Homeschool Summers-This Is How We Do It

Anybody got a song running through their head right about now? This is how we do it…..ahem.

ANYWAY. I just finished writing all of my Back To Homeschool posts, which you will see next week.

And I got to thinking, it might be kind of fun to share the things we do before the new school year starts.

No, I am not talking about curriculum.

I do buy all of my curriculum for the next year before the current school year is even over because I tend to have kids go about a DAY, and then say they are bored and want to start next year. Yep.

But once the school year has ended (usually end of April, beginning of May depending on the kid), we start our own version of summer school.

Not really school in the traditional sense (although homeschool really isn’t traditional, is it?) but an easy, relaxed pace.

My kids know they have a goal to complete 100 hours of school during the summer.

They can do it however they want, and they can choose whichever subjects they want to do. If they want to read a stack of books, they can get ahead on their required reading time. If they want to work ahead on their P.E. time, they can go swimming-that kind of thing. We even tend to do one of our read alouds during the summer. It’s super relaxed.

The only time reading doesn’t count during the summer is if they are completing a reading challenge for the library or Barnes and Noble for prizes-no double-dipping. 🙂

Now, after everyone has completed twenty hours of school time, they get a fun prize to share. And there is a new prize at every twenty-hour mark, all the way up to 100 hrs.

This year, they got the movie Trolls Band Together, seasons three and four of the TV series How to Train Your Dragon Race to the Edge, a tabletop Bingo game complete with a ball you can spin that churns out the numbers, a trip to a thrift shop where they each got five dollars to spend, and the last one is always a trip to Cold Stone to finish off the summer (the other prizes change depending on the year.)

Why do we do 100 hours, you may ask? Well, first, I know that if each kid does 100 summer hours, we can do school four days per week during the school year (our state requires 172 days, average of 4 hrs. per day.) This gives us plenty of time to get to errands, playdates, etc. on Fridays. My daughter has been able to volunteer at the library on Fridays for two and a half years with this schedule too. Our week is less hectic, and the weekends are longer. Nice.

Also, it keeps our hands in the pot, so to speak. We are still reading and learning over the summer, but in a nice and relaxed way. There isn’t a harsh line between the end of the school year and the beginning of the next. One just eases into the next.

This really works for us and our lifestyle, but I would love to hear what YOU do if you homeschool. I always find so much inspiration in listening to other people’s stories. There is no one right way with homeschooling, and that’s the way it should be.

Well, that’s it from me for today.

Have a fabulous day!