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Homeschool Schedule: Our Summer Routine

August 11, 2020 by Sarita Harbour This post may contain affiliate links

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 Homeschool schedule in the summer, you ask? Well, it's really more of a summer routine.

We homeschool year-round, yet move at a more gentle pace through the summer. Basically, we focus on reading for fun, writing for fun, and hands-on learning outdoors. However, as a busy homeschooling and working mom, I need a routine as much as the kids do.

Here's the lowdown on how to homeschool through the summer and why we stick to a homeschool summer routine, plus some tips on creating the best homeschool schedule for your family.

Reasons We Homeschool in the Summer

As any homeschooling family will tell you, it's a lifestyle. In our case, homeschooling and homesteading off the grid means our children get some pretty unique learning experiences - regardless of the season.

Yet as we live very far north, there's a pretty dramatic difference in daylight hours depending on the season.  And the summer months are short, but the days are long. We get almost 24 hours of sunlight through June, July, and into August.

#1. Unique Hands-On Summer Learning Opportunities

These long days offer the opportunity for unique hands-on summer learning that our kids don't get in other seasons. For example, nature walks and picnics allow for hands-on outdoor nature studies, spontaneous art sessions and foraging berries and wild edibles. These activities extend the natural science education available in our science curriculum.

Related: How We Use Foraging to Teach

#2. Re-enforces a Love of Learning

Continuous learning as a lifestyle is an important family value I hope my children will embrace. So by continuing a gentle summer homeschool schedule, we're reinforcing the idea of self-education and learning as a natural part of daily life. So homeschooling through the summer helps strengthen this idea.

#3. Lets Us Catch-Up and/or Review

Sometimes, despite our best efforts, we don't make it through our curriculum during the traditional September-to-June school year. Family moves, health issues, and other "real life" challenges may mean we have a few weeks left of school work to complete as we creep into July. And that's okay. We can catch up over the summer, and start our new year's curriculum in September. We also get a jump on our homeschool organization by clearing out old and unused items.

We're going into our seventh year of using Sonlight® as our core curriculum. Sonlight is a literature-intensive program, which fits our family culture perfectly (everyone's a reader here). And by sticking to a relaxed homeschool schedule during the summer, the kids have the chance to revisit their favorite books from the previous months.

Some weeks we visit the library to borrow more books on a new favorite topic. And if there's a challenging subject, (this year it's Grade 4 Singapore Math), we review it - just a little - each day through the summer.

#4. Makes it Easier to "Get Back To School" in September

It's a lot easier for us to stick to a homeschool routine all year long (we do take time off throughout the year though) than to stop cold turkey for two months each summer. Although I do give the kids more freedom to learn what interests them in the summer. Yet having a loosely structured day lets them ease back into our more structured schedule when September rolls around.

What We Include in Our  Summer Schedule

Aside from catching up or review, we usually don't include much textbook work during the summer. Instead, our homeschool routine may include activities like

  • nature studies and nature walks
  • one page of math review each day (10 minutes, tops)
  • summer reading in the hammocks on our deck
  • wilderness living skills
  • art study outside
  • poetry picnics
  • foraging
  • fishing
  • gardening
  • canning and preserving
  • educational board games, trivia games, card games - great when you have guests!
  • family history to go along with visits to our from family members
  • swimming lessons in town

I try to keep our summer homeschool relaxed and enjoyable. Although I have a loose idea of what I want our homeschooling summer schedule to look like, I prefer to think of it as a routine. So it's a more leisurely pace for everything.

How I Create Our Summer Homeschool Schedule

Our summer homeschool schedule changes from year to year. It's based on five things:

  1. our travel plans
  2. family visits
  3. our children's interests
  4. household/homesteading planned projects (renovations, repairs, etc.)
  5. our previous year's progress

We generally don't use a homeschool schedule during family trips. Rather, we complete social studies pre-work and travel journals instead. And when we have family visiting (including one of our five big kids), our homeschool schedule gets pared right down. We might do just one page of math, and two pages of Language Arts per day.

If one of the girls has shown interest in a particular topic, we'll make time for it during the summer days. And as we believe that a solid home education includes learning life skills, our summer homeschool schedule also takes into account our summer house and homesteading projects.

Our Summer Homeschool Schedule is Relaxed

Although we sometimes still have a few weeks left of our Sonlight curriculum by the time June rolls around, we aim to start our summer routine in the first week of June.

Here's what it looks like.

Our Monday to Friday Summer Routine

Morning Routine (breakfast, personal hygiene, summer morning chores)

One Page of Math (Singapore Standards Edition Math 4A for my 10-year-old  and Singapore 2A for my almost-seven-year-old.)

Two Pages of Language Arts (Either Explode The Code or Handwriting Without Tears)

Mom Read Aloud Indoors or Outdoors From Sonlight Core D, Sonlight Core B, or our own family favorites. This summer our summer family read-alouds will include

  • The Magician's Nephew, C.S. Lewis
  • Doctor Doolittle Returns, Hugh Lofting
  • Betsy Tacy Go Over the Bill Hill
  • Milly-Molly-Mandy Again
  • Swallows and Amazons by Arthur Ransome (this whole series has been a Harbour family favorite for 60+ years)
  • Paddington by Michael Bond
  • the 10 Girls Who Made a Difference boxed set - another family favorite

Gardening Activities/Household Projects/Time With Guests

Lunch

Outdoor Play/Nature Studies/Foraging - this is really child-led. Usually, the girls will go out to play, and if I wander out they'll want to show me something they found/saw, and this turns into a nature study.

Snack

Indoor or Veranda Quiet Time  - this means reading or drawing individually for the kids. I spend this time on administrative work activities or my own reading for enjoyment. At the end of the summer, this may get replaced with two weeks of swimming lessons in town - we'll see how July goes first.

Dinner Prep - mom-led, with one or more helpers!

Dinner

Free Time/Fishing With Dad - this can go on for hours. Yet the girls love it, Dan loves it, it's and it could result in fresh fish for tomorrow's dinner. And this also gives me time to catch up on writing work.

Let Your Summer Homeschool Routine Flow

Do you notice anything? That's right - I don't have any times listed.

That's because, in the summer, we relax a bit. If we start the day at 10:00 am because the kids were still fishing at 9:00 pm with their dad, so be it. Or if we feel like lazing in the deck hammocks and reading for two hours instead of one, great.

That's why I prefer the word "routine" instead of "schedule" when it comes to homeschooling during the summer.

6 Steps to Planning Your Summer Homeschool Schedule

If you're struggling to organize your homeschool days this summer, use these steps to get on track.

  1. Schedule any family trips.
  2. Decide if you want your kids to keep up with homeschool while away (some families I know still bring math and language arts workbooks on their trips).
  3. Note any academic areas of concern you want to focus on in the summer. This could be reviewing tough topics or finishing up curriculum or workbooks so your child will be ready for the new topics you plan to introduce in September.
  4. Prioritize this area and tackle it first thing each day. Yet don't spend hours on it every day. Otherwise, your child just may end up resenting you and disliking the "problem" topic even more. Spend no more than 15 minutes each day on it.
  5. Note any season-specific learning opportunities in your home, family, or local area. Schedule these in (ie. farming or homesteading summer projects)
  6. Ask your child what they want to do this summer. And if they say "nothing", ask them what "nothing" looks like! In our case, my nine-year-old wants to sit outside and draw or read. We'll continue using Artistic Pursuits and finish up Sonlight's Grade Four Readers and library books.   This summer, she's reading at closer to a Grade Seven level (she is finishing up Grade 3). I use reading lists from Not Consumed, The Good and The Beautiful Booklist, or retired Sonlight titles to keep her in good books through the summer.

Summer Homeschool Schedule Advice

My best advice when it comes to homeschool summer schedule?  Be flexible, get outdoors, and look for learning opportunities that aren't available at other times.

Try keeping homeschooling light and fun through the summer months keeps your child's mind active, yet gives them a break from the rigors of the regular school year. And use this time to make great family memories to return to when those long winter homeschooling days return.

This post is part of the Homestead Blog Hop #287!

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Kids reading, gardening, and doing art

Kids reading, gardening, doing art

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About Sarita Harbour

Sarita is the owner and founder of An Off Grid Life. She lives with her family in an off the grid cabin outside of Yellowknife in Canada's Northwest Territories. Her days are full homeschooling, writing, and learning how to be more self sufficient.

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Reader Interactions

Comments

  1. Teresa

    June 19, 2020 at 7:15 pm

    Thank you for this article this is exactly what I’ve been looking for, being that this is our first year homeschooling. I want to continue schooling through the summer however don’t want to get the kids over worked and give them more flexibility! thank you

    Reply
  2. joanne

    June 09, 2020 at 2:14 pm

    When my boys were younger we always did a relaxed homeschooling routine for summer too. We'd tackle messy art and science projects I didn't want in the house, spend time playing in the water and going on nature walks, even taking books out to read while we picnicked on the lawn. We tried to keep it light and fun and it helped so much with starting back to school in the fall.

    Reply
  3. Margy

    April 30, 2020 at 10:23 pm

    Remind me of my teaching days. - Margy

    Reply
  4. Michelle @ Moms Are Frugal

    April 30, 2020 at 5:49 am

    We do homeschool some through the summer like you. Usually after tennis lessons we go home, eat lunch, do a page of math or Language Arts. Not too much time in the house in the summer because we are there a lot in the winter. Sticking to a summer schedule works well for us in many ways. Loved hearing from another homeschooler.

    Reply
    • Sarita Harbour

      April 30, 2020 at 9:10 am

      Thanks for the comment, Michelle! Like you, we're in the house a lot through the winter. As a matter of fact, yesterday was the first day in a long time that we spent almost the whole afternoon outdoors. We still have a ton of snow up here, but it is finally melting a bit. Can't wait for summer!

      Reply
  5. Danielle

    June 13, 2018 at 11:38 am

    Great tips! We've done a bit of both... homeschooling through the summer, and taking the two months off, and it definitely pays to do at least a little throughout the summer if you can help it! It just might need to happen in a more creative way than standard curriculum. As a kid, I would often write more letters to my cousin, even though we saw each other frequently... it was great writing and penmanship practice, and it was fun to us because we had so many little secrets to share 🙂

    Reply

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Hi, I'm Sarita! My family and I live off the grid in a cabin in Canada's Northwest Territories. We're learning about self-reliance in a cold climate. Read More…

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