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CTC Readers' Poll:
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"Do you plan to do any sort of school work with your children during summer break? If so, what do you plan to do? And what is your scheduling plan for making sure that it actually does get done?" |
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"We homeschool,
though I do not keep as rigid a schedule when our
friends are outside during summer months. I have
bought one of the 'summer bridge' activity books
that I'll have my boys work out of on occasion but
really, schooling can be done anywhere - especially
at a young age!
Math in the car: add numbers on house and road signs; estimate time by trying to figure out when you'll arrive at a destination; cook together; give the kids a measuring tape to use on their own. Free online - Kangaroo Math has good out-of-the-box questions to try Reading: free online - www.starfall.com or join a summer reading program (our library has weekly shows to go with the program) Science: collect bugs - use the Internet to identify them, decide whether they are 'good' bugs or 'bad' bugs and what their uses are in the world and then set them free to fulfill their purpose in life; plant a seed, document its growth by drawing pictures, taking photos, writing, etc.; take nature walks and record observations in a notebook together; Writing and grammar: send letters to deployed soldiers, include some of the drawings from your growing plant; Social studies: try to learn more about the location and local culture of the places you'll be sending those letters to. If you get any letters in return, try to find out where their home town is to look up that location, culture, etc. There are many ways to keep kids engaged (board games is another good one). I hope some of these are helpful to someone!" ~ Melissa "My eldest son will be going into P2 in September (he's 5) and we have bought a series of books on having fun with reading, counting and numbers. They are activity-based books and although we've started working through them at weekends, we will be doing them over the 8 weeks of summer, along with a mixture of different subjects like music, Bible stories, arts and crafts, and sports. He is going to soccer camps for two weeks (in the mornings only) and is going to 2 holiday Bible clubs, so those weeks we'll take a couple of hours after lunch to do some 'work'. Otherwise we'll get it done first thing so that we can take the rest of the day out. I'm not saying that I'll do it every day religiously, but I know what I want to achieve this summer, alongside starting to pre my 3 year old for nursery." ~ Tanya (Northern Ireland) "Our
children and some of their friends (ages 7-12
all girls) wanted to go to camp this summer.
With the price of camp and not being familiar
with the facilities, we decided to cut on the
cost but not the fun and host our own two-day
Pioneer Camp. The first day will consist of
typical school activities of the pioneers such
as a Spelling Bee, games, recitations, read
alouds, doing work on slates and writing with
quill pens etc. The second day will be spent
experiencing pioneer life on the
homestead—washing by hand, needle work,
cooking (recipes from our Little House on the
Prairie cook book), etc. We usually have a
Pioneer Day every fall but this year we’re
going to turn it into an educational summer
camp.
"I don't
have my 3 kids do a lot of school work in the
summer, but we do try to read a bunch.
My 7 year old is trying to read 2000 pages
this summer. My 3 and 4 year old are each reading
200 books (or having books read to them
by me or their older sister). They get
small prizes on the way to their goal and $5
each if they complete their goal by the end of
the summer. We also have a rule of no
video games until they have done their reading
for the day. That is a good motivator! "
~ Kathy
"The best resource I have for heading off 'summer brain' is Kathy Peel's book, 'The Family Manager's Guide to Summer Survival.' My husband and I have two boys, ages 9 and 10, and a 2 year-old daughter, and this book has ideas for keeping all of us happily and productively occupied during our summer break. My favorite part of this book is the 'Summertime Development Chart' which we use to set goals for intellectual, physical, social and spiritual growth for every member of our family. This structured approach makes sense to me. I want to look back in September and know that we used those summer months wisely and had fun too!" ~ MaryAnn
"Summer
is a time for a more carefree lifestyle so
I try to make the 'education' more
informal. School is out and for the
younger ones (my two youngest are
finishing grades 1 and 3) it is important
to me that we keep reading. We often
go to our public library and check out new
and fun books. If we are planning a
trip I may sign out a book about the area,
if the kids have been playing imaginary
games about knights then we try and find
books about knights, or books about the
bugs and birds that we have seen in the
backyard. We usually try and make it
to the city to the zoo or science museum
during the summer. The key is keep
it laid back and fun." ~ Gaye
"My son's kindergarten teacher sent home worksheets she didn't use in the classroom for us to use at home during the summer. Also she suggested we use websites she uses, like www.starfall.com, www.funbrain.com, and www.Aplusmath.com. On our school's website there are links to these and other websites, check your school's website." ~ Julie "We do a lot of hands-on science and history activities using the Girl Scout badge book. We incorporate these activities into our vacation trips. For instance, we are planning a week long camping trip to the Blue Ridge Parkway. I made a list of all of the badge activities that tie into our trip. We will do everything from stargazing to knot tying and will do art and journal entries in the van on the way up and back. (I will gather the necessary materials ahead of time.) We will also require that my daughter practice a liitle math every day, as she is shaky in some of her skills from this school year. We'll make frequent trips to library programs and will probably take advantage of free reading incentive programs, such as the one at Build-A-Bear workshop." ~ Sally "I am homeschooling my 4 year old, but we are taking a break. We have gone to visit relatives in another state where my son 'taught' his dad how to fish. I was so proud that he remembered our study of fishing. He also just completed vacation bible school, and will be participating in the library's summer reading program." ~ Robyn, AZ
Editor's Note: Thanks to all these readers who took time to write! |
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