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Sherri Tierney

Sherri Tierney

New member
Can you ladies (or anyone else who has ideas) help me out?

Summer is coming. School will be out a month from tomorrow. I need to start planning our summer. Every summer I work hard to keep our kids enriched and learning. I like to make things fun but I also don't want them to just spend their summer playing video games and riding bikes. Those things are great but their brains need a little stimulation. So, I'm planning to do a few 'courses' for the kids over the summer. Science will be one and I've been working to pin ideas on Pinterest and gleam ideas from here and there in order to plan our science curriculum.

My two will be 1st grade and 5th grade next year so they are on way different planes when it comes to learning. Most of the science stuff I found could actually be tweaked in such a way that both would find it interesting and grade level appropriate. We will learn about how certain things are made, learn about how some chemicals react to one another and some basic principles of physics. I'd like to do a unit on weather too but we'll see how it goes. I don't want to spend hours a day working on this but I do want to have about 4 hours a week for it.

Darn, I just lost my train of thought. My 6 year old is throwing a tantrum. If anyone has any ideas for me (on keeping them engaged this summer, not the tantrum, I'm about to go handle that myself!) I'd appreciate them!
 
Well, I am a homeschooler and also a firm believer that summer is for FUN, not school. :D But, I think having a "theme" for each week of your summer (when they are not at some sort of camp or you are not away on a vacation, etc.) is a super fun thing to do. You can do any subject, animals, science, art, music, history... You get the idea. Just don't let it get heavy... it should stay casual and fun. Did I already say fun? :p

Go to the library ahead of time, and then read together about that week's theme, and search pinterest for one or two activities. Some science ideas are: sun & moon (make sundials, do phases of the moon with oreos), butterflies (buy milkweed with butterfly eggs on it, bring it home and get a butterfly cage for the caterpillars to watch them turn into chrysalis), clouds (I think there is a science experiment where you can make on in a jar), birds (make a week out of learning local birds and going to preserves to watch them & make charts or draw them), wind (you can make bubbles together see this blog post)... :)
 
I think learning should be FUN all the time. :) We do lots of educational activities with the kids and they are always tons of fun. I also think that kids need to stay engaged during the summer though. Three months of not using their skills just creates more work for their teachers in the fall, some kids take months to catch back up after the summer. :( My kids are pretty bright and I don't think they would lose too much over the summer but I'm not willing to find out.

I don't know... our philosophy with the kids has always been that LIFE is education so we work hard to make sure they are constantly learning and growing and not just spending their days goofing around. There is still plenty of time for that in the summer though. ;) We'll get a pool pass and we have a membership to the rec center and we do all sorts of other stuff to keep them active and provide the fun but I need to foster their desire to learn and not put it on the back burner just because its summer. Truth be told, I would LOVE if our district were to go to all year round schooling. I think it would benefit the kids in amazing ways. Unfortunately, I don't see it happening any time soon. That's the parent in me speaking... as someone who now works for the school district, I'm kind of excited to have the summer off. ;)

I am definitely going to plan my units in advance to make sure we actually get them done. I have all sorts of cool things pinned (for science anyway, haven't got to the other subjects yet) but it won't be boring. :)
 
I'm not sure if learning is always fun... in theory, it's a great goal. But, I don't expect myself on a daily basis to always make their learning fun during our school time. That's why I think any any sort of learning over the summer should be fun-oriented and not just busy work. Anyways... it's just an idea. :)

I think we might be different in our approach to summer, though. :) I like an un-schooling approach in general, so our summers are 95% goofing around. I think my kids learn a ton through free-play, visiting parks & museums and downtime. What I remember most fondly about summer was riding bikes, playing with friends, and exploring every square inch of my yard. We also spent a lot of time at the library and doing crafts... not themed, but just open craft time. Making messes. Being able to play with my dollhouse for an entire day with no interruptions. :wub:
 
We spent lots of time at the library in the summer and also a lot of time on various educational outings -- Children's Museum, Science Museum, hiking, etc. My main objective is to keep my kids reading during the summer. Because my oldest DS likes worksheets, etc., I'll probably have a few workbooks on hand for him to work on math on rainy days or during road trips.
 
See, to me, learning IS always fun. I may be the exception rather than the rule but I love learning. My kids seem to have adopted my attitude pretty well so that helps. :) We do lots of goofing off and playing and all of that too, but I know my kids; they need structure. If I don't provide any structure they spend their day fighting with one another, not playing or exploring or anything like that. :(

We participate in the library summer program as well as the 'books on wheels' program through the school. That's my kids' favorite part of summer, besides the pool. When I ask them what is most important for summer they say the pool and the library. My daughter absolutely dreads summer though and says she would rather do math than play outside. Her motto is 'I'd rather be reading" LOL

Myself, as a child, I didn't like summers at ALL. I missed the structure of school (though I HATE routine and structure now so its odd that I craved it as a child) and I felt like I was always alone. I have two younger brothers and a mess load of younger cousins who always did stuff together but I was on my own... the oldest and the only girl. The same things I enjoyed about summer (like playing with my Barbies or riding my bike) were things I could do ever day throughout the school year too so summers weren't special. We never went anywhere or did anything fun. I try to make sure my kids have lots of those fun summertime memories since I never really had them... at least not with my family, I went to camp and did some other things with my church at least.
 
My friend & her kids sound similar to you! Her kiddos go crazy without structure or "something" happening all summer. She is actually the friend I got most of those science ideas from. Her kids go to public school, but in the summer she practically does what I do during the school year with them every day (like homeschooling).

If your DD loves reading, a fun book that is based on reading is Five In A Row. The book is very inexpensive and is based on fictional books (most classics or award winning) that you check out from the library (like, Ping or Madeline) then you read the book 5 days in a row and do different lessons based on the book... like math, history, art, science, etc. Your 1st grader would LOVE it and your 5th grader might have fun with it, too. I got volume 1 on Amazon for my 6 year old and was really impressed. This is the one I grabbed on Amazon.


Sherri Tierney said:
See, to me, learning IS always fun. I may be the exception rather than the rule but I love learning. My kids seem to have adopted my attitude pretty well so that helps. :) We do lots of goofing off and playing and all of that too, but I know my kids; they need structure. If I don't provide any structure they spend their day fighting with one another, not playing or exploring or anything like that. :(

We participate in the library summer program as well as the 'books on wheels' program through the school. That's my kids' favorite part of summer, besides the pool. When I ask them what is most important for summer they say the pool and the library. My daughter absolutely dreads summer though and says she would rather do math than play outside. Her motto is 'I'd rather be reading" LOL

Myself, as a child, I didn't like summers at ALL. I missed the structure of school (though I HATE routine and structure now so its odd that I craved it as a child) and I felt like I was always alone. I have two younger brothers and a mess load of younger cousins who always did stuff together but I was on my own... the oldest and the only girl. The same things I enjoyed about summer (like playing with my Barbies or riding my bike) were things I could do ever day throughout the school year too so summers weren't special. We never went anywhere or did anything fun. I try to make sure my kids have lots of those fun summertime memories since I never really had them... at least not with my family, I went to camp and did some other things with my church at least.
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Brook, I love FIAR! It's awesome. And if you get the rhythm of it down, you can use that approach for any good kids book. :D

I'm actually seriously considering schooling year round... because--maybe Brook would agree--June, July and August are NOT when we'd like to be outside around here. LOL! I'm thinking we might just keep working at our own pace... changing books when we come to the end of them, not by a certain date... taking a week off when the weather is nice in the middle of February... stuff like that. :D
 
webseitler said:
Brook, I love FIAR! It's awesome. And if you get the rhythm of it down, you can use that approach for any good kids book. :D

I'm actually seriously considering schooling year round... because--maybe Brook would agree--June, July and August are NOT when we'd like to be outside around here. LOL! I'm thinking we might just keep working at our own pace... changing books when we come to the end of them, not by a certain date... taking a week off when the weather is nice in the middle of February... stuff like that. :D
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I know!!! Summer is like winter to most. We are indoors so often. It just gets miserably hot. Maybe when the kids are older or I become more confident (whichever comes first), I just might start a new school year pattern for us... school through the summer and take off a few months in winter. The thing that keeps me from doing that is being involved in co-ops with other homeschoolers, our typical summer vacations, and things like SAINTS (Christian Homeschool Athletic Assoc. of FL) that run with the typical school year.
 
We do summer travels and 'visit' a different country each week. All week long we do food, music, learn a few word in the native language, read traditional folktales and learn about the animals that live in the country we are 'visiting.' The kids get little passports at the beginning of summer and stamp them as we go along.
 
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Brook, I'll look in to that. And, yes, basically I homeschool during the summer and they go to public school the rest of the year. LOL We love it though. I've always been very interested in learning and education so it works for me. My kids usually start the year with a little leg up over their peers and that's not such a bad thing either. Or, at the very least, they haven't forgotten half the stuff they learned the previous year. :)

Misty, that sounds awesome! I will look into doing something like that. It would be a lot of fun! We could spend as little or as much time on it as we wanted and they would still be learning something worthwhile. :)
 
Nicole, if I homeschooled, I would definitely do it year round. I think having the option to take a few weeks off when the weather is nice or when you are busy with other things is great, or even school 3-4 days a week, etc. I would actually LOVE to homeschool but my kids would have no part of it. My daughter begged me at 3 years old to go to preschool. I was homeschooling her at the time but she wanted to GO to school. I didn't have 12 kids for her to play with on a daily basis so I sent her for the social aspect (she was an only at this point, I was pregnant with her brother). I revisited the idea after preschool and she threw a fit. She screamed and cried and begged to go to public school. She loves school and cries if she has to miss a day. I wouldn't be able to give her at home what she gets from school (and I don't mean the educational aspects of it either). Of course, if my kids were not in public school I wouldn't have ended up with the job I have so it all worked out good. :)
 
If you're looking for activity sort of things, we really enjoyed Pop Bottle Science. We still use a lot of experiments from it. Some are easy, some are a little more complicated, and I'm warning you now, you'll need pop bottles (2 litre size) so if you don't drink soda, you'll want to ask neighbors and friends for them!

There are a lot of cool activities in it, and it wouldn't be too hard to do several a week, plus, it's all a lot of fun activities. One time, we used a pop bottle and a balloon to demonstrate air pressure, by turning the balloon inside out with our breath!
Another time, we made a bottle "burp" air out the top, enough to move a quarter!

It's engaging enough for our 11 year old, but also is pretty cool for my mom and I a lot of times. Some of the experiments are even fun for my 9 month old to watch...
 
That sounds about perfect for what I am looking for. I have a few books here with interesting experiments in them but always looking for more ideas. :)

We have plenty of 2 liter bottles around here, we go through 3 or 4 a week with my diet pepsi addiction. LOL
 
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