Ah summer . . . That season when all our work is done and delicious idleness sets in . . . And, let’s be real: endless sibling squabbles, the “I’m bored” refrain, requests for TV time, and yes, even destruction and mayhem!
If I were honest, I would have to admit that keeping five active little people entertained is no easy task. Enter: summer school for fun! All year long, we work through Latin, French, history, science, math and grammar; during the summer we engage in flights of fancy connected (however loosely) with our curriculum.
We take nature walks every morning, spend the hours between 10 am and 2 pm inside out of the worst of the summer sun, and then again head outside for some more fun after tea time.
Some people eschew the notion of year round homeschooling as “never giving the kids a break.” Instead, I look at it as engineering learning around my kids’ interests – or strewing as unschoolers call it. Now, I am in no way, shape, or form an unschooler during the year. We are very classically minded homeschoolers. But during the summer, part of the fun is in finding activities that supplement and enhance our studies and building them into our summer rhythm.
For your inspiration (or perhaps lurid fascination when things go wrong), I will chronicle some of these strange flights of fancy. What do you do during the summer? Do you connect it with your curriculum? How?
Stolen Pears 