By Lani deGuia, Guest Blogger and Curriki Member
Summer: it’s the time of year when school is officially done!
…or is it?
For many homeschooling parents, the learning doesn’t end in June. Homeschool can be extremely effective when implemented year round. This doesn’t mean the format for the school year strictly remains unchanged throughout the summer months. That could easily burn out children and parents alike. One of the key underpinnings of homeschooling is allowing the child’s curiosity drive learning.
Louvre Museum (Source: Pixabay.com)
Summer is the perfect opportunity to capitalize on that. Summer months are a good time to lay out flexible learning options for both content and a daily schedule. Several reasons for continuing homeschool throughout the summer include:
- Maintaining structure and routine. Most children benefit from some type of routine as it helps foster a sense of well-being and purpose.
- Providing extra time for re-teaching and remediation. Summer is the perfect time to regain ground on concepts that were a struggle during the year.
- Avoiding summer slide. If skills are maintained throughout the summer, there is no opportunity to fall back on progress!
- Focusing on passion projects. Make the child’s curiosity the driving force in what they want to learn and explore this summer. When kids are driving the direction of their learning, they stay engaged and appreciate the new knowledge and skills even more.
- Experiencing the world-. Use summer months as a chance to go out and see what your communities have to offer through field trips.
Here are additional resources that can help you map out your experiential homeschooling summer plans!
In this ArtsEdge lesson plan from the Kennedy Center, students will learn about the history of national parks and the connection to environmental and political activism. This is the perfect introduction before you explore a national park that is closest to your home. To get you started, check out for contacts for national parks from the American Museum of Natural History.
If the weather or your location limits museum excursions and exploration, check out this resource which hosts a directory of virtual field trip experiences. Your child is sure to get enthralled following a rabbit hole through the vast options in the directory!
Have a chance to visit the Smithsonian museums in Washington, D.C. this summer? Whether you will or not, this resource can act as a guide through the various artifacts on display at the museum as well as an opportunity to research what you missed in more depth.
Fundamentals of Piano Practice
Is perfecting their inner Beethoven or Elton John on your child’s summer wish list? This is particularly good for older children who are self-directed and have prior experience with piano. This free online course is downloadable as a PDF and breaks down piano practice into a science. If guitar is more of their interest, check out this resource from the Wolfram Demonstration Project which shows demonstrations of 350 different guitar chords.
Perhaps your child has a talent or interest in art? How much more fun is it to put humor and art together to create their own cartoon? This resource allows you to choose characters, set a language, and design your own comic strip. Finished comics can be printed or emailed to friends and family!
Have any additional homeschooling summer fun resources to share? We hope your homeschool “summer session” is off to a great start!
Lani deGuia is a Norfolk, VA-based Educational Consultant with experience writing and developing curriculum and managing school technology.
