School Work in the Summer

My preschooler enjoys doing workbooks, so I will keep that going. My goal is to keep him from backsliding, so I'm not really looking for progress. And we always keep our reading list going. We make a trip to the library each Thursday to pick up new books. I also enrolled my 1st grader in a silly science class. I like those, because they sneak education in with the fun.

I always put my kids in an actual summer program for the month of June. Last year a few of my daughters did an arts program and the others did a reading program. She was going to first grade and I really wanted her to strengthen her reading skills. This year they are doing the arts, math and a reading program. I just like them to enforce skills that they somethimes show weakness in. For the rest of the summer I have them do workbooks too.

Jennifer is a discussion leader for arizonamoms.com and mommy to four beautiful girls who range from 9 to 4 years of age.

My children are older now, but each summer we make sure and mix down time with some educational fun. When my kids were younger we took each day of the summer and celebrated a letter of the alphabet. We did this by having a large poster that we would list all words that start with that letter and we would spell them out. The summer time is a also a great time to do things such as running a pretend store at home and having items that are priced for checkout and plenty of pretend money on hand. I guess, the most important thing about summer time learning was that we made it into a game whenever possible, so the kids still felt they had down time, but they were learning at the same time. The summer time is also a perfect time for trips to museums, zoos, etc... and plenty of time for reading stories together and most of all discussing them as you read along.

I was thinking about doing a little something each day as well. The days can be long and when she's challenged with something things always go smoother.

Can anyone suggest a workbook or project/activity for a seven year old who will go into the second grade next yeat?

I was thinking maybe 15 minutes a day or so. That's about the time it takes her to do her homework.

Also, our library here in Anthem has a reading program where if you read so many books the kids get hockey tickets, and other fun incentives. We've done that for the last two years and it's awesome. We'll do that again.

Yes, I agree it's good to continue with the school work even if it is summer time. We as parents need to make sure they retain what they've learned. I always order books at www.summerbookcompany.com. Good luck!

There is no way to be a perfect mother, but a million ways to be a good one!

All through elementary school I had both my kids do summer work. They are both Honor A students in 7th and 10th grades. We did a variety of workbooks, flashcards and writing (from printing letters to writing and revising as they grew.) Anything to help keep all the info they learned in their brain during the school year from leaving during the summer vacation will help them greatly during school! They really loved when I "played" a teacher from Sappy Miss Sally, to Mean Mrs. Mustard. If you make it not optional and then add the fun, they really might even like it!

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