Make This Your BEST Summer
Summer.
You made it through another school year full of laughter, tears, struggles and lightbulb moments sprinkled throughout a year full of learning, growing, and being together.
The countdown has come to an end and your much deserved break is here.
The textbooks are shelved, the dry erase markers put away and the alarm clocks can take a rest.
Everything slows down and a new kind of fun begins.
Summer break.
A great re-set for homeschool families; a time to reflect on the last year and prepare for the next.
A time for the kids to unwind and run free.
But, as with anything, we know that there is always an opportunity to have the blessings robbed if we do not protect these special times.
Anyone who has embraced the gift of summer break knows boredom has a way of setting in, bringing with it the begging of screens to come out, the bickering between siblings and the “I’m bored” cry in our children, and before we know it, we are wishing school would start back up again.
But take heart, you can make this the best summer yet; a summer full of fun and memories, with learning and growth woven in.
You can turn that boredom into opportunity all while getting the much-needed break you have been waiting for!
Here are some tips, tricks and ideas to make this the best summer yet.
BE INTENTIONAL/FIND BALANCE
Make it count.
As homeschool moms, we recognize the power of planning, of staying one step ahead. We understand the balance between structure and freedom.
With a little planning and preparation, we can find the balance between lazy days and intentional experiences.
We can be sure to get the break we so desperately need, without wasting a season that we can capitalized on in helping our kids flourish.
Start by making a list with your kids of what they would like to do and experience over the summer, add that to your list of what you would like to see take place, and you have a great starting point.
Make sure that you have a balance of play, rest, learning, adventure, working and serving.
Add activities that are completely free of instruction as well as opportunities to be stretched and challenged in a new way.
Buy popsicles.
LET THEM BE BORED
Boredom can be our worst enemy or our greatest friend.
It is all in how you allow it to unfold.
When your kids begin to get bored this summer, remember:
boredom breeds creativity.
If you let it. The best way to handle boredom is to guide- don’t provide.
Give them opportunity to come up with something to do.
Help them to take initiative in finding something fun, productive and fulfilling to do on their own.
When you see boredom creep in, making just one small adjustment can open an entire new world to them: throw a rope and a ball into the yard and walk away. See what they come up with. My guess is hours will be filled with ideas they had never thought of before.
The best way to handle boredom is to guide- don’t provide.
Give them opportunity to come up with something to do.
Help them to take initiative in finding something fun, productive and fulfilling to do on their own.
When you see boredom creep in, making just one small adjustment can open an entire new world to them: throw a rope and a ball into the yard and walk away. See what they come up with. My guess is hours will be filled with ideas they had never thought of before.
CREATE A SCREEN FREE ZONE
This summer, trade in the screens for human interaction, a good book, an art project, or simply learning to ‘just be.’
Nothing will suck your children’s imagination, childhood and summers away from them faster than wasting it away on a screen.
If you feel you do want to incorporate a screen into their summer,
follow these rules:
Limit the time to ½ hour a day.
Make it educational (use the iPad to make a movie with their friends, then pop popcorn and gather around to watch their masterpiece)
Bring out the screens last; after they have read, created, and played.
Lead by example: Do not spend your summer wasting your time scrolling, but rather, engage with your children, read a book you have been wanting to read, do a project. Kids follow your example.
DON’T STOP LEARNING
So many have been conditioned to think that learning is limited 9 months of the year, and to only one setting.
As homeschool moms we understand that learning never stops, it is a way of life and a part of all we do.
Summer can be the greatest time for our kids to learn and grow.
Our curriculum has been put away, there is no scope and sequence staring at us or lesson plans we feel pressured to follow.
This leaves us with more time to explore and experience the things we haven’t had time for.
Try a few of these ideas for a learning-filled summer:
Get out books that you have been wanting to read but have been putting on the back shelf. Read in the yard, read by the pool, read in the tree-fort! Just read!
Grow a garden together for a hands-on botany lesson.
Teach map skills by handing your kids a map and do ‘open ended drives,’ following their directions.
Send out invitations to friends and neighborhood kids for an intentional playdate- ask each child to come prepared to teach the other kids something new!
Gameschooling: summer is a great opportunity to check out this ever-growing-in-popularity form of learning. (google it!)
Pull out the science books and supplies for the science experiments you didn’t get to during the year and set them free to experiment. (keep a fire extinguisher on hand.)
EXPERIENCE SOMETHING NEW
Summer is a great time to try something new!
Perhaps it’s a life-skill you have been wanting to get around to teaching your kids or maybe you have a child that has been wanting to learn to watercolor or one that wants to try rock climbing. Summer break allows us the time to try these new activities.
Tune in to your child’s interests, looking for opportunities to engage them in new endeavors that grow and feed their gifts and talents.
SERVE
One of the greatest things we can teach our children is the joy and blessing of serving others. Summer break allots us more time to focus on others. Teaching our kids to use their time to help, serve, and love on others will benefit them for the rest of their lives.
Some ideas for serving this summer:
Help an elderly neighbor with yard work.
Volunteer at a local non-profit
Make freezer meals together to have on hand to deliver to sick families.
Read books to residents at your local nursing home.
Open your yard to neighborhood kids that are home alone over the summer. Bring out popsicles and host water balloon fights or throw out a blanket in your yard full of board games and let the kids play while you read a good book.
WORK
Work ethic seems to be dwindling in the world around us; we see more kids looking for entertainment and pleasure than working hard.
We have a generation that views summer break as just that, a break from productivity; kid sitting on couches with screens in their hands waiting for mom to make the next meal or provide the next activity.
This is a recent turn from the way it has been.
In generations past, summers were for working the land, contributing to our communities, and learning the workforce, because it was common understanding that hard work brings satisfaction and a sense of accomplishment. Work grows us to be productive and secures our future in multiple ways.
Some ideas to implement the value of work into your summer:
If your kids are older, have them get a summer job working under someone to learn a trade or skill, gaining work ethic, commitment, and perseverance.
For younger kids, give them jobs at home, such as doing their own laundry or mastering the skill of making a few meals on their own.
Teach entrepreneurship: start a lemonade stand, work the farmers market, mow lawns.
Teach your kids to save and to give of their earnings.
When you teach your kids to work and give them opportunities to do so, you are giving them a gift that will take them through life.
ADVENTURE
Summer adventures are an opportunity to open the eyes of your children to the wonder of their Creator as they experience the wide-open world.
The list is endless, but try these to get you started:
Set up weekly ‘summer adventure days’ with friends, scheduling a new adventure each week.
Dive into a new swimming hole.
Check out a museum that you have never been to.
Ride bikes on a new trail
Attend the outdoor summer symphony
Discover and explore a new field or pond
Hit the new ice-cream stand together before you head to the beach
Break out of the mundane, get out of the house, and go adventure together!
Summer can so easily slip away from us.
When we look back, we often wonder what we did.
Let us make this summer different.
Let us be intentional.
Let us not waste one single moment.
Let us learn, grow, laugh, adventure, work, serve and
make memories that will last a lifetime.