What Will Summer Schooling REALLY Look Like?

Looks like the summer has started in earnest.   I took some time recently to sit down and REALISTICALLY plan for our summer schooling... I want to school through the summer (so we can take more breaks during the year!), but I don't want my children to miss the summer activities they love so much.  

Each year my children have taken swimming lessons and this year is no exception.  Our swimming teacher is so good that we schedule our summer around the lessons.  GMan takes a general swim class, and Miss B participates in a synchronized swimming team - very cool!    The lessons are twice each week (smack dab in the middle of the day), so that's a total of four hours a week... spread that out over the week and include drive time, etc... that's a time commitment, but SO WORTH IT in my book.   I love this picture from last year's finale - the kids with their teacher. 

 
The benefits of these lessons include:

• discipline
• exercise
• listening skills (LOTS of them for synchronized swimming teams!)
• friendships and team work
• the HUGE sense of accomplishment that comes through perfecting a skill

We are helping coordinate a small Bible School through our church, which consists of five Wednesday mornings - each day being a different journey of the Apostle Paul.   This is something I definitely don't want my children to miss!   Miss B is attending a Vacation Bible School with a friend one week, and all of us will be participating in a Fine Arts camp for a week in July, so I need to stay flexible and we'll accomplish what is possible.   This is the first summer I've homeschooled, so we'll see how everything goes.  

I know we will try to get in Math and Grammar on a daily basis, and I've been debating if we should keep going with Story of The World, but I think we will break from history until August rolls around.  Our history studies can get quite involved, and I just don't think we'd have the time to devote to them throughout the summer.  




I've decided instead to use all of the Five in a Row resources we have here at home.  A friend of mine gave me several teacher's guides and books and the material is just wonderful.    For GMan we will finish up a few books in Volume 1 of Five in a Row, and for Miss B we are working through Beyond Five in a Row.    I'm printing the lapbooking components for each study from Homeschool Share and think this will be a great way to keep us reading and learning and having FUN this summer.  

Of course we'll also continue read-alouds... first off are The Saturdays by Elizabeth Enright and  On My Way by Tomie DePaola. 


Do you school during the summer?  What does your schedule look like?  

Celebrating Memorial Day - Simple Activities for Today

Yes, it's a treat to have daddy home on a Monday, and it's also a treat to have barbeque and ice cream tonight.    We wanted, however, to show our children what the real meaning of Memorial Day is, and we've chosen a few simple activities today to do so.

•  Yesterday our pastor gave a beautiful sermon about Memorial Day, and even delved into the war we are currently engaged in, being a way that has been going on in some form or another since the 7th century AD - a war between Christians and Islam.   He was quite pointed in his sermon, and I appreciated this.  We need MORE PASTORS to do this!  

 

• We will read about the history of Memorial Day here. 

 

• I have printed out this numbered flag and the children will paint it today  (make sure you click on the flag image and save it to your computer, THEN print.) 

 

• My children and some neighbor friends have a patriotic lemonade stand planned today... we will hang the paintings at our stand and my daughter said anyone who has served in the military gets free lemonade.  (I love her sweet spirit.)

 

• Last night we got out our patriotic songbook and I went through several songs with my children... we love to sing while mom plays the piano!

I'm thankful today for my brother, a soon-to-be captain in the Navy and Naval Chaplain who has served our country for the past 20 years.   He has served two tours in Iraq in a shock and trauma unit and also served President George Bush (43) at Camp David.  This service came at NO SMALL PRICE to himself and his family.   

I want to impress upon our children that (as cliche as it sounds) our freedom IS NOT FREE.     

What are you doing to celebrate Memorial Day and show your children the importance of this holiday?