooking. Since she has a serious sweet tooth, she tends to want to bake things like cookies and cakes, and while I steel myself to only eat one (or two. Okay, okay, three!), I know it does wonders for her math skills.

Just like the conversations mentioned above help us to go over some of the material we studied and now use it in context, cooking and baking help us remember skills we learned in math and use them in real world situations.

This is especially helpful to my daughter who has an aversion to tests and online programs that score her material as she works on it. Baking takes the pressure off, improves her skills and there’s a delicious treat at the end.

What could be wrong with that?

3. Become a tourist in your own city.

As you can tell, I absolutely love “doing school without teaching.” Children are curious by nature and learn anyway. But it gets even more interesting if I get involved and start to learn with them. One of the ways to do this is to spend time traveling.

I know families that do this full time, but both my husband and I don’t travel well. We get homesick within two days of being away from home, and we love our little introvert nooks and books and our bed. So what’s a family to do?

Well, as it turns out, there’s still a lot of unexplored terrain right here in our backyard. No matter where you live, becoming a tourist in your own backyard will unearth interesting things to study.

If nothing else, it will lead to rabbit trails into other interesting details.

What I love about this way of approaching unschooling is that it gives you a vacation of sorts without having to schedule much. And it is hands-on fun, the kind where you are learning together and making memories, all at the same time.

4. Do something your kids want you to do.

All right, this can sometimes be a challenge, but trust me: Schedule a week where you do something the children want you to do.

If your kids are anything like mine, they probably have some deep desires to make you play their favorite video game or teach them to cook or maybe even create a video for a YouTube channel.

Why not take some time out this summer to do that with them?

It will make for some great memories and the best part? They will watch you learn and pick up things themselves at the same time. Isn’t that the essence of homeschooling anyway?

So there you have it. Use these four ideas to dip your feet into unschooling and pretty soon, you’ll see that homeschooling is your cup of tea after all!

And even if you don’t, at least you will have some wonderful memories to look back on.

You don’t need to be limited by these choices of course! What else would you add to the list?

What’s Your Homeschool Mom Personality? Take Jamie’s quiz now and receive a free personality report to help you organize your homeschool based on what your personality type needs most!

Written by Cait Curley of My Little Poppies

Gosh, I love summer.

I love the sunshine, the white space on my calendar, and making memories with my children.

Simple memories are my favorite ones to make.

When I think back to my childhood, some of my favorite memories are those simple ones:

• Swimming with neighbors in a local pond
• Building forts in the backyard
• Afternoons with all-you-can-eat watermelon
• Running through the sprinkler
• Flying kites and exploring tide pools at the beach
• Endless summer reading
• Chasing after the ice cream truck
• Playing board games and card games with friends

These are the types of memories I want for my children. Simple, old-fashioned fun.

Today, I’d like to chat about that last bullet point: games.

Vertical photo by Rene Böhmer

We play games year-round, but there’s something special about summer gaming.

Some of my favorite summer memories include games: UNO on the beach at Cape Cod, Parcheesi (afflinks) on the porch in Maine, Jax on the front steps of a friend’s home, Red Rover on the soccer field.

I could go on and on.

If you are new to gameschooling, now is the perfect time to start a family game tradition!

Summer offers so much space for play:

• The days are longer and everyone stays up a little later
• There is more white space on the calendar
• Summer day trips and vacations offer ample space for gaming

Whether you spend the afternoon at the local pool, take a day trip to the beach, go camping for the weekend, road trip across the country, or spend a week at the lake- travel-sized games will help you make family memories!

And let’s not forget about the educational value of playing games with your children.

Whenever one of my children is struggling with a certain concept or skill, I put aside the workbook and pull out a game. Games have helped my children learn to read, memorize math facts, identify coins and feel confident with money, and to tell time- among countless other skills.

Games are a safe way to learn and practice skills. Games don’t judge, they don’t leave red marks, they don’t hand out grades. Instead, games allow for practice of skills. Mistakes are expected. If you lose, you get to clear the board and try again.

If you’d like to add more games to your summer routine, the key is to make travel games accessible!

Simply tuck a small-ish game in your pool bag, suitcase, or glove compartment. When you find yourself with a minute to spare, pull it out and see who wants to play.

Do you need help getting started?

Here are some things to look for when selecting a travel game:

• Truly, all you need is a deck of cards to get started. If you need help remembering card games, check out Bicycle’s site!
• Many classic games are now available in travel size. 
• Think outside the “travel game’ box. These games are usually small too:
  • Card games
  • Dice games
  • Dominos
  • One-player games
• If you’ll be spending a lot of time near water, you may want to research waterproof games.

Summer gaming will make family memories and boost learning!

I promise you-your children are learning as they play. Even if they are playing the least educational game in your family closet, they are learning to cooperate, take turns, and also how to win and lose with grace.

Learning happens all the time when we relax and let it. 

So go ahead and spend a lazy summer afternoon playing with your kids. You won’t regret it, and you’ll make memories that will last a lifetime!

(If you need more help with gameschooling, be sure to check out this Gameschooling 101 article!)

Tell us in the comments- does your family have a favorite travel game?

This post contains affiliate links, which means I receive a small commission from some of the links on this page.

What’s Your Homeschool Mom Personality? Take Jamie’s quiz now and receive a free personality report to help you organize your homeschool based on what your personality type needs most!