Keeping a child interested in learning while the summer sun and hot weather is upon him/her can be a difficult task. And while a teaching parent often uses a great deal of creativity and originality when tailoring learning activities to his or her child’s style and interests, it can be difficult if he or she decides to school through the summer. No matter how hot and humid the weather may get, there are many activities homeschooling families can enjoy together while maintaining a positive learning environment even in the heat.
Summer Activities for Homeschooling Families
Beach Ball Quizzes: In this activity, the homeschool parent writes as many quiz questions as she can on a blow-up beach ball using a permanent marker. The questions can cover one subject or many. Outside, the parent plays catch with the student and when the student catches the ball he or she must answer the question under his or her right thumb. This activity works great with more than one student as well.
Sidewalk Chalk Stories: Children who complain about writing stories on paper are usually intimidated by the task and the blank paper. Add to the intimidation the summer heat and what a better place to write a story than outside? Using sidewalk chalk of many colors, homeschool parents can allow their children to be creative the work, the garden hose can be used to wash the story away.
Bubble Math: Blowing bubbles is an activity many younger children enjoy so it is easy to use them to learn math problems. If there is more than one child in the family parents can call out multiplication, addition, subtraction or division problems and the first child to answer gets to pop the bubbles blown by the parent. To change the activity a little the child who gets the answer first could also blow the bubbles for the other children to pop. This activity also works with spelling words.
Outdoor Water Games for Homeschoolers
Mini Boat Races: As a fun science lesson, the child is asked to build many mini boats using a variety of craft and recycled materials. Outside, a children’s wading pool or other safe water source can be used to test the buoyancy of the various boats and a chart can be kept by the child. If there is more than one child in the family, mini boat races can be held at the end of the lesson.
Sponge Water Fight: What could be more fun on a hot summer day than having a water fight? In this twist on the classic game, children use clean wet sponges and toss them at each other from opposite sides of a line. As a twist, if mom or dad are adventurous, this can be used as a pop quiz. Mom or Dad can ask the children questions and the child who gets it right gets to soak the parent.
Overall, schooling through the summer months can be a challenge, even to the most creative parents. When all else fails, children are usually a wealth of ideas for making learning fun. The important thing when it comes to homeschooling is to listen to each other and allow the children to voice their opinions and ideas. In the end, they will want to learn and the whole family can relax and enjoy the summer months with fun educational activities.
To learn more about homeschooling in the summer read these other great Suite 101 articles Summer Programs For Homeschoolers, Summer Camp for the Family and How to Choose a Summer Camp.
Karrie Emms - As a single mother of two beautiful children, Colton (11) and Jesslynn (9) Karrie has a passion for writing that began at the tender age ...
