Summer 2020 is here! For those of us in the northern hemisphere, at least. After a kind of wonky spring, we were ready.
And it was wonky, even for us homeschoolers. Yes, our schedules were certainly less rocked than many others, but we scheduled our outings and classes to meet the needs of various kids (and their mama!), and we felt the loss of those classes and interactions keenly.
Now we’re off for the summer, but there are no camps as we knew them*, minimal if any trips, and likely no cross country visits to family and friends. So what does summer look like for us?
Every day, each kid has a list to complete. This includes their regular daily chores, a math lesson (we use Teaching Textbooks), 20+ minutes of free reading, and doing something kind for others. They also have a packet of customized math worksheets to do each week (mostly printed off of this site for free!) and a larger chore (e.g. mowing the lawn, edging the yard, leading a lesson for siblings, etc.).
We talked about doing more school through the summer so we could take a longer fall break. You know, when things would be back to normal. But it doesn’t look like things will reliably be back to normal then. My oldest is planning to graduate a year early, and he wants to work through the summer, but the rest of us are done. How to keep kids off electronics and from whining for a big portion of the day?
Enter my four younger kids’ idea to make their own backyard camp!
They made a list of activities and materials, and we are going to be doing a largely kid run camp. I will help with messier projects and with providing materials and oversight, but they want to do it themselves. They are going to be working through a free online cooking camp.I’m sure it won’t be completely smooth, but I’m down to try it out and let them run with it. Anything they come up with and have enthusiasm for is going to be better than other options.
Now if only we could get the library to open – or do scheduled pickups. We’re really missing our library!
*Several online camps are happening: (Add more in the comments if you know of them!)
- We are attending this FREE online cooking camp. We have done parts of the course, and this is a push to keep working through it. Sign up quick – it starts on Thursday!
- Creative Girls Unite is having an online summer camp from June 29- Aug 7. I don’t know anything about this other than I’ve seen it recommended in a few places. Sounds like fun!
- Open Tent Academy is doing several weekly online summer camps – we had a LEGO camper, and he loved it! They also have once weekly classes for different ages (like a CSI Mysteries of History and different age book clubs).
