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Summertime Home-School • Part 1
*This post does include links to resources we are using. Some items were free downloads and everything else was purchased by me. All opinions are our own, and we have not been paid/asked to endorse anything. These are just our opinions. Enjoy!*
School is out for my little pineapples! Okay, okay, their school let out a couple of weeks ago, but after some travelling, lack of naps/structure, and two cranky littles, Mr. Beau and I decided we needed to get our family on a good routine for the summer.
As many of you know, I run a small, home-based cosmetics business (going on 13 years - time's flying!). As the "home manager" for our family, that means a little bit of jugging and adjusting my routines too. I don't mind change, but if I can plan for it, then it helps me stay on track + makes the transition a bit more pleasant for all!
What are we doing?
I am an advocate of keeping it simple! That's what I tried to keep in mind when choosing resources for our summer. My little people are elementary and preschool age, so we need to do activities that are short and keep their attention. We are still tweaking our routine (and probably will be for the next few weeks) but this is our general outline...
Morning
7:00am • Wake Up, Get Dressed, and Breakfast
8:30am • Pledges & Prayer
8:35am • Bible Lesson
8:50am • Play Time
9:15am • Alphabet & Language
9:35am • Snack Time
10:00am • Reading (or) Writing
10:30am • Math
10:45am • Art (or) Music
11:00am • Clean Up & Get Ready for Lunch
Noon • Lunch
Afternoon & Evening
Our afternoons & evenings are more laid back and relaxed... we complete our family chores, play outside, run errands, do play dates/field trips, family dinner time, enjoy quality time, and then baths and bedtime.
One thing I am adamant about is that we give ourselves grace when it comes to this. Today, we didn't get to Math, and that's okay! Tomorrow we will make it up! I am also giving my littles a ton of grace because this is a brand new routine for them.
Pinterest has a TON of free activities for each of these areas that you can check out, however, be cautious because it can be overwhelming!
What are we using?
For our curriculum tools, we are using a combination of things...
1) Our main focus will be using Focus on the Family's Kids of Integrity Bible Lessons.
We've noticed that our little ones have started bickering more than usual lately, so this week, we started off with the "Courteous Communication" lesson. Something I absolutely Iove about these lessons are that they are all-encompassing... each lesson includes tips for parents, prayers to pray (by yourself & with your children), Memory Verses, Crafts, Bible Stories, Discipline Tips, and Hands-on options too! I am really loving that we can knock out several of our learning areas for the day with these activities. Each lesson has more than enough tools! We are planning to focus on one character each week, but also allowing for that to flow into a longer period of time if we see that it's needed.
2) Alphabet, Reading, & Writing...
Last year, we picked up an assortment of workbooks and flash cards in the target dollar spot for $1 each!!! We also found a HUGE Pre-K scholastic workbook at Costco about a year ago in their books section that we are utilizing. You can find these workbooks HERE, and best of all most of are under $5! We are supplementing with letter activities found on pinterest as needed.
We have started off by choosing letters that go along with our Kids of Integrity Lessons, and as we get further into the summer, we will cover everything else that we haven't done up until that point.
For reading time, we have a TON of books in our personal library that we are utilizing. Many have come from Scholastic, Dolly Parton's Imagination Library, Usborne Books, and Target. Our goal is for each child to read one book (or) 20 minutes per day. I choose one book for the week that goes along with our lesson, and my littles get to choose their other books for the week. I have found that if they get to read something they are interested in, then I am much more likely to get them to read!
3) Art, Music, Activities, & Field Trips...
The Kids of Integrity lessons have awesome art projects and activities that go along with each theme. We are putting those into practice and so far, the kids are loving them!
For music, we are utilizing hymns, praise & worship music, and age-appropriate Sunday school songs that coincide with our character quality that we are working on that week!
Just A Little Something Extra...
Summertime Home-Schooling should be FUN! It's summer break after all! Give yourself and your kiddos some grace! I have set our summer school routine so that we get finished in about 2 to 2.5 hours. Sometimes my littles need to play and get some energy out in the morning before they are ready to sit down and do school! That's okay, and we just shift. Most of our play dates tend to be in the morning as well, so again, we just shift our day. The important thing is that we get our learning in... whether we do it in the morning, or in the afternoon really doesn't matter.
Incorporate as many art or fun science activities into your lessons as possible! Little people have little attention spans and it takes activity to hold their attention.
Lastly, don't forget to take some time for yourself each day and do something that brings you joy! Remember that saying you can't draw water from an empty well? That's so true! So enjoy yourself and give yourself grace!
Join me tomorrow for a few tips and pictures of how we organize our home-school area!
• Kimberly •
