Homeschool Summer Schedule – How to Find Your Groove
How you choose to have a summer break is another piece of the amazing homeschool puzzle that is totally customizable to YOUR family. Coming up with a homeschool summer schedule is one way to kind of get an idea of what you want your summer to look like.
Whether it’s your first year homeschooling or you’re a seasoned homeschool mom, getting to the end of the school year is a very good feeling!
If it’s your first year – congrats, you did it! It’s a big accomplishment for both you and your kids.
First, celebrate!
Before you decide on your homeschool summer schedule, make sure you recognize all of the hard work you all put in this school year!
First year or not – celebrate the end of the school year! Maybe you already have some last day of school traditions, if so, that’s awesome!
We always tend to slow down our school days as May approaches. Easing into June, we finish up whatever I have on our homeschool schedule (although sometimes some work isn’t quite “finished” and that’s ok!).
But I make sure we have a hard stop date, and official “last day” to mark the end of a hard worked school year.
My kids look forward to this day, and so do I. I’m a sucker for ceremonial traditions, and have tried to make this day in our homeschool life full of traditions to hopefully turn into great memories.
The weeks leading up to the last day I add a few things to my Target pickup order or grab things while I’m out. I make a “happy last day of school” basket full of fun summer themed things.
Many are things I would buy anyway, but by placing them in the gift basket or sand bucket or whatever I have on hand, they seem more special.
Possible things to include in your “happy last day” basket are:
- Bubblegum
- Bubbles
- Sidewalk chalk
- Water balloons – we love Bunch-A-Balloons
- Sunblock
- Maybe new bathing suits or flipflops
- Goggles
- Sunglasses
- A new backyard sprinkler
- A new card game or MadLibs book
- Craft supplies: bracelet making supplies, slime ingredients, etc
- Shaving cream (see below, ha!)
- S’mores ingredients
- Popcorn or another favorite snack
- Ice cream sundae toppings
Anything your kids will have fun with, and again probably things you would buy or have on hand for summer, can fill up the basket/bucket really easily.
After a special breakfast, my kids go get ready for the day and I get the basket out and on the dining room table for them to see.
We take end of the year photos, they unload the summer fun basket, my kids fill out their last day of school all about me sheets and open our time capsule from the beginning of the school year.
I wrote a post all about first day of homeschool ideas which includes more about what we put in our time capsule!
We always, always end our last day of school with my kids in their bathing suits out back, have a shaving cream fight! It’s so simple, yet so fun and something they always look forward to. Bonus, cleanup is a breeze – hose it all away!
Map out goals, fun and work
My next piece of advice when coming up with a homeschool summer schedule is to start by mapping out goals you have for your family and summer. Make sure to include any learning goals as well as fun goals like a summer must-do list.
Summer is just naturally a more relaxed time of year, and your schooling, whatever format you choose to have, will probably reflect that.
When making your learning or “maintenance” list (maintenance = keeping those skills sharp your kids worked so hard to master throughout the year) refer back to your goals list.
I think of a summer goals list sort of like your “why” statement I talked about in my post of how to get started homeschooling.
Why do you want to learn or practice these things with your kids? Then, decide how.
For instance, if your child is struggling with their times tables, your goal may be to help them master their multiplication facts by end of summer.
Making it a goal to practice flashcards every day with a multiplication worksheet drill on Wednesdays can be something you add to your homeschool summer schedule.
Having it “scheduled” will make it more a routine part of your day or week, making it more likely to happen.
This can be the same for anything learning wise you want to accomplish during summer.
Having a set part of the day for whatever task you have planned, will make it part of your daily “flow”, and you and the kids will expect it to happen.
Another idea is setting a reading time every afternoon, maybe after swimming or playing outside, where you all drop what you’re doing and just read for half an hour or an hour. Nice to include yourself in this routine too 🙂
Make sure to add FUN to your summer goals list
I mentioned in my post on homeschool spring activities, a fun idea towards the end of the school year is to create a summer “bucket list” of all of the summer fun things that your family doesn’t want to forget to do.
Movie nights on the back porch, trips to the beach or lake, ice cream before dinner one night, anything that says *SUMMER* to your family – add it to the list!
Make a list for I’m bored!!
Another fabulous idea for summer is to come up with a summer master list of activities your kids can do when “I’m BORED” strikes!
Being bored is a good thing and a luxury I always tell my kids. Boredom opens the door to creativity and I think it’s super important for kids to be bored sometimes.
However, for your sanity haha, it’s not a bad idea to have a list of activities for those moments.
Low tech, no fancy supplies needed, good old fashioned summer fun ideas are the best for these types of lists.
Here are a few ideas for the bored list – hang it somewhere your kids know where to look when boredom strikes:
- Bake something (if they’re old enough OR if you are ok with the kitchen being used without you!)
- Watercolor paint something they see outside
- Hopscotch
- Play with whatever sporting stuff you have – basketball, badminton, kickball out back etc
- Make slime
- Make friendship bracelets
- Make a fort
- Make a house for a favorite toy out of a shipping box
- Make a collage using old magazines
- Make playdoh
- Play hide and seek
- Set up a zoo with stuffed animals
- Scavenger hunt: find as many household items as you can that start with a certain letter
- Make fairy houses outside using only items found in nature
- Collect acorns and leave in one spot for squirrels, watch and see if they take them
- Watch the clouds – make up stories based on what you see
Have supplies needed for the ideas that need supplies
Maybe have an arts & crafts section of a closet or cabinet that houses all of the slime making, or arts & crafts “stuff”.
Even bins you stash somewhere will work. It doesn’t have to be a big space, but good to designate one space to “bored” supplies.
Similar to how I wrote about homeschool organization ideas in small spaces, use what space you have!
A bored moment is another place you can add in some learning practice too. Having some workbooks, fun worksheets, summer learning packets, or library books easily accessible can be part of your homeschool summer schedule, without feeling like “schoolwork”.
Allow for wiggle room within your homeschool summer schedule
Homeschool flexibility is something I always mention is one of the biggest perks of homeschooling – and for good reason! Changing things up, and learning to go with the flow when needed is a wonderful thing to be able to do.
Summer is a perfect time to flex those flexibility muscles!
I absolutely think having a schedule or a routine set up is the way to go, but remember to allow some wiggle room, for life and for FUN!
You may have a day when you get invited to a friend’s house or neighborhood pool at the same time you normally have some learning practice usually happening.
Guess what, you will remember the fun day a whole lot more than if you stuck to your schedule that day, ha!
Flex that time to practice whatever it was school wise, and move it to the next day, or to later in the day’s routine if you can.
Routines are forgiving, and I think they are the perfect way to find that balance between work and play in the summer!
Memories and fun should be the focus!
Remember, your homeschool summer schedule shouldn’t be something you feel intimidated by or set in stone.
Creating a routine your family thrives with is key – but so is that much needed balance! Reinforce all the important learning your kids have done throughout the school year, but also embrace the relaxed days of summer.
Have fun, be a kid with your kids and make some beautiful memories!
