Take a break! Use the summer to enjoy your family! Forget about homeschooling for a while and just be mom. After a few weeks, you’ll be rested and ready to gear back up again.- Try a nature study. If you haven’t spent time outdoors during the year, you can easily make up for it in the summer. You and your family can spend time in the national parks, the local park or your own backyard. Start a garden, chase bugs (lots of THOSE in the summer…), sketch, or grow herbs. Here are 10 helps for nature study to get you started.
- Read. Pick out a stack of favorite books to read together as a family. On nice days, you can read outdoors. On warm or cloudy days, you can cuddle up on the couch with the family book.
- Work through a mini-unit study. Summertime is a great time to pursue your interests as a family. There are many mini-unit studies available (many are free online), one of which is sure to spark an interest. Or better yet, use your current family interest to build your own unit.
- Read inspiring and motivating books. How-to, encouragement, motivating tips and ideas – all available in books written by other homeschool moms. By investing time now in preparation, you’ll be ready to jump into another year. Peruse our favorite homeschool helps.
- Work on a new approach. Was something missing from your studies this past year? Was the spark gone? Spend time reading about the various methods. Make a note of those approaches that sound interesting and give them a short test drive this summer.
- Look for new homeschooling ideas. Did you have problems motivating a child this past year? Maybe look into learning styles. Could you use some suggestions for simplifying? Try incorporating living books. Would you like to add some innovative ideas to your educational mix? Have you heard about notebooking? For other homeschooling ideas visit our other How-To posts.
- Spend time scheduling. Once you have been inspired, worked on new approaches and ideas for next year and have your plans generally laid out, summer is a great time to revamp your schedule or develop an entirely new one. It doesn’t have to be a minute-by-minute plan, but an overall guide will keep your homeschool running smoothly next year. Read our ideas on Smart Scheduling.
- Take time to develop spiritually. The best place we can invest our time this summer is in our walk with the Lord. All of our plans, hopes, dreams and goals for our children and families can be prayerfully brought before Him. Under His guidance, we will find that we have everything we need to homeschool with success. You might find one of these Bible study tools helpful.
9 Things for Mom to Do This Summer
June 27, 2012 By
Ideas for developing skills, finding things, cutting costs, evaluating, mentoring, and other tips for the DIY Homeschool Handy-Mom!
