Home Sweet Life: Back to Homeschooling? Not Just Yet...Enjoying Summer!

Is it time to start back to homeschooling your children? Many of you may respond with a resounding “YES!” I think I can understand some of your reasons why, we’ve seen the weather reports of 105 degrees daytime temperatures in the SW. I’ve even been the Mama with the children who desperately need some routine.

And yet…

What about Summer?

It really doesn’t matter when your “back to homeschool” date was or will be, you still need to take some time to enjoy Summer with your family! Most of my happy childhood memories are from the summers. I want to help our girls (now 15 and 17) store up even more happy memories of their childhoods. Summer is one of the best times to do that. Long days, warm weather, and no math book.

When your children grow up, other people may consider them fortunate to secure a job that offers them two or three weeks of vacation per year. As a student, they can have two or three MONTHS of vacation every summer! Don’t spoil it by pushing schoolwork too hard in August.

Many of our friends start their homeschooling back up in August. They focus on coursework in the mornings and leave the afternoons free for summer fun - swimming, biking, playing games with friends. A note to all of you Type-A Mamas out there: when you choose the home educating lifestyle, learning doesn’t stop just because you put the textbooks away!

In our state, each student from ages 7 to 17 is required to have 180 days of instruction and/or the opportunity to learn.The attendance calendar runs July 1-June 30th. It’s not that hard to amass 180 days of learning for students of any age. Even though we won’t focus on book learning until after Labor Day, both of our girls will have a few days already logged on those attendance charts by then. These less-formal days of learning include days of 4-H judging at our County and State Fairs, and days of volunteer work at a local living history museum.

Summer is supposed to be a time of rejuvenation for the teacher.

Do you feel refreshed yet?

If you can honestly say “yes,” feel free to jump right back into your homeschooling routine. If not… perhaps YOU need some summer fun! Go wading in the creek, sit by the river or on the beach, take a canoe trip, have a day trip to your local state park. Maybe you just want a good old-fashioned picnic. Why not have one in the garden of your local art museum or arboretum? The possibilities are endless!

Please don’t spend all the rest of your remaining Summer days cooped up inside with schoolbooks. Go outside and study the ants with your son, or draw pictures of the flowers in your yard with your daughter. Make memories that will last your family a lifetime.

One of my favorite late summer memory-making activities is watching the Perseid meteor shower. This year it should be visible from August 11th-14th. It is usually most active and easily seen from midnight to 2 a.m. Plan to take an afternoon nap so you can stay up late. Find a safe place far enough outside the city where you can look up and see black sky between the stars. Take a blanket or your camp chairs, some water and some snacks and settle in for a wonderful show!

Tomorrow we’ll be back talking about - WAIT!

NO SPOILERS!

I’ll give you a hint: it will be about getting ready to start back to homeschooling. LOL!

For now - go make some Summer memories with your family!

Don't forget to hop on over and read the other posts!

Marcy @ Ben and Me

Debra @ Footprints in the Butter

Chareen @ Every Bed of Roses

Amy @ Homeschool Encouragement

Missica @ The Open Window: An Autism Blog

Misty @ Year Round Homeschooling

Jennifer @ A Glimpse of Our Life