{Catholic} Summer Homeschool: 7 Simple Tips

IN THIS POST: Summer homeschool tips for a productive summer break and our family plans this year.

After a long Iowa winter, I am so ready to throw out the books, schedules, and discipline of the homeschool year and enjoy the beautiful spring. We push hard through the academic school year, taking very little breaks, and the children and I want the sunshine and freedom that summer offers.

While we used to homeschool year round, I’ve found, as I homeschool more years and with older children, we all need a more restful summer in order to approach the next school year with the energy required of a rigorous homeschool.

That said, we do use our summer wisely. We all thrive with some amount of routine and order.

There is no set curriculum we follow during the summer months, but, instead, I do a quick assessment of our current season of life and each child’s progress and then make a relaxed yet productive plan for summer.

Here are the principles I follow as I create my plan for our summer homeschool.

7 Simple {Catholic} Summer Homeschool Tips:

1. Develop and continue essential faith practices

Handing on the faith is the primary reason most of us homeschool. The faith life of our family has hills and valleys just like our personal faith lives. We must constantly assess how we are practicing our faith and, if needed, get back on the wagon when we fall short (which I know I so often do).

I like to reflect on each child, myself, and our family as a whole.

• Is regular scripture reading a habit?
• Is prayer a habit?
• Are we getting to confession regularly (monthly is a great goal!)?
• Could we participate in adoration more?

Personally, we keep our catechism studies contained to the academic year and our summers for renewing those essential faith practices.

2. Don’t lose ground on essentials

Reading, writing, and arithmetic. Without the foundation, your child will struggle academically.

Read daily

Reading is required daily, even if it’s a short half hour session right before bed. The reading material is of the child’s choosing (within reason!) and not from an assigned list (though I certainly offer suggestions!).

If you have an emerging reader, daily practice is essential over the summer months!

• daily reading time
• reader’s choice

Write several times per week

Writing is a skill that is developed with lots of practice. While some of my children have done actual writing courses in the summer, I most often assign “free writing.” This usually looks like a paragraph on any topic the child chooses.

• 2-4 times per week
• free writing or writing project (a family newspaper)

I make the time to go over each writing piece with the child and help them make edits.

Regular math review

Our family chooses to school math year round. In the summer, the lessons are shorter, and sometimes a lesson is spread over multiple days.

By doing this we eliminate wasting time on the review at the beginning of each math course. Our children usually skip the first 20 lessons and move to the new material when they begin a new math book.

Using this method, our oldest, now entering his sophomore year of college as an Electrical Engineering major, was able to take Calculus 3 his first semester in college. This was a very simple thing to do that saved him time and money on his college education.

• light lessons (sometimes spread over days)
• aiming for mastery
• eliminates review time

3. Shore up weak areas

Each student has their own strengths and weaknesses and sometimes life happens and you fall behind. Summer is a great time to build those weak areas.

Our family uses another curriculum or repeats a curriculum program when a child needs extra practice. Usually a couple lessons can be completed in a day and, by summer’s end, the student has made great strides.

4. Delight-led learning

Allow for lots of free time so the children can still explore their individual interests.

• Write a family newspaper
• Build something
• Grow something
• Learn a new hobby

5. Habit building

Using the summer with intention means shoring up those habits that keep the house afloat during the busy homeschool year. Develop a checklist so your child knows what is expected of them and then follow through by inspecting whether tasks were completed.

• Personal hygeine
• Household chores
• Faith practices

I’ve even made a free editable checklist template for you that you can find in the Subscriber Resource Library.

6. Intentional rest

By now you may be thinking, “Elizabeth, this all sounds great, but it sounds like I won’t have much summer left by the time we get through school each day.”

NOT TRUE!

I really aim to keep our summer homeschool plans, excluding reading, to less than an hour per day and they are only done, at most 4 days per week.

Do NOT burn out your children or yourself!

Take time to sit with a book outside. Enjoy listening to your children playing and feel the breeze. Play at the park.

The new school year will come soon enough and you will need to have renewed your body, mind, and spirit (as well as your children’s) in order to approach it with the energy that is required for academic success.

7. Requires “not much” from me

This piggybacks on idea #6. I usually have a long list of house projects that I only have time to complete during the summer. I don’t have time to sit for hours on end overseeing my children’s studies.

We make summer school easy to implement. For us, this looks like a lot of grab and go workbooks.

This also means it is more likely to get done regularly!

The Benefits of Summer Homeschool

We’ve seen so many benefits to doing just a bit of school over the summer.

• Less time wasted in review
• Strengthening weak areas
• Start the next year strong
• Provides some structure but is still flexible
• Develop good habits for the next school year

Our Family’s Summer Homeschool Plans this Year

Our family finds ourselves in a very unique and busy season at the moment. Husband and I are in the process of building our regenerative farm (which currently involves a 40 minute one way commute), I am trying to get back in the “blogging saddle”, we are building a home on our farm, and my aging father moved in with us.

We very much need the older 4 children’s help on the farm and home front. School needs to be flexible, easy, and still achieve our goals.

We aim to “do school” about 3-4 days per week with some days and weeks being lighter than others.

Our homeschool plans are even weather dependent. I know that may sound strange, but May and June are the most enjoyable months here in Iowa. In July and August, the heat and humidity often drive us back inside. So more homeschooling gets done in July and August than during the beautiful spring months.

Here is a peek at our homeschool plans this year.

Summer Homeschool Plans

• Faith: Focusing on daily family prayer, monthly confession, encouraging faithful Bible and prayer time with older children
• Math: continue through lessons doing fewer problems but continuing to work toward mastery (GOAL: 1-2 days per week)
• Basic Writing: Editor in Chief – two lessons per day (3-4 days per week)
• Shoring-up weak areas: Seton Spelling done in best penmanship
• Delight-led Learning: weekly family newspaper

Our children are resurrecting a old hobby with the help of their cousins in creating short newspapers about the latest family happenings. This is something they take complete ownership in and enjoy a lot.

Access these printables in the Subscriber Resource Library

Printable Summer checklist

Printable Summer School Planner

Enjoy the Homeschool Archives!