School’s Out – Now What?  

By: Stacey Wolking

Of course, there are as many diverse homeschool schedules as there are homeschooling families. Whether you homeschool year-round with breaks every eight weeks, follow a four-day school week, take the traditional summer break, or are still wrapping up your school year, summer offers a valuable opportunity to pause and reset. Even a short break can provide time to regroup, relax, reflect on what worked well, and prepare for the months ahead.

Everyone, moms AND kids, need some down time. While mom has to continue to parent and keep the home, it is important that you take a bit of time for yourself. Give yourself permission to take a day or two brain vacation. Just ENJOY the kids; no thinking about school allowed!

Now, I know it is tempting, but please don’t put this off too long; it’s so much harder when it’s not fresh in your mind. Creating a list of accomplishments and compiling and organizing your homeschool records for the year can be very rewarding (Wow, we DID get a lot done) or it can be enlightening (Hmm, we need to do a bit of review on this). If you are an organizer, this is probably one of the highlights of your year. But if the thought of organizing/recordkeeping gives you hives, don’t let this overwhelm you and above all, don’t overcomplicate this. Recordkeeping can be as simple as a spiral notebook or a 3-ring binder with tabs for each year and a couple pages of information for each child. (Of course you will want to be sure you are following your state’s reporting requirements. You can also check out HSLDA’s website for more recordkeeping helps. 

The end of the school year is a great time for mom and dad to go over student evaluations and plot academic, character, spiritual and physical goals with each child. Be sure to ask for your child’s input so he feels invested. While you aren’t bogged down with academics is a great time to work on character issues, chores improvement (motivate by earning screen time!), a daily scripture or devotion habit, reviewing a struggling area like multiplication tables through games or computer games, or learning/improving a skill through practice like keyboarding or musical instruments. A daily 15 minute review will hardly be noticed in their summer routine.

Helpful tip - Keep a positive tone – always say yes. When your child asks, “Can I ________.” Answer, “Yes, as soon as you (do your 15 min of multiplication games), (make your bed) (pick up the toys you left in the yard),” etc.

Kids need their down time too. While homeschool life is often busy with “good things”, kids still need to have an opportunity to be bored so they can dream and be creative. Give your children opportunities to think creatively by asking open-ended questions such as, “If you could invent something, what would it be?” Summer is also a wonderful time for kids to enjoy unstructured play and spend more time with friends. Introduce them to classic outdoor games like Frisbee, croquet, kick-the-can, sticker tag, and hopscotch. And don't forget timeless activities such as climbing trees, skating, and riding bikes.

Perhaps most importantly, children need time to explore their own interests and passions. Whether it's building, drawing, reading, gardening, coding, cooking, or learning a new skill, allowing them to pursue what genuinely excites them fosters curiosity, creativity, and a lifelong love of learning; this is delight directed learning in action!

Besides resting and rejuvenating, spending time with and enjoying your kids is probably the most important thing you can do this summer! So don’t feel like you need to fill up their days with camps and structured activities. Check out Part Two and get some great ideas for making your own amusement.