Should Homeschooling Stop Over the Summer? Here Is What I Recommend.

I have written about subject of homeschooling over the summer previously, but I thought it might be time to revisit it or to touch on it again, since many of you are finishing up the current school year or are finished.

It’s summertime, and you are wondering if you should keep homeschooling or take the summer off. Which one should you do? The answer is whatever you feel led to do.

I know that might not be the answer you were looking for, but there really isn’t a one-size-fits-all answer. Sometimes your family may need a long break from school work and a rigid academic schedule. The question really becomes how much school do you want or need to do over the summer months?

Homeschooling Options for the Summer Months-Math

Let’s go over the some options for homeschooling over the summer and the reason for each.

Let me start by telling you what we did in my house. I don’t think we ever took off a whole summer without doing any school work. At least I don’t remember ever doing this. There were times we did the bare minimum, and that would be to do some math or arithmetic every week. It might not have been every day, but it was at least 2-3 times per week.

If I had the new curriculum for the next school year, we would start that. Sometimes it would be going over flashcards a few times per week. Sometimes it was doing worksheets that I found online somewhere. The majority of the time it was starting the following school year’s curriculum. There was a simple reason for this.

Why and How to Do Math While Homeschooling Over the Summer

Almost one-fourth of the next grade level of math was almost always review. If my children took the whole summer off with no math, they tended to forget some concepts and would need the review. If I kept them doing math over the summer they could take the quizzes and tests for the first part of the book while the concepts were fresh in their minds.

If they passed each of those quizzes and tests I would let them start at the point where new concepts were being taught. This really did help them stay ahead in their math. I think this is a great idea for every family if it is something you want to do. I want to emphasize that just because it’s a good idea and it worked for my family you may not want to do it. That’s okay. You are in charge of your family and you need to do what works for you.

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Homeschooling Options for the Summer  Months-Reading

The only other thing that I would consider continuing over the summer would, of course, be reading. We would continue our family bible reading time where we would all take turns reading aloud from the bible and then also we would have literature books that I would read aloud to the kids. There was always some kind of story, whether it was an audio book while riding in the car, the kids reading their own library books, or  all of us enjoying a read a loud book together.

Those are the 2 main subjects or activities that I would do over the summer. Most summers it was 2-3 days per week and only about an hour a day for anything. It might possibly have been more but not by much.

Kids Need Routine and So Do You.

The main reason for doing school over the summer was to keep the children from forgetting what they learned. It also gave all of us some kind of routine to follow throughout the summer. It’s hard to get back into a regular full day school routine after doing nothing all summer long, right?

If you have all been sleeping in and you haven’t had any kind of schedule or routine, and the kids just get up and  play video games or watch TV or whatever the case may be, you are allowing those bad habits to become their routine. It will be hard to break those bad habits once school starts again.

Now, I am not saying that you need to do school assignments all summer long. You can still provide some routine or stability during the summer days even if you aren’t actually doing school lessons. That might mean having some a chores for the children to do every day before they are allowed to go out and play or do whatever they want to do. Give them some structure to their days whether the day includes school work or not.

One More Thing: Always Be Ready

I also want to encourage you to always have something ready for when your children come to you during the summer and say those 2 words, “I’m bored.”  If you always have a coloring page, or a math worksheet or a book to read, then you might not hear those words so much. They might say it a little less when they know that you are ready to supply something to occupy their time. This doesn’t necessarily have to be schoolwork either. Have a broom, duster, or rake ready, so you can give them some work to do if you would rather have them do some work. Let them know you always have something for them to do if they are bored.

Another Option for Homeschooling Over the Summer

If you would like to continue some kind of learning, summer is a great time to do some kind of unit study or special study that you might not be able to fit into the school year. You can purchase studies to print at home. You might need some colored paper and folders for projects, but they can incorporate reading, arts and crafts, and your children will be learning about something specific like spiders or a historical event etc.

I remember doing a folder project about the pilgrims one year with my children. I don’t remember exactly what it was called but it used folders to make the book and the kids would be cutting and gluing and coloring and making all kinds of things. As a matter of fact, I still have the folders with all the crafts after all these years. After a little search I remembered they were called lapbooks.

I found a website called ajourneythroughlearning.net which sells printable lapbooks. You can also do a simple internet search for other lapbooks. There are so many different ones available. You can do one while studying a literature book, or do one on a particular subject that your children are interested in like spiders, or boats, or a famous person. They were very popular years ago, so if you haven’t heard about them, be sure to check them out. They are a great option, because they provide hands on activities along side whatever subject your children are learning about.

Do What Works For Your Family

So, there you have it. While I do recommend doing something over the summer and not completely forgetting academics for the whole two and a half months, it is not something you have to do if you do not want to. Maybe it’s just not right for your family this summer. That’s okay. Do what works for your family. I would recommend keeping some kind of routine during the summer though even if you sleep in later and you’re not doing school, et your children have that same stability as during the school year. It’s good for you too!

I hope this has been a blessing to you and has given you something you can use in your family.

I would love to hear from you! Find me on instagram or facebook.
Or email me directly: Mary@whatabouthomeschooling.com

Please ask me all your homeschool questions.

Wishing you all the best in your homeschool journey!

~Mary