Sum Sum SummerTerm

I always thought that, since we homeschool, we would year-round school. You know, live a life of learning and all that jazz. However, last year it became very evident that it was time to mix it up a bit. At the time, I was gigantic and pregnant and this, combined with the triple-digit temps and an upcoming move just wasn’t conducive to academics.

I’m not pregnant this year, but I’ve got the itch to mix it up again.

And, if I can get our garden under control {we apparently have some sort of a fungus out there attacking our seedlings}, we are going to have a harvest on our hands in July. This means we should be canning rather than cramming.

So.

I started dreaming of a SummerTerm. I learned from our term break last week that a week of no plans simply doesn’t work with little ones. We all drove each other crazy, and it didn’t help that three out of four babies had a bit of a cold.

Filling in the Gaps

What is SummerTerm? Well, if I could describe my goal, it would be to fill in the gaps. We won’t have Ambleside readings, so we will have extra time every day. I haven’t decided if we will do a full Circle Time. I am leaning toward a simple daily Bible reading together, with perhaps a bit of singing, but nothing fancy. This would leave a lot of space in our days.

By filling in the gaps, I mean rounding out their education. On top of just trying to fit in all the things I think make for a good education {academically speaking}, I have also had a new baby to care for. This has made me tight on time. An example of a side effect of this is that, for the past seven months, the children have not really been helping in the kitchen.

Anyone who is inexperienced at something goes more slowly. Any task takes longer when we are learning. This isn’t something peculiar to children. Knowing this, I pretty much kicked everyone out so that I could fly through the kitchen and get a soup in the kettle in thirty minutes flat.

This made for a decent dinner, but a poor education.

And we’ve had gaps all over throughout the year, I think.

How to Discover the Gaps

Last night, Si and I had about an hour alone at Starbucks. We ordered what we assume will be our last hot chocolate of the season and we sat outside in the breeze and read a chapter from Teaching the Trivium. I had forgotten how much I love this book. The chapter we read is actually available as an online essay on the Bluedorn’s website: Ten Things to do with Your Child Before Age Ten.

This list of ten things is a list I plan to revisit during Term Three every year. It is a concise list of what is most important in the proper education of young children. {The book has other lists for other ages, by the way.}

Sum Sum Summer Plans

So now I have spoken with the children. I have discussed with Si. I have fluffed my brain a bit by thinking alone. And I have a short list of some possibilities:

• Weekly lunch with Daddy at the office
• Enroll E. in swim school {umm…for those of you who actually know us in real life, this is a surprise so please don’t say anything about it}
• Weekly painting day
• Go swimming at the homes of various relatives who own pools, focusing on practicing swimming skills
• Field trips
• Once per week, bake alone with one child, teaching them the kitchen skills they are ready and able to learn
• Assign children each one night to help make dinner, again working on kitchen skills and use of kitchen tools, one goal being that E. will know how to make one simple meal alone by summer’s end
• Teach each child a new chore, having as a goal older children handing at least one chore down to younger children by the end of summer
• Continue with basics a few days per week {copywork and spelling especially for E., learning letter and number symbols for A., playing with puzzles and learning shapes/colors for Q.}
• Have more friends over
• Visit relatives
• Work in our garden together
• Look for service projects that all of the children can participate in
• Read aloud
• Mommy wants to have a book club–if you are local, would you be interested?
• More time spent doing crafts

What are you doing this summer? Have you started planning yet?