Homeschooling Summer

A question keeps cropping up when I'm out and about with the kids: "Are you on summer vacation?" It's an innocent question and should be a simple thing to answer, but the girls turn to me dumbfounded. "How do I answer this?" their faces ask.

As a homeschooling family, we came to the conclusion that it is counter-productive to stop schooling for three whole months. Here's why: the summer between 3rd and 4th grade, my family traveled, played, swam and had a blast! We drove from El Paso, Texas to Grand Rapids, Michigan and visited family for 2 whole weeks. If the weather was nice, I was outside playing. If it wasn't, I was inside playing. And then school started. That first day, the teacher did a series of assessments on her new class: a spelling test of words I should know, a cursive sample, a read aloud section, a short quiz to test my reading comprehension. Before I began the first assignment, I picked up a pencil I it felt completely foreign in my hand. I couldn't remember how to form a capital "J" in cursive. I couldn't remember how to spell the word "your". To no surprise, I was put in the lower reading group.

I don't want that experience for my children for several reasons: 1) I felt stupid; 2) There are wonderful worlds in books to explore; 3) writing in a journal everyday is important in terms of the memories the girls record of their childhood and the treasure that will be for them in their adult life; and 4) a structured day benefits everyone.

Now before you start thinking that I'm a hard-nosed, academic driven mother with lofty dreams for her children, let me agree with that. Our summer is not completely filled with sprinklers and play dates, although those are definitely a part of the structure, we also plan time to read, to write letters to friends and family, to continue in our math books, and to read scripture and attend daily Mass together.

We call this our 'Summer Schedule'. Three days a week we do our History and Science readings. Every day we either go to Mass or read the daily readings together at the table. On Fridays we meet friends at a park. We have scheduled two weeks at two different VBS programs. We are camping and visiting family who live out of town. And we journal daily.

So I encourage you who have children; take them to the store and let them pick out a journal and a pen. Take them to the library once a week so they can participate in the summer reading program. Encourage them by your example to take time each day to read and write. But remember! Before you pick up that best-seller, spend 15 minutes reading a global best-seller: The Bible.

Now my children know how to answer the question: "Are you on summer vacation?" They say, "Yes. We homeschool and are reading really great books. We are doing a tour of parks and playgrounds in our county. And this week we are starting a daily Mass tour of the Catholic churches in Lansing. So far it's a great summer vacation!" (note: I did not coach them to add that last sentence. My children truly are enjoying the structure I'm providing, love the different schedule from the regular school year, and look forward to going to different Catholic churches for daily Mass.)