Homeschooling year-round has become our reality — which means homeschooling in summer and taking time off throughout the year instead.
Summer Learning Fun
While summertime for kids should be filled with unique summer activities, simple indoor play, and fun nature exploring, sometimes a little learning fun is also necessary.
You can easily motivate your kiddos to fit in a little learning over the summer months by leaning on printable summer worksheets or encouraging them to complete a summer reading challenge!
Whether you’re homeschooling in summer because you homeschool year-round (like we currently do) or because you simply want to get a jump start on a new curriculum (like we used to), these are the things you need to know.
Homeschooling Year Round
Ok, so I’m going to be completely honest with you all here, I never thought I would be writing about homeschooling year-round.
We have always been Aug-May homeschoolers and I’ve always been ok with that.
With that said, we recently began a brand-new season in life and now officially live full-time in our RV while traveling part-time.
This change in lifestyle was not ever in our plan, but God has a way of throwing out blessings disguised as curveballs and RV life sort of fell into our laps.
While it has been an incredible and unexpected journey, it has also wreaked complete havoc on our homeschool schedule.
It took us a long time to find our flow again.
With that said, when it comes to homeschooling, we have pretty much been through it all!
First, we started with traditional (private) schooling.
Then, my kiddos transitioned over to virtual learning for a couple of years.
Next, we moved on to homeschooling traditionally using a 5-day school week, following the local school year.
A short while later, our 5-day week turned into a 3-day homeschool week and eventually we became year-round homeschoolers.
It’s totally crazy, you guys!
I never thought I’d be calling an RV home, living in Montana part-time (I’m from Kansas), traveling half the year, and homeschooling my daughter year-round.
It’s been an amazing, life-changing, beautiful ride.
Lightly Homeschooling in Summer
Once upon a time, this was our reality.
My children worked on school lessons during the school year with minimal disruptions in our 3-day schedule.
Then, when summer hit I worked on planning our upcoming homeschool year while my kiddos spent time swimming in our backyard pool, working through light summer workbooks & enjoying simple summer worksheets, and enjoying all the fun activities summer had to offer.
When summer was nearing its end we would gradually ease into our new curriculum and eventually start back up with our full homeschool schedule in the fall.
This routine was simple and it was exactly how I thought homeschool life was supposed to be.
It wasn’t until our family was uprooted that everything changed.
When we started living in our RV almost 2 years ago, everything got turned around.
Our version of summer became something I never would have imagined.
Full-Time Homeschooling in Summer
Strangely enough, summertime has actually become our most structured time for both learning and living.
We stay in one place all summer long, my boys hold down their regular jobs, my husband and I are busy working, and my daughter works on homeschool lessons 3 – 4 days a week.
While our lives may seem a little backward compared to most Americans, I’m totally ok with it.
Last year, we traveled non-stop for 3 weeks in the fall, followed by a 6-week stay with family.
Then, we spent the entire winter in Texas, moving every 1-2 weeks.
Finally, in the spring, we took 2 weeks to travel back up to Montana where we will spend the next 5-6 months living the simple life.
Because working on formal sit-down lessons can be a challenge while traveling, we found ourselves having school days at random Oct-March.
Leaving us with a large amount of schoolwork to finish up over the summer months.
While I used to keep summer learning light and focus on maximizing the summer fun, those days are officially behind us.
The days of formal learning during the summer months with light learning during the fall & winter is now our new normal.
And you know what? I kind of like our new normal.
Benefits of Homeschooling in Summer
While homeschooling in summer may be your reality for a different reason than mine, there are some awesome perks & benefits!
This will actually be our second year of homeschooling all summer long, last year we were playing a bit of homeschool catch up and this year we pretty much knew it was going to happen this way.
Whether you are catching up on homeschool lessons or homeschooling year-round, homeschooling in summer doesn’t have to be a drag.
Enjoy it. Embrace it. Encourage it.
If you focus on the positives of homeschooling over the summer months, you might just find yourself loving this change of pace as we did.
These are my two favorite benefits of keeping a rigid homeschool schedule May-Aug, instead of Aug-May.
-
You Can Enjoy Going Out
Yes! Man, oh man do I hate going places during the summer.
As an introverted homeschool mom, one of my favorite things about summer is staying home and hibernating.
Not even joking!
When you homeschool sporadically through the school year and focus on structured learning during the summer months, you get the privilege of staying home and being productive while all the museums, playgrounds, and zoos are overrun with people.
Then, when fall hits and your favorite places clear out, you can spend a maximum amount of time at your favorite places without the worry of homeschool lessons getting in the way, or people.
-
You Have an Excuse to Say No
Can I get an amen on this one?
Seriously though!
Why is it always so hard for moms to say no to unnecessary outings when the reality is we’d rather use our time for something more productive instead?
Homeschooling in the summer means you can skip the over-scheduled playdates with little to no guilt because you have a legit reason to say no.
You’re welcome.
-
There is No Summer Slump
For real though!
Whether you homeschool lightly or keep a full schedule, homeschooling over the summer means your kids are always actively learning all summer long.
Leaving little time for excess screen time and summer boredom.
Plus, if you are basically homeschooling year-round that means there is little to no downtime between curriculum.
This simply helps your kiddos stay on schedule & task.
Our Homeschool Summer
While our homeschool summer may not look quite like yours, I have truly learned to embrace our wild & free way of life and I look forward to our simple summers at home.
Whatever your summer looks like, I hope you too can fully embrace it this year by focusing on the positives & the benefits of homeschooling over the summer.
Love this article? Share it on social media to encourage other homeschool parents on their journey!
