Summer Bridge Activities?

[KristinBeth]

I'm thinking ahead again for dd5. We are moving nicely through LHFHG, which we started early October. It looks like we'll finish in June. I was originally planning to move right into Beyond without a break because it is so hot in the desert June-October, but now I'm thinking I'll wait to let my daughter mature for a few more months, and at least turn 6 before we begin Beyond in the Fall!

For those who take an extended/summer break, do you recommend any math/LA activities over summer to keep the learning fresh, or do you truly let the kids "lie fallow" over summer? How is the retention when you take a genuine break for a few months?

[kzacarkim]

I'm in the same boat! Will be watching for the responses...

[skwmackey]

Ever since we started school, no two summers have been the same, and this year is no different. Here is what I am thinking for this year:

Our oldest just started private Christian school after Thanksgiving (after a lot of prayer). He gets out mid June but doesn't return until after Labor Day. I will let him enjoy the rest of June. Then, we will be headed to Texas for the month of July. In August, I think I am going to have him continue with the science in RtR which we started in the fall and he loved. This will help keep his reading skills up and allow him to enjoy the experiments and fun hands on activities that he is not getting on a weekly basis.

DS6 will complete Beyond at the end of May. We will continue to work on the ERs all during the summer (even our time in Texas) to keep his reading skills from slacking unless he really takes off with reading and wants to read a lot on his own. We will also enjoy our library reading program. Then, he will start Bigger at the beginning of August. We typically take a month off around Christmas time and save other breaks for when family comes to visit.

DS4(5 in March) has decided he wants to start LHFHG as soon as he turns 5. He is already in TRL. We will stop at the end of May and pick LHFHG back up in August, but continue with TRL during the summer.

DS3 will take a break in the summer. He wants to learn to read so if he is still interested in TRL during the summer, we will continue to slowly progress. He will start over with LHTH in August.

During the month of June, I'd like to focus on nature walks, nature journaling, science experiments, art, reading, and just taking time to breathe. Okay, now that I'm looking at my post, it doesn't look like much of a break at all. But our month in Texas will be all about having fun with family. Now that I think about it, we probably will take all of July off, no TRL or ERs and just read for fun.

[pjdobro]

I've done this several different ways. We usually do take the summer off. We have lots of short vacations and trips planned. We enjoy swimming here in the summer too so I like to keep things very low key. I have tried using the Bridge books that you actually find available over the summers. The first summer I did this, it went fairly well. Last summer it didn't go well at all. Even though it is simple and only takes probably 15 to 30 minutes to do each day, my dc hated it. They are not used to textbook style learning and begged me not to do those again. So this year, I don't think we'll be doing anything like that. I do want to encourage reading so I'll probably offer little prizes for so much reading each month. I need to encourage my dd to keep practicing math facts so I'm going to have to figure out a clever way to do that. I may just try to do it with games on her ipod or board games that we'll play together. As much as I love our HOD school, I need a break from it too. So I think my dc need a little break too. So we'll probably not do anything structured over the summer just read, play lots of games, and have fun!

I do think though if you have a dc that is just beginning to read or a reluctant reader that it's good to keep that up in some way over the summer whether it is through the emerging readers or just for fun reading. We actually started the emerging readers over the summer many summers ago. It was low key and fun. For a younger child, it's easy to keep practicing math just by using it in everyday life so I don't think tons of math worksheets are necessary. I know there are some children that really enjoy the worksheets though so for them you could easily print out some fun looking ones to do over the summer. My dc did like some of the puzzle books that included and math and we did some of those in the early years but nothing really structured.

[psreit]

I agree with the pps. My dd's math and reading skills are weak, so I will have her do some reading and extra practice in math skills(workbook,games, or real life), maybe twice a week, just so she doesn't fall back over summer break. I also want to do many more outdoor activities this year. We had a foster baby last year, so I didn't go out as much. DD loves the outdoors, so we're going to make up for it this year. I'm going to put her in 4-H, so that will give her opportunity to write about something she is learning.....hopefully taking care of an animal. I will probably take two full months off of HOD and then pick up again the beginning of August, even if we have a few weeks of Beyond to finish. I had thought about finishing it over the summer, but I feel I need to give dd time out of 'school', yet keep her learning in a fun way that she is not even realizing is still like school.

[MelInKansas]

We took 7 weeks off last summer. We didn't do any school work at all. I did try to go to the library and check out books my DD could read by herself (very easy readers at that time) since she will sit down and do that as soon as we get home from the library without any prompting from me. Occasionally I would have her read them to me, or to her younger sisters.

I found it just a little bit difficult to get back into a good routine, but it was fun starting a new guide and for the most part my DD was still right on track with what she needed to do (except she was a little behind on handwriting, she needed more work there). I don't think taking the time off hurt too badly. I have noticed the longer I homeschool the more we find learning and fun in many different activities. Writing notes to grandparents, and great-grandparents. Exploring the outdoors. Part of the reason I took that time off was we had signed up for summer soccer league and swimming lessons and I just didn't want to try to push school in with those (swimming was in the morning and soccer was in the evening). We all enjoyed the break.

[KristinBeth]

I was thinking of continuing the ER's set and maybe getting some math games (any recos for a K-er/1st? I was thinking Sum Swamp and maybe a fractions pizza game). I'm afraid of her forgetting the math if we take a break (I know I would since I'm not mathy). Or is there enough review at the beginning of Singapore's 1st grade level?
Then there's handwriting, her hardest subject - she might need the practice but handwriting is such a bummer for her I kind of want to give her a break. Anyone have kids who struggled with handwriting/fine motor? What did you do with that time?
Thanks for all the responses!

[pjdobro]

I highly recommend Sum Swamp. It was one of our favorites here. Other games that you don't think of as math games like Monopoly, Payday, and other games that use dice to advance and money to count are good too. My dc still like Pizza Fractions and it is great for doing all sorts of different activities with fractions. Head full of numbers is another that we still like too.

I'm not for sure what to say about handwriting except that age and maturity do seem to help some. My dc still don't have great handwriting so I'm probably not the best to give advice there. I like the pps idea of writing notes to grandparents and friends. That's a way to keep on writing without seeming like work. Perhaps doing some other activities that work on fine motor skills that aren't writing would be good too like cutting with scissors doing crafts, coloring, connecting the dots, mazes, and those sort of things. I think Kumon has some really nice activity books that would helpful yet fun.

[Heart_Mom]

I like to keep math and L.A. going in some way over the summer. We'll probably be doing HOD through this summer since I have a baby due in late September! My oldest loses so much if we take a break that it's just not worth it to me to take a total bread. Some children would probably be totally fine taking a total break, though!

[faithful2him]

My kids do Math 3x per week in the summer. Are required to read each day as well. Then we add things in like Typing, extra Science experiments.

Last year we tried blogging but failed at being consistent with it. So, this year I am putting it into a schedule 2x per week.

[Heidi in AK]

Great thread, Kristin! This is full of good ideas. I think we'll be plugging along in LHFHG, though... and playing OUTSIDE a LOT, since in Alaska it will actually be nice out then!!! School, then, "go outside!"