We will continue to finish our second grade work until finished. Then break from the books. I have many outside activities to do outside this summer. Both my girls with have gardens. My son will do 'man's work' with Papa, though he will help with the gardens. I will also have my oldest do summer sports once I find out where to go,I don't think the Y has tennis.
We took a lot of time off this year, too. My thyroid has been goofy and I haven't been feeling well. So even when we did homeschool, we often just did the very basic basics (Bible, math and language arts) and skipped history and science and Spanish. So we're going to keep going through the summer. Now that I'm feeling better (new endocrinologist that actually listens and prescribed meds that work -yayyy!), I'm looking forward to it. We'll have the little one home this summer, too, which will be interesting. She's in our public school's very very good special ed pre-K program right now. (She has a speech delay and is probably mildly autistic. Her ARD meeting will be coming up in a few months and I'm looking forward to hearing their recommendations for next year.) Academically, she is ready to be homeschooled (she's reading at an almost 1st grade level, etc.) Speech-wise, though, she is still pretty far behind... We'll see! In the meantime, I'll be doing some homeschool with her this summer, and I'm looking forward to seeing how she does.
ds just asked about summer camp, dd is going someplace with grands for a week or so too.. so our summer will be fun!
I think I forgot to mention we are also going on one big vacation and several little ones. We are going camping a couple of times for extended weekends & several beach trips. The last week of August we are driving to North Carolina. We've rented a cabin for a week. It has two bedrooms, two bathrooms, full kitchen, hot tub, big screen tv and even comes with a kayak for us to use. We're mainly going to the Smoky Mountains but we will also be white water rafting, horseback riding, hiking, doing a train trip, tubing and driving the Blue Ridge Parkway. The girls and I are so excited!
Independent schools will almost always have financial aid - just like college students can automatically get aid if they qualify financially - so it is with independent schools. The thing is, most people don't have 10,000 a year (after FA) to pay for these kinds of schools, so it doesn't matter if you qualify for loans, can't afford it anyway. BUT - Almost all have academic scholarships on top of that, which are not based on parental finances and everyone who enrolls competes for at the same time. So realisically, my kid has about a 5% chance of getting this combination - but we can try. Some schools will give out free rides or close to free rides, and some openly admit that no one will come close to a free ride so don't ask. It all depends on the atmosphere of the school.
I think that we may school through the summer. DD has a tough time with the heat and we don't really go out doors that often in the summer. Even running errands with her is tough. I figure since we'll be inside alot we could probably be schooling. She does like the winter so much more and plays outside quite often in the late fall and winter. The kids did do a week of day camp last summer but it took DD about a week to get over the "stress" of being outdoors and active in the heat. I didn't really read all the posts, does any one here do an alternative school year like this?
I'd like to have dd11 continue with some of her stuff through the summer, but I'm not sure how she'll feel about it --- this was her first year of hs'ing and she's quite used to having her summers free of "school" ...plus, her brother is in PS and he'll be 'off' .... what I'm hoping to do is create sort of an "official summer program" for both of them...we'll have to see how it works out....I know it's going to be difficult to get her interested in continuing, because we live in a housing area that is just swarming with kids and they're all ps'ers (most of whom attend the ps she was at and her brother is currently at) and she won't want to be the 'odd one out'...... Maybe I can bribe her...follow the program for the summer and make $50 for each of the two months.
This year it is baby care 101 *G* Last year my kids really needed a 'deschool' period, so we did absolutely nothing all summer. It was great. really. I didn't limit games or anything. This year won't be quite as laid back, but they also won't have work to do unless I decide to get some of those summer bridge books, or we do a unit study or lapbook together each month (using free online resources and the library). And, Like I said, baby care 101, since we're having a baby in May.
We do year round school. Do all subjects just spend less time on each one. 'Especially keep up with reading, math and science. Only spend mornings in school... afternoons are for playing during the summer (swimming, gardening)
Yes my kids do it that way too. We do it for 2 reasons...1. we follow the Oz terms while here in Dubai (which are opposite to here. and you) 2. Summer holidays here are July + August ...but we school during these times as its waaaaayyyy to hot to go out (in fact we are pretty much housebound from eary June-end Sept). My kids have Dec, Jan + 2 weeks of Feb off instead, when it is winter here...they can get out and play all day. (Oz has 1/2 Dec, all Jan off for summer holidays) When we are off...there is no bookwork. We still read etc...but I too need the break
We usually school thru the summer here. I usually do 3 days a week...and ALWAYS do Language Arts, Math, Bible and handwriting. This summer I found a really neat unit and lapbook on Charlotte's Web, so we're going to do that as Language Arts. My kids will be doing a lot of VBS, camps and such too...so it will happen, no pressure, I try to keep it light and fun...but still educational. We also do a lot of field trips int he summer
I plan on doing 3 days per week. Last year we started with 1 subject per day and did it all the way through with some breaks here and there. We are sending them to Summer Camp for a few days with 4-H but we don't have family vacations except a day here or there because of the farm. So I'd rather get school done than have them sit around. They are thrilled to be finished with their grade already when the rest of the county just got back from Spring Break. My kids are now saying they are in the next grades (3 & 6)
We tend to slow down during the summer but...we don't stop. There are so many extra things going on during the summer that I just ride the wave. Do what we can, when we can and whatever isn't done...will still be there when things slow down. lol
Speaking from a student AND a teacher's perspective, I think math would be an excellent thing to continue and stay refreshed on during the summer. Perhaps you could keep them up with it by having them do multiplication/division (or something of the like) charts a few times a week. OR you could perhaps have them do applicable type of math. Like, have them measure the heights of clouds or buildings or have them help you count out change and such in the grocery store. (Really I guess it depends on what grades their in and what they are learning currently) Edit: My brother and I have always schooled through the summer and never had any regrets or down sides to it.
