Homeschool Tip #4 Keep A Schedule Through the Summer

As much as I love home schooling, there was a time that when the required 180 days were completed in May or June each year, I would breath a sigh of relief. Like the students sitting in the classroom on the last day of school waiting for the final bell to ring, my children and I could not wait to shut the books and get on to more fun things. (Then I grew up.)

The end of a school year does not mean the end of a schedule*

The excitement of school ending lasted for a few days, and then it was downhill until a scheduled summer event like music camp or vacation Bible school whipped us back into shape. This is how it usually started. 

My children: "Mom, can we stay up late?" 

Me:  "No."

My children:  "We don't have to get up to do school tomorrow. Pleeeease?"

Me:  (reasoning, that's right there's no school tomorrow)"Oh, OK" 

So, the children stayed up later which meant I had to stay up later which meant, I woke up later (after my husband went to work). Only my children did not get up later, they got up just after my husband was out of the house and turned on the TV (More on TV and homeschooling in a future blog). For a few days of this, I would make them turn the TV off. Then I reasoned, school's out, why not let them watch TV a little longer? I will get some more shut-eye. 

Needless to say, my children were not just watching TV while I slept, they were making a tent in the living room, dragging their toys all over the house, raiding the frig and spreading crumbs all over the couch. Next thing I knew, I was sitting with my feet up on the couch (I couldn't knock down the tent.), hot cup of coffee in hand watching Sponge Bob with my children. Two or three hours and several cartoons later, I would suddenly remember I had students coming for a piano lesson, the bills needed to be paid, we had nothing to eat for dinner, the laundry basket was overflowing, and the dishes were not done. 

I am ashamed to admit it, but in the early years, this is pretty much how our summers went. The worst part about this scenario was that my children suffered, because once school started back in the fall, it took us weeks to get back into a routine, and it was difficult. 

But that was then. Now all of our days (summer or not) are blended together. It's June, we have officially ended the year, the required reports are done, but the learning continues, and so does our schedule.

Keep a schedule through the summer

While the summer months for many homeschool familes are more of a down time, and a change of pace, they should never become a time to throw out the entire routine. Here's what I have learned (the hard way):  

1) Children (and adults) need structure. Some things like chores, meal times and bed times should be scheduled every day regardless of whether or not there is school.

2) Scheduling a specific time to sit down with your children each day during the summer months helps to maintain some of kind of routine which can be easily picked up in the fall when school starts more seriously. 

3) Do not be afraid to tell your children "no" (a lesson that carries throughout their lives).   

4) Being on a schedule (of some kind) is easier than the chaos that ensues when you are not on a schedule.

5) If your high school student does not have a job or other outside activities, summer can be a great time to catch up on difficult subjects or work ahead on easy ones.

Whatever your summer brings, enjoy it, but don't forget to keep a little routine.

~Joy

*For more on this topic see my post "A Schedule, help!" (8-15-2007)