{"id":671,"date":"2014-12-25T17:13:07","date_gmt":"2014-12-26T00:13:07","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/happyhomeschooling.com\/?page_id=671"},"modified":"2015-05-19T10:49:12","modified_gmt":"2015-05-19T16:49:12","slug":"summer-skills-maintenance","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/happyhomeschooling.com\/site\/summer-skills-maintenance\/","title":{"rendered":"Summer Skills Maintenance"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Louisasummerwork\"Summer time, and our kids’ brains go on vacation. At least, that is what it seems like when we start up school again in the fall!<\/p>\n

I have always been amazed that math textbooks are written so that the time period of September through Christmas vacation is “review” to try to help the children remember all the skills they forgot over the summer! As a homeschooler, if you finish a Saxon Math<\/a> book mid-year you can go immediately into the next Saxon Math book at around lesson 40 and never miss a beat because lessons 1-39 do not teach any new concepts but just review the previous math book. You can get ahead fast in math this way, if you don’t take big breaks of summer forgetfulness!<\/p>\n

So, instead of letting those brains veg all summer, how about a daily bite-size?<\/strong> Just enough to keep skills sharp!<\/p>\n

This is how my friend Kathy runs her summer homeschool. When summer begins, Kathy makes “Summer Packets”. These are just a few pages stapled together and put in a folder with the child’s name on it. Every morning her children come after chores and breakfast and get their Summer Packet. The work is fun, can be done totally independently without Mom, and takes about 20 minutes. Each packet has a short page of math review, an English page, and some project page that sends them off on a science experiment or nature collection.<\/strong> The children also do their daily free reading. This way the 3 R’s are covered. Kathy buys workbooks and rips the pages out to staple into her Summer Packets. When school starts again, their skills have been maintained, and she can jump right in where they left off. Summer no longer takes a big toll.<\/p>\n

\"AmmonsChart\"At my house, I make each child a chart that must be checked off daily. Louisa’s chart has a column for each of these ‘daily do-‘s”: Chores, Scriptures, Journal, Math (10 problems), Piano, Secret Service, and Free Reading. (She has a lot because she is older and used to this system. If you are just starting out, 3 or 4 items on their charts are enough!) I ask each child what is important to them to set as a summer goal, and we add those items too. (I make myself a chart also, and stick it right up on the wall by the kids, so they see I am working on goals every day too).<\/p>\n

Each day, before any kind of play, the charts must be complete and checked off. This is just as much a means of keeping me, their mother, on track as it is training them to do some daily maintenance!<\/strong> It is amazing the difference you will see in your kids if you do a little every day!
\n\"\"<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

May I recommend:<\/b><\/p>\n\n\n\n
\n

\"kid-673584_1280\"
\nSchool in Summer?
\n<\/a><\/p>\n<\/td>\n

\n

\"Photoxpress_4968780\"<\/a>
\nAn Elective Summer
\n<\/a><\/p>\n<\/td>\n

\n

\"9323\"
\nChristian Home School Student Planner
\n<\/a><\/p>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Summer time, and our kids’ brains go on vacation. At least, that is what it seems like when we start up school again in the fall! I have always been amazed that math textbooks are written so that the time period of September through Christmas vacation is “review” to try to help the children remember […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[3,4],"tags":[31,110,111],"class_list":["post-671","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-how-to-homeschool","category-homeschooling-method","tag-assignments","tag-summer","tag-summer-skills","entry","has-post-thumbnail"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p6IrRN-aP","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":1984,"url":"https:\/\/happyhomeschooling.com\/site\/an-elective-summer\/","url_meta":{"origin":671,"position":0},"title":"An Elective Summer","author":"Diane Hopkins","date":"","format":false,"excerpt":"I hate to stop homeschooling for the summer. Not many of my friends feel the same way, but for me it takes so much momentum to begin again that I\u2019d rather not stop at all. Homeschooling keeps the children in an excellent pattern of waking for scripture study, doing chores,\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "How to Homeschool"","block_context":{"text":"How to Homeschool","link":"https:\/\/happyhomeschooling.com\/site\/category\/how-to-homeschool\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/69.195.124.81\/~homescp3\/site\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/04\/Photoxpress_4968780_2.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":314,"url":"https:\/\/happyhomeschooling.com\/site\/summer-school\/","url_meta":{"origin":671,"position":1},"title":"School in Summer?","author":"Diane Hopkins","date":"","format":false,"excerpt":"Mothers ask me why some years, we don't take a break when it comes to homeschooling. I wonder that myself! \u00a0I guess the answer is that homeschooling is just regular life at our house. We have done it so very long, that it is part of the routine. It is\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "How to Homeschool"","block_context":{"text":"How to Homeschool","link":"https:\/\/happyhomeschooling.com\/site\/category\/how-to-homeschool\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"kid-673584_1280","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/happyhomeschooling.com\/site\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/03\/kid-673584_1280-300x199.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":1198,"url":"https:\/\/happyhomeschooling.com\/site\/messed-up-in-math\/","url_meta":{"origin":671,"position":2},"title":"Messed up in Math","author":"Diane Hopkins","date":"","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: Our granddaughter goes to public school and she is struggling so hard with math. The school has really messed her up and is teaching her things backwards. When we try to help her it confuses her. They are teaching her to do math problems from left to right, to\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Math"","block_context":{"text":"Math","link":"https:\/\/happyhomeschooling.com\/site\/category\/what-articles\/math-articles\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/69.195.124.81\/~homescp3\/site\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/05\/Photoxpress_5485645-199x300.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":1215,"url":"https:\/\/happyhomeschooling.com\/site\/hates-math\/","url_meta":{"origin":671,"position":3},"title":"Hates Math","author":"Diane Hopkins","date":"","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: I homeschool my three girls. My oldest is 9 and works 2 grades ahead, and works independently. My middle child, 7, is advanced and just as intelligent. She absolutely hates sitting and doing worksheets, especially in Math. I am getting extremely frustrated and this in turn frustrates her. Neither\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Math"","block_context":{"text":"Math","link":"https:\/\/happyhomeschooling.com\/site\/category\/what-articles\/math-articles\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/69.195.124.81\/~homescp3\/site\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/06\/rachel_lilies.jpeg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":1180,"url":"https:\/\/happyhomeschooling.com\/site\/help-for-math\/","url_meta":{"origin":671,"position":4},"title":"Help for Math","author":"Diane Hopkins","date":"","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: I have a 10 year old boy who is doing Saxon 76. It takes 30 minutes for me to work with him on a lesson, working only the amount of problems I feel are necessary, as taking longer than this causes math burnout. Would using the D.I.V.E. CD help\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Math"","block_context":{"text":"Math","link":"https:\/\/happyhomeschooling.com\/site\/category\/what-articles\/math-articles\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"image","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/happyhomeschooling.com\/site\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/04\/image.png?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":7808,"url":"https:\/\/happyhomeschooling.com\/site\/gearing-up-for-school-%e2%80%8e\/","url_meta":{"origin":671,"position":5},"title":"Gearing Up for School","author":"Diane Hopkins","date":"","format":false,"excerpt":"Looks like it\u2019s that time again. In spite of the fact that it is the dead heat of summer, you can\u2019t miss the school supplies sales in the stores and the shut down of the local swimming pool. I wish summer lasted a little longer! Since all the neighbor children\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "How to Homeschool"","block_context":{"text":"How to Homeschool","link":"https:\/\/happyhomeschooling.com\/site\/category\/how-to-homeschool\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Rebekah","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/happyhomeschooling.com\/site\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/04\/rebekah072010-283x300.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/happyhomeschooling.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/671","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/happyhomeschooling.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/happyhomeschooling.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/happyhomeschooling.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/happyhomeschooling.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=671"}],"version-history":[{"count":11,"href":"https:\/\/happyhomeschooling.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/671\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":7284,"href":"https:\/\/happyhomeschooling.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/671\/revisions\/7284"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/happyhomeschooling.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=671"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/happyhomeschooling.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=671"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/happyhomeschooling.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=671"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}