It’s summertime. The kids wanna be outside. They wanna be with their friends. They wanna be in the water. If nothing else, they just wanna play video games! By June 1st the mere mention of math makes them melt into the couch cushion like a bloated marshmallow on a skewer.
GIVE IT UP, MOM. School. Is. Out.
Whether you like it or not, they’ve checked out. All brains are fried and you’d be better off talking to a rubber bouncy ball than your 4th grader.
What now? How do you keep all that math and language arts goodness from drifting away with the summer breeze?
Here’s a few ideas to keep your kiddos learning without letting them know it.
1. Field trips. Summer is field trip season. Think about it – it’s the perfect time to drag your kids all over the place without those annoying freaky stares like each one of your kids is a massive gnarly growth on your forehead. Everyone and their brother is out in full force trying to find something to do with ‘these kids’ for the rest of the summer. Forget, “yes, they’re all mine.” No one will even ask you that question during the summer because they’re too busy pulling their kid out of the fountain at the zoo. Take them to the zoo. Take them to the art museum. Take them to the aquarium. These are awesome activities when it’s 98 or 110 degrees in July and August. Make note of every single one of these trips and log those hours, baby!
2. Park days. This one is good. They might suspect you when you start talking art museum but when you bust out the creek and a swing set all suspicion is gone. You become the cool mom when you give them a bucket and tell them to go catch crawdads. At this point, be prepared to revive the fainting ones because they probably think the July heat has finally gotten to you. Just tell them they should bring at least one crawdad home for fun. Once it’s all secure in its glass jail home, they can draw pictures of it, diagram it’s part, and youtube the tar out of crawdads. See that? I just gave you something like 4 hours of science not to mention a couple hours of P. E. You’re welcome.
3. Art. Okay, I don’t know about you but the thought of pulling out a ton of craft supplies for one hour of completely interrupted art lessons is just ridiculous to me. We don’t do art hours here. We do art days. Let them set up shop for the whole day. Be prepared. Get all the necessary supplies gathered up and let ‘em go at it for hours on end. Here’s some of our favorite art crafting activities:
- Perler beads – great to reinforce math and pattern skills.
- Painting – water color or acrylic. Paint pictures of anything. Anything.
- Make decorations for summer birthdays and holidays. Pinterest is your friend.
- Make your own comic books. Let them watch their favorite movie while doing this. They can create their own storyline or retell the one in the film.
- Balsa wood kits – get out your Hobby Lobby coupons, mom. In fact, just going to Hobby Lobby can inspire a bazillion art projects.
4. Cardboard. Don’t look at me like I’m stupid. Yes, I said cardboard. Save every Amazon, Shoe Carnival, USPS, UPS, DHL, FedEX, etc. box that makes it’s way into your house for about the first month of summer. One a sunny day, give them some heavy duty scissors, loads of duct tape and every scrap of cardboard you can find. Tell them to build a masterpiece. Remind them that there will be photos posted on facebook so it better be good. You can enhance this activity with leftover cans of paint and old sheets from yard sales or the thrift shop.
5. Video games. It’s been a long summer. You’re beginning to crack. You still haven’t gotten all of next semester’s curriculum ordered and there’s still household projects you haven’t crossed off your summer to-do list. It’s time to pull out the big guns. You need distraction. You need a screen. You need busy-ness. Let’s face it. You need tv. The ultimate kid entertainer. They’ve begged. They’ve pleaded. They’ve even offered to do *gasp* work. It’s time to cash in, mama. One craft stick with a chore written on it will get them a set amount of video game time. Use this concept weekly or just occasionally throughout the summer. For weekly usage, make the chores consistent and small in size. Make the reward small too, no more than 10 minutes a task. For less frequent use, make the chores bigger such as cleaning out your closet or reorganizing your clothes dresser. Give a larger number of video game minutes… say 30 to an hour. You know your child’s abilities and limits. Use discretion here.
Pick up a new game such as Smarty Pants, Endless Ocean, Big Brain Academy or any of the puzzle games. They’ll be glad to have a new game and they may even save a few brain cells with the extra stimulation.
Whatever you do, HAVE FUN! Remember it’s summer for a reason. Get outside and enjoy the fresh air. My kids and I have an agreement. On the really hot days, we plug away inside at schoolwork. Maybe not all day or every single hot day, but some of them. They appreciate the extra days in the fall and winter when holiday activities and cool weather become almost irresistible. It’s just our thing. Our busy season is October to January, so we would rather make as much time available for fall fun than melt away in the summer doing nothing but trying to stay cool. Adjust your activity to fit your family. It’s at least part of the reason you homeschool!
How do you personalize your summer? Or school year for that matter! What are your favorite summer activities to keep the littles learning?
-Sara O’