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Hi all! We are planning to begin homeschooling our oldest son using HOD for Kindergarten in the fall '13. I have a zillion questions that I've been asking and you all have been so very helpful and encouraging. =) My question is, LHFHG only takes 1 hour and 1/2 to complete... What do you do for the rest of the day to give structure? I guess I'm concerned about getting him getting sucked into too much screen time for lack of other constructive activities... Just asking for ideas and what other families do! Also, what do you do during the summers to bridge the gap between the school years so they don't lose any ground they gained? Any simple curriculum ideas for summers? Thanks! =)

For summer, we school year round, so they don't really get a break....I have no idea about losing retention or whatever... they never have because they learn sometime every day, even if we don't do our curriculum.

I don't structure their days. I send them outside if I don't want them having screen time. We do chores, school, chores, eating occasionally, playing games, playing outside, tv, video games, ipad/computer time, more chores Not all of it every day necessarily, though sometimes they do. We have sports, AWANA, church, library, park/playdates... Nothing is actually scheduled except for the things we do with groups (AWANA, church, library, sports). Our meal times aren't even scheduled, haha!

We take the vast majority of our time off in the spring and fall. In the fall, we do school 3-4 days per week, and sometimes those aren't full days. In the spring we'll take a lot of time where they just play outside nearly all day long. I'll occasionally take school stuff out there, and most days we eat at least one meal outside.

My kids rarely ever actually get bored, but when they start in on the "what can we DOOOOO???" I tell them to either find something to do or I"ll give them something, but if they choose for me to give them something to do, they HAVE to do what i tell them... no complaining, arguing, whining, or whatever. They know this means any number of things (I'm actually going to start a 'boredom jar' when I get the shelves put up in our school room) and only truly ask for me to give them something when they are actually bored.

We don't school year round. We continue math all summer, reading (I read to the little one, the older reads to himself), craft time, chores and then we play outside, play outside, play outside, play outside (I think I am sounding like a broken record). When it is too hot , I break out the water balloons, baby pool and squirt guns. We are a very active family, so bike rides, games of tag, visits to the local parks and zoo...I try to schedule some type of outing once a week.

During the school year, for my little guy who is doing LHFHG, he has a specific time to color or play with play doh, to help with chores, a special reading time outside of school books, playing games with me or brother, legos, puzzles, lacing cards, etc. He also has free time that allows him to play however he wants. I have to schedule his time for most of the day, otherwise he gets himself into trouble during my meeting time with the oldest - or he ends up in front of the tv (he loves Leapfrog videos ) - or dumping every puzzle we own on to the floor (yeah, try sorting that mess ).

The ladies always have such great ideas, I can't wait to check back and to read what things they do!

Thanks for the responses so far! I can imagine if we had more children, it might be easier to not schedule his day. I'm not a huge schedule person, more of a routine person. =) But my oldest is 5 and my youngest is 1, so my oldest doesn't have built in "playmates" just yet...

Well that is one reason I am planning to school year round. It is sooo hot during the summer... id rather takes breaks when the weather is nice and play outside then!

Do you have a yard? If so, my children could play for hours digging holes for ponds, connecting them with streams and then daming them up like beavers do and building a beaver lodge. Just give them a shovel a slow hose and tell them to collect sticks.

Letting them help cook can be lots of fun for them too.

I keep seeing great ideas on blogs of fun things for kids to do. Search for Heart of Dakota blogroll.

Library has storytime if your kids are young enough. There are some libraries that offer stories on the phone, a new one each week. One can be found by searching for "Sacramento library" storytime. I remember listening to library stories on the phone during the summer when I was little!

Boredom is a great time to daydream But in our house If the phrase I'm bored is uttered I promptly give them the spray bottle and send them to wash baseboards, doors, handles, scrub the grout, weed the yard/garden. Well in reality all I have to say is : "I have some thing for you to do!" and they run for the hills saying "Mom I'm going to draw!" *snicker*

We do limit screen time to less than 2 hours a day on vacation days. Unless were at a reunion etc. I have drawers full of crafting supplies, plenty of books on crafts kids can make. any "last year art supplies" go in there too. We have musical instruments and a water/sand table outside. Not to mention a closet full of books. My only exception is Just dance 2 if my kids want to dance for 2 hours I don't count that as screen time.

Even today My dd1 wanted to play with the computer translation "I want to watch Selena Gomez videos for 20 minutes, not check my email." I told her if she worked outside for 20 minutes she could do that. She declined my invitation and she is currently planning and designing Han and Leia's dream house out of leggos. Bummer I'll have to go weed... Oh well at least she is exercising her creativity!

We school year round. On days we are home all day we do school right after breakfast and chores. Then the kids have free/playtime until lunch. Today they chose to listen to an audio cd and read/look at books on their own. After lunch, I put the youngers down for a nap and read to the olders for awhile. Then I send them downstairs to play while I finish up odds and ends/nurse baby. Then they do quiet time for an hour or so. After that we go outside if everyone is up and it is nice, or they all play together inside. If behavior is really off (meaning my patience is really thin:) or I need more time to prep dinner, I may resort to a 30 minute video. In general we try to avoid media. My kids are happier and better behaved without it.

You could start working with your 5 year old to spend time with your 1 year old. Maybe start with 10-15 minutes twice a day and work that into your routine. My 5 year old regularly plays with the 2 year old in the mornings because she finishes school before my 6.5 year old. Then all three olders spend time daily with the baby. It's probably the highlight of their day. When I had more time with just 1-2 kids, I would plan Montessori type activities along with playdoh, building with blocks, etc... Now the olders play with Legos, train set, knights and castle on their own and the youngers fill alot of their awake time interacting with the olders. When we can we try to fit in some board/card game time. The olders also started violin and piano lessons so they can always use practice time. Hope some of these ideas help.

I've always wanted to school year-round! We've had a couple of crazy summers for the last couple of years though. I have one dd that easily loses ground math, and I know year-round schooling would be a petfect solution, even if at half-speed. Usually there are plenty of activities, especially free ones, that we strive to enjoy. Swimming, summer reading at the library, camps or teen mission (local missions for teens to reach out to elderly and handicapped), free movies at the theater, home fix-it projects that often turn out to be educational for everyone involved, especially mom, lol. My goal is to school year-round in a relaxed way with time off when needed. This way no one loses ground, we still have time to just relax and enjoy the slower summer pace, and we might give ourselves more leeway in the schedule during the "official" school year. Stick with simple activities that won't stress you out, but will keep up skills... summer reading, some math review. And try to find something new to learn while the schedule is relaxed. I taught one dd to swim 2 summers ago. Last summer another dd helped build a ramp for a man in a wheelchair. That built more than just some skills! Mostly, just let the kids play, build forts, ride bikes, catch fireflies, and use those precious imaginations .