Are you feeling it too? The calendar is clearing up. There’s white space on the page, flip flops by the back door and blue skies outside! Choir, church activities, drama troupe have all ended for the year for us. Some subjects are wrapped up and tucked away. The girls are still practicing for piano recital next week but…
The days… and the grass grow longer. When we drive by the neighborhood pool it looks cool and inviting. All these things spell the freedom of summer. And while our family vacation isn’t until everyone else is back in school, we do have plans for summer fun right around home.
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Summer refreshingly changes up our routine. We’ll get exercise scootering and going to the pool. Our anchor of the day, afternoon quiet time, remains. We’ll still be finishing up a few things, like some math and (with the older ones) our new Triple 1070 Biblical Personal Finance Curriculum.
1. Oh boy – tiny rolls of duct tape at Five Below! | 2. “Mama, can I paint?” | 3. Hydrangeas ready to bring on the color! | 4. electronics and LEGO® Education projects with Hodgepodgedad and Eldest Boy
But basically the way to let summer learning happen is to have a framework of fun. My idea for this summer is one of themes. Themes to continue the learning – summer style. I’ve been talking to the children. And we think we just might go with weeks of learning with one subject. Multiple ages together. Maybe even just a day of it. What do you think? Which ones sound fun to you?
- Duct tape craft day
- cooking fun
- Great Backyard Camp Out
- gardening – a friend gave us strawberry plants and starters for cucumber, okra (and more to come – pumpkin, watermelon)
- nature study
- Load up at the library for weeks of reading
- LEGO® Education Learning
- Computer based learning with Lynda.com
- All Things Art
- Water Play Day
- Christmas in July
- Summer Camp at Home (10 Ideas for Summer Fun)
- Pinterest based project learning – resources on several boards: This one I pin to for Eldest Girl, Craftiness, Cooking Fun with Children, In the Good Ol Summertime
- card games (especially our favorite Kings’ Corners), chess, Blokus and other board games (that’s living math, y’all!)
See, we can keep on enjoying art, have some friends over, take a nature walk. Just a little structure, a theme to keep us learning. In between summer camps, Vacation Bible School and more. That’s my start on ideas for summer fun!
Our homeschool drama troupe’s production of The Wizard of Oz last week was the best one yet! 1. Eldest Girl as Glinda, the Good Witch of the North | 2. Middle Girl as the Cowardly Lion | 3. We’re off to see the wizard! | 4. Those big shoes were hilarious!
The costumes, the talent, the energy – it was definitely a Wonderful Wizard of Oz: 1. Dancing to Ding Dong the Wicked Witch is dead | 2. Aunt Em (a.k.a. Glinda/Eldest Girl) and me! | 3. The Cowardly Lion | 4. Celebrating after Thursday night’s performance with frozen yogurt and lots of toppings at Yogli Mogli
While we’re still doing our daily math, we’re starting off our themed learning with Amanda Bennett’s Passport France. This week-long download and go study we’ll be spreading out over two weeks. I’ll be sharing more about that later this month. For now – we got a wonderful pile of books from the library to complement it!
What a great couple of weeks it’s been! Many thanks to our Friday hostesses!
- Collage Friday hostess Mary at Home Grown Learners
- Homeschool Mother’s Journal at iHomeschool Network
- Weekly Wrap-Up hostess Kris at Weird, Unsocialized Homeschoolers
- No Fear Homeschool High School hostess Connie at The Daisy Head
- Family Friday Link Up with Jamerrill at Holy Sprit-Led Homeschooling
And I hope you’ll stop back by for more summer fun next week. I’ll be sharing Summer Staycation ideas – frugal and fun – especially for Atlanta. Plus there will be giveaways for local venues! I’m excited to share! Click to comment…
Our summer fun starts this week and I am so looking forward to it. We always have made a summer list of things we want to do and even now I still had everyone pick one thing they wanted to do over the summer. I am spending my time in the garden. 🙂
I say a trip to Yosemite is a most fabulous way to kick off summer fun! And I have always enjoyed your wish lists – having fun and getting stuff done. From all I’ve seen of your garden – it is beautiful – a perfect spot to spend the summer!
We had planned to take the summer off from school this year, but I have too many fun ideas! We are going to learn about American symbols in June and than a mix between insects and birds for July. I’m thinking lots of outside observations, note booking, and hands on experiments! With lots of pool breaks too of course!
That sounds like a perfect mix to me Nicole!
Great ideas for summer (learning) fun, Tricia! I love a relaxed summer schedule that is still very enriching, anchored by the quiet time habit I learned from you. And I just love a fresh pile of themed library books!
Would love to hear why you chose the financial program you did.
Jenny – it all came about by meeting Donna (affiliated with Triple 1070) at BEECH Retreat and finding out more about their program there. Then they contacted us about trying it out and reviewing it. We’ve really enjoyed what we’ve seen so far. Bible-based and practical! I’ll let you know when I share my review at The Curriculum Choice. There will be a giveaway in conjunction with it!
Lots of fun photos! Yes, I’m trying to make a list of some ideas for fun (and a little learning) through the summer. It’ll be our transition time to having the little ones at home full time, so I think we’ll all need at least a little bit of structure!
We have to keep a bit of a routine in place, too — in between mission trips, music camp, and baseball camp. It will be a busy, but fun summer. I appreciate all of your suggestions!
I so wish I could have seen the drama production. Next year! 🙂
We also are switching gears from formal schooling to summertime – yippeeee!!! Tricia, you have encouraged me greatly and challenged me in areas I needed to be challenged this past year. Thank you so much for sharing your school, your life, your family here. You are a blessing.
There’s just such freedom with a summer schedule isn’t there? And I sure appreciate your kind comment – thank you!
Oh, I wish my Quentin had a homeschool drama troupe like yours. Your France study looks like so much fun.
looks like fun – love the Wizard of Oz!
Funny – I have a school thru summer post for Monday – great minds!! 😉
Tricia love the colors on the blog! So glad you posted pics of the play, my daughter loved Glinda! We school year round but do slow a little in Summer months, on book work anyway! Enjoy the week!