Summer Plans 2023

I can’t believe we are almost finished with our school year! This year has flown by, but we are ready for a big break this summer.

We follow a traditional school schedule and take off the summer months of June and July. We usually start up again mid-August, because we get excited to start a new school year and get back into our routine.

I have tried completing unit studies during the summer or getting practice workbooks, but we barely use them and never finish them. Although summer is laid back for my kids, it is usually my busiest season as I finally have more time to complete a new study guide I’ve been working on.

So just like last summer (that worked out great,) this year I’m not planning much, but still have a few things we do to keep concepts fresh during those summer months.

Reading

We do a TON of reading during the summer months! I usually find a simple and free reading log off (like THIS) for each of my kids. They get to color in how many books they read, or how many I read to them for the little ones, and get a special treat after so many books read.

Honey for a Child’s Heart by Gladys Hunt is one of my favorite books for finding wholesome, quality children’s books. It has multiple book lists, broken down by categories and age ranges. My goal this summer is to use this book and go through the list to find great books my kids will love to read.

We are also trying a Read-Aloud Poster from Ruby Reads Books and we are all so excited for this! We choose to read and do the The Wild Robot poster first. These posters are big enough for the whole family to color and fill in. You can mark the chapters you have read as you go and fill in the questions for the story settings, story maps, timelines, draw character portraits, and more. Craft and activity ideas also come with it!

Check out their website as they have many different ones to choose from. My daughter and I are going to read The Secret Garden together this summer and they just released a poster for that book recently, so that might be fun to do together also!

Language Arts

This year we are trying Night Zookeeper and my kids LOVE it! Night Zookeeper is an interactive online learning program that covers so many Language Arts concepts in one! Through this program, my kids have been working on vocabulary, grammar, reading, writing, typing, and computer skills. 🙌🏼

They have already been trying it out and ask to play it everyday. I love that they are having fun and don’t even realize they are learning. It will be super useful for some screen time/ quiet time when I need to get some work done this summer, while also working on reading and writing.

Night Zookeeper is offering a FREE 7-day trial and 50% off when you sign up using my link HERE.

Math

For math during the summer months I don’t purchase any workbooks. My kids would just fight me with doing a workbook during the summer, so we practice most of our math concepts through games! Yesterday I shared 10 of our favorite math learning games you can check out HERE.

We are going to work on getting our math facts quicker this summer so playing one game a day will be fun and helpful.

Preschool

I have one preschooler this year getting ready for Kindergarten. He has worked so hard on learning his alphabet and letter sounds this past year, I want to make sure he keeps up with them during the summer. More games to the rescue!

Here are some games we love to play to practice alphabet letters and beginning sounds:

– Alphabet Island

– Sequence Letters

– Launch & Learn Beginning Sounds

– Alphabet Splat!

– Zingo Bingo Sight Words

Check out THIS blog post, and THIS blog post, for more simple beginning sounds games and resources!

Summer Activity Bundle

For this week only (ends 5/19) you can get the amazing Home and Haven Summer Bundle Vol. 3 for 50% off!

I love getting the summer bundle every year for simple and fun printable activities for my kids to do all summer! The best boredom buster solution!! 👏🏻

It is geared for elementary grades (but there is fun for the whole family!). The Summer Bundle is a digital resource that you can print off as much as you want!

☀️What is included: 175+ pages, Road Trip Games, Summer Activity Sheets, Educational Activity Sheets (perfect for summer review!), Play doh Sheets, Summer Bucket Lists, Summer Coloring Sheets, Paper Plate Crafts, Activity placemats, and 4 Week unit study on the book “Trumpet of the Swan.”

Grab it HERE for only $25 until Friday 5/19!

Summer Routine

Although we don’t do many structured activitiess during the summer months, I still try to keep a simple routine so we all don’t go crazy.

We have very slow, simple mornings. Each morning I have them pick one math game to play and an alphabet game for my preschooler. Usually this leads to many rounds of the same game. We also try to go for a walk or get out of the house in the early mornings before it gets too hot.

In the afternoons we have independent reading time for at least 30 minutes. Then they are free to play in our water slide/pool in the backyard all afternoon or rest watching a movie. Some afternoons, I’ll read our read aloud to them while they build legos or puzzles.

We also have a goal every week to go to a different park in our area. Sometimes it is with friends or sometimes it is to a splash pad in the afternoon.

We have our normal evening routines of dinner and showers, but always snuggle up to do our read aloud before bed.

This is a very loose routine that is similar to our regular school schedule, so coming back to a new school year isn’t as hard.

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I love having simple summers full of time to read, be creative, play, and relax. We usually go on lots of vacations to our cabin, beach, camping, and have lots of play dates with friends and cousins, so their isn’t much time for any extras.

If you do like to have a workbook or worksheets for your kids to do in the summer, I always recommend the Moffatt Girls Summer Learning Packs. These are lots of fun and great to take traveling, on vacation, or just at home to keep what they have learned fresh in their minds.

If you like to do a fun unit study during the summer to keep you busy, Me and My Amazing Body or Me and My Place in Space are perfect for that! They are super simple, easy to fit into any schedule, and full of fun experiments and art projects.

THIS blog post from last summer has lots of links to activities, puzzles, and craft kits we enjoy doing during the summer also.

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Whether you like to pack your days with activities or do nothing at all, enjoy your time together!

Wishing you the best summer ahead!!

– Lindsay