Our Summer Schedule

 I've written about out partly-schoolish, partly-vacationish summer plans in past years.  Our plans this summer look much the same.

We actually started summer break at the end of March and will start up lessons again the first week of July.  We took completely off for Holy Week through the Easter Octave, and we'll fit a little vacation in there somewhere too.  

For the rest of summer, we'll keep some daily and weekly schoolwork in our routine:

:: I modified the kids' school-year checklist to accommodate three days of daily subjects each week.  

So three times a week, they'll take about an hour first thing in the morning to do...
copywork - five minutes, in cursive
mapwork - five minutes, review map of choice
Italian activity - five minutes, a review activity they can do together without my help
math - short lesson or set of problems

They also have piano practice, hygiene, and chores on their list (all daily) and a few weekly items: nature journal entry (we continue our outing and journaling session through the summer), and piano theory and art homework (given by their piano and art teachers).

And together we aim to hit recitation and Italian three times a week.  For clarity, I've been splitting our memory work into two parts: "recitation," which is our review of previously-learned material, and "memory work," which is our work on new selections.  We won't be learning new items this summer--just reviewing what we already know.  And my goal in Italian this summer is to finish up our family/adjectives unit and move on to verbs.

:: We're hitting lots of read-alouds.  I usually have at least three read-alouds going at a time: two read by me and one on audio.  Summer is no different but we read through them more quickly!  Right now on audio, we're listening to the Chronicles of Narnia from beginning to end; currently we're on The Silver Chair.  And I'm reading aloud two books: right now, The Twenty-One Balloons (a Year 3 free read) and Sun Slower Sun Faster (one of the Bethlehem Books).  I think we'll hit the Swallows and Amazons books on audio next, and I'll likely start on a couple from the Year 4 list.  

:: Cate has made some good progress on learning to read without much help from me this past year, but I'm planning to sit down with her daily this summer to do a short reading lesson.  She's ready for some hands-on involvement on my part.

We also have a list of summertime priorities this year, based on my children's requests:

:: Cooking lessons.  My daughters have been begging for me to teach them to cook, and I think now is the time.  I said this last summer, actually, but this summer I really mean it! ;)  We will start with some basic kitchen skills and breakfast preparation, and then we'll move on to some easier snacks and meals.  Before fall comes, I'd like to at least turn breakfast duties over to my oldest two with my 6yo as helper.

:: Chess.  The kids used to play daily with Daddy, but his work schedule changed and we haven't fit it back into the family routine except on the weekends.  We'll try to fit a bit more playing time in during the next couple months.

:: Running.  I have been running regularly for a long while now, but it has always been my time away from the kids--either solo or with a local running group.  This summer, I'd like to try to fit in a bit of running with my big kids, who are very active and eager to join me.  I just have to carve out some extra time in addition to my usual running schedule, which is already tight!

not at all related to running but so cute ;)

:: Outdoor time.  We'll still be getting out once a week with friends for some nature study; usually we stay close to home, but we have plans this summer to try a few new spots.  We're also adding to our wildflower collection and will be hitting the beach too!  I can't wait.

:: History of Me.  A few of you have asked whether we have decided on a format for the personal timelines I mentioned during my book discussion of The Living Page.  I did come up with a plan and bought the materials, and now it's just a matter of putting it together with my kids.  That was a winter break project, but life happened. ;) Now it's a summer project, and although we'll still be living life, I am hoping we can actually get it done!  When we do, I'll share.

And what I will be doing with my couple extra hours of time each day...

:: Planning Year 4 - choosing a Latin curriculum and a typing program, deciding how to schedule in dictation and written narration, charting out free reads

:: Planning Year 1 - putting together Cate's binder, printing copywork pages, considering First Holy Communion preparation

:: Planing Kindergarten - compiling a kindergarten box for Xavier, including books to read to him and activities for him to do while I'm schooling the other children

:: Planning our Family Work - choosing composers, artists, religion reading, morning basket materials, memory work, mapwork and more

:: Pulling together next year's Italian activities

:: Revamping my weekly ckecklist and my weekly planning session to accommodate multiple years

:: Reading along with our new Charlotte Mason study group (we're using Brandy's Start Here guide!) and my local book club

:: Purging and tidying here at home

:: Pondering a rearrangement of rooms to make our office space more usable for schoolwork and extracurricular lessons

:: Reconsidering chore schedules and home routines

:: Trying to get myself outdoors more often

:: Updating our Life Lists

I have a couple months of our summer schedule ahead of me and I'm so looking forward to it.  So what will your summer look like?