I love Summer! (It will be here soon!) Although you’ll probably hear me say that Spring is my favorite season, I absolutely love the lazy days of summer…especially the lazy part; which brings me to the next TOS Blog Cruise Question of the Week: “Do you school during the summer? What do you do? Why or why not?”
We don’t homeschool in the summer. We enjoy our summer break too much to give it up! I remember the first couple of years when we were living in HOT Arkansas thinking that we spent so much time indoors in the summer that we should just school year-round. That did not go over big with my kids. Most of their friends, public-schooled and homeschooled had summers off too, and they wanted their summers free just like them. Then, come to think of it, so did I. We work so hard all school year long, that I relish in the thought of summer break. By the time the end of May rolls around, summer break sounds as good to me as it does to my kids!
For our family, summer is a time to relax, rejuvenate, and refresh, so we can take on next year’s school year. My kids all like to read, so there will be plenty of trips to the library or book store to find something for reading pleasure. We also use the summer months to travel, go on vacation or visit family our of state. We go to the beach as much as possible, and the kids have sleepovers during the week. We try to fill our summer break with a lot of R&R and things that we probably wouldn’t get done during our busy school year.
Taking summer break gives me a much needed break too. There were times when I said we were going to “do a little math” or “do a little science” over the summer…but we never do. The last few years my son has played All Star Baseball, and besides several practices a week, our weekends were filled with baseball tournaments. I don’t think any of us had the energy for school with all of that going on!
We use summer break for exactly its intention: to take a much needed break from homeschooling and spend quality time together as well as with family and friends. During the school year homeschooling can become exhausting at times. By the time our school day is done, chores are done, meals are cooked, kids are driven to their activities, I don’t have extra time or energy to just play with my kids as much as I’d love to. Yet, in the summer months, we can stay up later, sleep in a little bit, go to the beach, see a movie, hang out or play games and just be together without the pressures of mom having to teach too. I also do a little summer cleaning, because I never have time to do it during the school year. The other thing that summer does for us, is give me a chance to stop and re-evaluate, as well as look back on our previous year to see how much we’ve grown and learned. Usually I am very pleased with the results and goals that were set the prior September. Summer break also gives me the opportunity to look into different curriculum ideas for the next year. I always seem to find something fun and new to add some enjoyment to our homeschool. Something I don’t have a lot of time for during the school year.
Summer’s just around the corner, and my children and I are anticipating its arrival with much excitement! How about you? Do you school year round? Or do you take a summer break?
Be sure to click on the button at the top of this post to see how my Crewmates answered this week’s question, and stay tuned for next week’s question, “What do you do if your child doesn’t like to read?”
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