Summer School Summer Fun

"What are you doing with school this summer?” If I had a nickel…it is the current reoccurring topic of conversation so I thought that I would share our plan.  (There is something that I should explain first.  I am very type A.  I love to plan. This will not be for everyone.  I know that in mommy circles there is a fine line between gathering information and comparison.  I put this out there as an idea on the ideal.)

Summer Reading:  We will continue reading every day.  My oldest used My Father’s World 1stgrade this year.  The Bible reader continues after the workbook is finished, and he is excited to move into the New Testament. 

I would like to include my middle two in our longer read aloud time.  At the beginning of the school year I set out a list of books I wanted to read to my 1^st grader, and we still have books to finish up our list.  I think that my middle two might have to be doing something physical (puzzles, play-doh, sandbox, etc.) for them to be able to sit and listen, but that works for me.  My goal is that we can do as much school together as possible, and I would like to use this time to practice that.

Math: We used Math-U-See for math this last year.  I really like it, but I don’t want my budding mathematician to lose any of his math skills, and I would like him to increase his speed.  I am not planning on spending a long time drilling, but a few times a week I hope to play a quick math game.  Here are few of the games we are looking forward to playing (and there is always shoot the fruit as a backup if we need it!)

                Trash ball-This is our current favorite.  I write math facts on the back of scratch paper.  We set out the trash can in the middle of the floor.  When he answers the math question correctly he gets to wad it up into a ball and throw it into the garbage.  Basketball+math=fun.

                Bingo-I am making up cards with a grid and numbers.  I will hold up a flash card, and he is supposed to put a button on the correct answer.  (I will give my middle kids cards to, once my oldest has figured out his answer he can say it out loud for them to put the buttons on their cards.  We can get in some number recognition practice for them at the sometime!)

                Math Twister-We will use the Twister game mat.  I will put numbers on the colored dots.  I will again hold up a flash card and he has to put a hand/foot on the correct answer.

Science: I have “Bill Nye the Science Guy” at my house so I plan on doing science experiments once or twice each week.  We planted a garden this year so I thought that it would be good to do some experiments with that in mind.   We will be using Usbone’sScience with Plants and Science Things to Make and Do for crafts.

I am sure that there will be a thousand interruptions to my plans and things will not go according to my schedule, but I am really looking forward to a time of relaxed learning. We have an extended family vacation planned and will try to go camping a couple of times.  We have a week of VBS, and the library’s summer reading program.  Swimming lessons, farmer's markets and a few field trips will round out our summer. It should be fun! 

Any great learning ideas for this summer?  I would love to swap ideas so please leave them in the comments below!


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