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DianaCatherine Forum Newbie
Joined: July 13 2012
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Posted: July 18 2012 at 7:59pm | IP Logged
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This has probably already been asked but I was just wondering if there were many who have a school summer schedule or those who may take the summer off and don't school in the summer.
If you school in the summer, what do you do? What is your schedule like?
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jawgee Forum All-Star
Joined: May 02 2011 Location: New Hampshire
Online Status: Offline Posts: 1415
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Posted: July 19 2012 at 5:26am | IP Logged
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We do a light schedule in the summer. We do morning readings and devotions, each of the kids must do a little work in math, and they have a read-aloud of their literature selection with daddy at bedtime.
So, this summer, our morning looks like:
-morning prayer/devotion
-reading from St. Damien book
-reading/activities from Rocks and Minerals lapbook
-reading from Illustrated Catechism
-Scripture memory work
__________________ Monica
C (12/2001), N (11/2005), M (5/2008), J (8/2009) and three angels
The Catholic Cup on Facebook
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Becky Parker Forum All-Star
Joined: May 23 2005 Location: Michigan
Online Status: Offline Posts: 2582
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Posted: July 19 2012 at 6:08am | IP Logged
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Every year I think that this will be the summer to start the "school year round" cycle. And, every summer we hit the ground running and don't stop until mid to late August when we start back up with school. We have no routine, except for meals, and it really shows in the kid's behavior. I'm anxious to read how people organize their days for the summer. Maybe next summer will be our year.
On the positive side, we are starting back to school early this year - August 6. After having June and July off it will be good to get back to a routine.
__________________ Becky
Wife to Wes, Mom to 6 wonderful kids on Earth and 4 in Heaven!
Academy Of The Good Shepherd
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SallyT Forum All-Star
Joined: Aug 08 2007
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Posted: July 19 2012 at 8:22am | IP Logged
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I always think we're going to do school in the summer, and we never do! By the end of May, we're all tired and need the fallow time for our brains.
HOWEVER:
My high-schoolers have continued with work in the summer, generally math. My current high-schooler began geometry in June and has had science reading projects going. He's also working on his Eagle project, which has to do with history -- he's interviewing local WWII veterans for a DVD oral-history project for our county. So that's been fairly "schooly." And he went to Scout camp, which is always an education in itself! None of this has a set schedule -- it's pretty self-directed. *He* is the one who wants to get ahead in math, so that he can start taking college math courses sooner. So I let him get on with it.
My younger kids do a lot of reading, and we read aloud together. This year, for the first time, they've done a series of YMCA camps, so they've had a lot of PE, art, and other structured activities, which has been nice for them. My youngest did American Heritage Girls day camp, where we did more art, dance, drama, nature study, etc. Camp hasn't been every week -- there have been several weeks of relative quiet in between camps. But the variety has been nice for them. In the off-weeks, they've spent lots of time playing with friends in the neighborhood.
We say our prayers at night during the summer -- not that we don't all year round, but bedtime becomes our major devotional time, instead of morning. We generally say Compline; this week we're preparing for the Enthronement of the Sacred Heart in our home, so we've been doing the Litany of the Sacred Heart and the novena prayers for that. We also do our best to hit daily Mass, as we do during the school year. That routine has been somewhat disrupted by camps and by our priest's being out of town (small rural parish, one priest, wonky daily Mass schedule), and boy, can I tell when it's disrupted! The kids don't love being woken up for 8 a.m. Mass in the summer (or any time, really), but keeping that discipline does keep us in the road.
I've appreciated the time off, which I've used for intensive planning and for some of my own writing projects which had been more or less on hold all year. Those day camp weeks have been golden in that regard! Now I'm really looking forward with excitement to the new school year. The kids aren't quite there yet, but despite always feeling that I *should* have schooled through the summer, I admit that I'm always happy that we've had the time off, so that the start of school in August, with new books and supplies, is exciting and fresh.
So I think you can do it either way with a clear conscience, knowing your family's needs. Some kids want and need to keep working. Some kids just need to! But I think there's also an argument to be made for a generous dose of open-ended time, and even boredom, which is a great motivator in many ways. It's harder to deal with kids, sometimes, when they don't have structured things to do all the time, but pushing them back on their own resources ("Go find something constructive to do") is a useful discipline and appropriate at times.
So again -- what one family does isn't necessarily what any other family should do. One of the many things I appreciate about these forums is the opportunity to see into a variety of family cultures. I glean so much inspiration and insight that way. At the end of the day, I might do things my own way, to fit my own family, but always that decision is illuminated by others' experiences.
Sally
__________________ Castle in the Sea
Abandon Hopefully
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BecK Forum Newbie
Joined: July 25 2011
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Posted: Aug 03 2012 at 8:52pm | IP Logged
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I always want to do at least some school in the summer, just so there isn't a loss in retention, especially math, but I'm like Becky P in that I always have high hopes and then all of a sudden it's August. Actually, part of the reason is my husband is a teacher, so our daily schedule just goes kiddy-wumpus because he's home all the time, and it's so hard to try to do "School" when daddy's home. Another reason is that in some ways I think we're doing "garden school". We have a 1/4 acre garden that takes a lot of our time. And the kids all read a lot every day. We pray, and I think, "well, that's just going to have to be enough, because I don't know how to get it all done." I enjoy reading how other people deal with summer time and schedules!
A few years ago, we did a great job of having a little bit of math in the mornings and read a book, then go outside for garden time and outside time, but this year, it all just seems like chaos. My 9 yo daughter and I were both involved with a play, and I figured that's a good education too.
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