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Summertime
Schooling:
To Do or Not to
Do?
By Marianna
Bartold
Founder of
The Catholic Family's
Magnificat! Magazine
and original Home School Editor,
Sursum Corda
On this page: Summer
Schedules ,
What's a Little
of Both?,
Reading - For
Fun?,
Pursuing Family
Interests
This article from the spring 1995 issue of
The Catholic Family's
Magnificat! Home Education Magazine
Copyright 1994. All Rights
Reserved
Every year about this time, a phenomenon, applicable
only to homeschoolers, sweeps the continents. We ask
ourselves, "Should we school through the summer?"
What is "summertime schooling" anyway? Do we use this
precious time to further our educational goals for our
children? Do we use it to pursue interests that we don't
have time for the other months of the year? Should we
continue with our regular schedule....or use the time just
to brush up on basics while enjoying the good things that
summer brings?
These are questions almost every homeschooling family
will ask themselves each spring. The choice, ultimately, is
up to each family. There's no right or wrong way to go about
our academic pursuits. Each family must assess the past
year, taking into account where each child stands....and
even where the primary educator, whether it be mother of
father or both, stands. Children need to be motivated, of
course, but so do mom and
dad.
Summer
Schedules
Perhaps, for a family we'll call
Family
A, it is
time for a break from the regular home schooling schedule.
Their children have finished all the work for the year, and
the books will take a nap till fall. This family may wish to
go to work in the garden, pull the house apart for another
thorough cleaning, pursue hobbies, have the freedom to "get
up and go," paint the house - or just soak up some sunshine!
Mr. & Mrs. A. may have welcomed a new baby to the family
- so they want time to enjoy the little addition. They've
decided they are taking a summer vacation away from official
educational pursuits.
Next, we have Family
B, who have come to the conclusion they are
going to school year 'round.
This family may school 3 weeks, take a week's
break, school another 3 weeks, take another break - and this
is the schedule they follow throughout the 12 months of the
year. Perhaps Mr. & Mrs. B have decided they will teach
4 days a week, taking breaks as the "conventional" school
does during the various holidays. Family B may be new to
homeschooling, or they're a very large family so the parent
must teach practically every grade level and simply needs
more time! Then again this family might simply enjoy
teaching and learning, or they have a relaxed approach to
schooling. Whatever the reason, this year-round schedule
works for them.
Then there's Family
C, who does a
little bit of
both.
What's "A Little of
Both"?
In
our family, we try as hard as we can every year to finish
the "academic" training by the end of June. Some years that
has actually worked out. But usually, things that have
happened over the winter that slowed down our schedule and
made it a necessity to continue teaching and learning
throughout the summer.
What kind of things are we talking about? It can be
anything from having a bad year of colds and flu during the
winter....to something happier, like having a new addition
to the family! It can be children who have done
exceptionally well in certain subjects, but need more time
for others.
The fact of the matter
is....each family is
different. Schedules are different because of
dad's job, the mom's time clock (she may being a morning
lark....or a midnight owl), how many children there are in
the family, the children's strengths, weaknesses, abilities
and ages.
Although I like some sort of schedule to work with,
I am constantly fighting my
"organizational" tendencies because, unlike
the beads of a well-beloved rosary, days just don't always
flow smoothly, one after the other. It is not always
"same stuff, different
day" (unless, of course, we're talking about
the winter months when that does seem to be the
case!)
No, summertime, for most of us, is a beckoning time to
go on to new and exciting things, a call to get more
accomplished while there's time. Like God's world around us,
we're "waking up" with the luscious greenery that's bursting
forth from the trees, the colors emerging from the new
flowers, the summer winds that tickle our noses with the
scents of green grass and fresh air -
enough to entice even the
stay-at-homes to peek out of the house!
But duty calls - there's still work to be done with
our children's souls and minds, not to mention the work to
get done in and out of the house.
So what does one
do?
For us, we juggle the
learning times from mornings in the early spring back to
afternoon when the "dog days of summer" hit
(and when we are very grateful for the air
conditioner!). We keep up with the
basics like religion, reading,
and math. These "classes" don't have to be
formal instruction in the true sense of the word. For
families who can't do so during other times of the year,
daily Mass might be an attainable goal during the summer
months. What better "religion"
class than that?
Reading - For
Fun?
Reading can be less formal, too.
Trips to the
library, which may be difficult at other
times, can now be an easy
family junket when there are no boots, hats,
mittens and coats to deal with, much less snow and ice!
Having children pick out books they'll enjoy - just for fun
- and letting them read during a certain time set aside just
for that purpose, and then discussing those books at dinner
or during an evening walk or car ride are just a few great
ways to make reading more attractive to children. No book
reports - no timelines, no "work" - just reading for the joy
of it.
Some people feel they have to
read aloud every single book to their
children. When they can't do this because of
other duties, the reading gets neglected - and mom and dad
get the guilties. My opinion is if the older children can
pick out a book, they can read it to themselves. The younger
ones, of course, can be read to on occasion, even if just to
teach them the love of reading. If a family is lucky enough
to have younger ones who actually take a nap at a regular
time, mom and kids can silently read their own favorite
books - all at the same time, too!
I can honestly say that, in my own family, my parents
did not read aloud to us regularly. Yet my beloved father
and maternal grandmother (may God rest their souls) always
read the newspapers, and my loving mother always had great
books and magazines in the house that I couldn't wait to get
my hands on. Before I entered kindergarten, I wanted to read
and would often pick up a newspaper, pretending to read the
columns to my mother. In the summer preceding 5th grade, I
clearly remember picking up and reading my mother's copy of
A Tree Grows in Brooklyn. As a child, my next sister was the
outdoors type and would rather play outside that read. As an
adult, however, the family love of reading caught up with
her, and today she likes adventure and science fiction
books. By the time our youngest sister arrived, we had quite
a collection of reading materials. The baby of the family
beat my childhood record of picking up a newspaper and
"reading" it before the age of two. Were we child prodigies?
Of course not! It was a simple case of
"Nothing teaches better than
example."
Math review can be
anything from a simple game of flashcards, to playing a
software game on the computer, to a 5 minute drill per day
to keep up the basic skills. (And there's nothing like
teaching children the value of money - especially when the
ice cream man comes by every day!)
Just think of it - 5 or 10
minutes a day on math drills through the summer can save 4
to 6 weeks of review come fall!
Pursuing Family
Interests
Then, of course, all the things
that you wanted to accomplish but couldn't quite finish (or
perhaps even get to!) can be pursued during the summer.
This can be directed by the
family interests or at least the main topic of interest.
If, as in our family, Dad has an interest in
the Civil War while Mom likes things Victorian, one son
likes electronics and woodworking, another likes anything
that moves fast, a daughter who likes anything mom does, and
an active four year old who just wants to be with his family
- what can we do that is interesting, fun, and educational
to everyone?
First, we can look for places of interest
right where we
live. Each state, each city, each township or
province, has its own history. While Dad may want to find
out what Civil War stories he can dig up about the area we
live in Mom and daughter are interested in the houses,
families, and fashions of that time, the eldest son can look
at how things were built, how they worked without
electricity, and compare them to things we have today. The
next son, who likes to watch anything that moves, can keep
an eye out for inventions and the moving scenery. The
youngest - well, everyone just has to be prepared to answer
his ever-lasting "Why, Dad? Why, Mom?"
Keeping an Eye Out for
an Educational Situation
If the kids are begging to stay up late, and Mom and
Dad want to sit on the porch just enjoying each other and
the stillness of the night, maybe it's time for
an impromptu family astronomy
lesson. Simply picking out the Big and Little
Dippers can get kids interested in the stars of heaven -
sometimes much more than if we had planned an entire unit on
the subject! From there we can later pick up reading
materials, (if we don't have some on hand already!) and
perhaps acquire an inexpensive pair of binoculars to get a
closer look at the moon and other heavenly objects. We might
want to discuss how the moon's light is reflected light from
the sun, and from there.....
We can then point to
Jesus, who is the
Light of the
World. We can explain how the sun is another
of His creations. We can point out how wonderful it is that
God gave us the sun to provide light, food, warmth, and even
to help, with the planets, keep the earth in orbit. Later,
we can point out pictures of
Our Lady, who is
often depicted standing on a sliver of moon, or with twelve
stars around her. What do these images represent and why are
they associated with the Virgin Mary? (See The Apocalypse,
Ch. 12:1 - "And a great sign
appeared in heaven: a woman clothed with the sun, and the
moon under her feet, and on her head a crown of twelve
stars.") We can remind our children about the
children of
Fatima, who
called the sun "Our Lord's
Lamp" and the moon
"Our Lady's
Lamp."
When we look at the planets and constellations and
research the stories behind their names, we can easily go
into a miniature history or cultural lesson. We can also
explain the difference between
astronomy and
astrology....and
how one is an allowable study of the heavens - and one is
not.
All this can occur from the normal event of children
pleading to stay up late! An opportunity taken for a little
family togetherness can lead to so much.
Isn't using such an opportunity
also teaching....in the truest sense of the
word?
As for
languages, this
could be the time to get out those books and tapes that we
didn't have time to really sink into the year before. The
Latin language
(or any language, for that matter) may be something we want
to teach our children, but haven't had the chance to do.
Simply playing language
tapes regularly, especially music sung in the
chosen language for study, is bound to sink into those
darling little (or not-so-little) heads.
Arouse their natural
curiosity. Even if the children don't
understand one single word of the new language yet, and
declare they have no interest in learning it ever, they'll
pick up something from the songs. Before you know it,
they'll want to know what a particular song in this foreign
language means - especially if it has a catchy beat. Pull
out the foreign language/English dictionary to introduce a
word here and there....and, by
fall, you've got them hooked for further
intense study. Summertime is
the perfect time for easing into it.
Sign language is
another option. The basics of sign language are easy to
learn by starting with the alphabet. Children love to think
they know a special code....and indeed, they will, when they
learn something about sign language. A trip to the library
can glean information about the origins of the language, the
life stories of Helen
Keller, or Louis
Braille and his alphabet for the blind. Yes,
the children will have fun. More importantly, they will be
learning about the indefatigable human spirit and the
challenges others have faced and surmounted.
So, how do you feel about
"summertime
schooling" now? To do or
not to do? It's up to you!
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