Do-It-Yourself Summer School

Disclaimer:  This idea is not meant to take the place of teacher recommend summer school or a qualified teacher/tutor.

All you need is 20 minutes!  That's it!  Can you and your child commit to that this summer?  YES you can!  This was written to encourage parents that learning can easily take place over the summer.

2 options for DIY Summer School:
1.  Follow a chart like the above and make up ideas as you go.
2.  Purchase a workbook.  (I've listed quite a few at the bottom)

............................

M - Marvelous Math Monday 
Ideas:  flashcards, time, money, budgeting, timed math sheets, number recognition, touch math, recipes, multiplication

T - Terrific Tuesday 
Project Time:  create, collage, paint, duct tape, glue gun, play games

W - Writing Wednesday 
Ideas:  practice handwriting, keep a journal, spelling, write postcards and letters (people will write you back!)

TH - Thinking Thursday 
Focus:  Reading Comprehension - write about what you're reading this week or research a favorite subject and write.  Other activities:  write your own treasure hunt, Mad Libs, journal, write riddles.

F - Fun Friday 
Game Day (strategy or skill review):  Mancala, Scrabble, Zingo, What's Gnu
Get Out and Explore: museum, road trip, hike, park, swim

............................

At Busy Kids = Happy Mom, we actually combine both ideas.  We follow the Summer Points approach with prizes for work completed.  It doesn't matter which one you choose to do, just do something!   

While "summer school" may not bring squeals of joy, it is essential for kid's to keep their brains engaged and school skills sharp.  If your child finished the school year successfully, this is the basic amount of work they need daily to be ready for school to start in the fall.  

Why DIY Summer School?  Here are the statistics (click here for infographic):  The highest losses occur in math and spelling.  Researches have found that the average child loses 2.5 months of learning over the summer or about 30% of knowledge.  By 9th grade, summer learning loss is could be blamed for 2/3 of achievement gap.  Why is Busy Kids = Happy Mom promoting this?  According to research, 75% of parents wish teachers would tell them how to prevent summer learning loss.  So here you go!

Parent note:  DIY Summer School will help your child if they finished the school year at or above grade level.  If you've been told that you're child needs summer school, please consider it.  Generally they are a few hours a day for a month.  Then there's still time to play!

............................

Getting Started Tips and Tricks

1.  Schedule

Sit down and plan out your week ahead of time.  Hiccups may come up in your week or you may need to do Friday's activity on Wednesday, but at least you have a plan!

2.  Plan - Review the report card and talk to your child's teacher.  Use the skill list to figure out the most needed areas.

3.  Work Hard, Play Hard.  Get the work done early so you can start your day!

4. Take into consideration your child's gifts and talents.  Make sure you emphasize their interest in art, LEGOs, or nature on the fun days.

5.  If your kids are not very excited, you can just blame me for it! :)  Say, "Miss Kristen said we need to do this over the summer!"  I don't mind!  :)

............................



I've been curating the best on Pinterest for you with a new DIY Summer School board.  Click HERE for inspiration!

............................

FAQ
1.  How do I do DIY Summer School if I work outside the home and am my child is at daycare?  Set an expectation with your child that you'll work with them 3 mornings a week and then on the weekend.  Many children can independently complete review workbooks at breakfast.  

2.  My child only wants to play, how do I get them to stop and learn?  Play is a huge part of summer!  The motto "Work Hard - Play Hard" fits this situation well.  Get the work done and then you can play again.

3.  What can I do if I don't enjoy working with my child?  Don't feel guilty, it's okay.  Maybe a workbook is ideal for you.  Set up a for completing tasks and touch base with your child to see how it's going.  Spend time reading together instead.

4.  What about independent reading?  Children should still be reading independently daily.  They can read with you before bed or on their own.  Take books with you when you're out and listen to audio books in the car.  Time in the car can be a great time to expose your children to new books.

5.  My child only wants use technology, how do I get him to use a pencil and paper?  There's a time and place for technology; however, it is not included in the this 20 minute framework.  You may want to check out the Technology Contract ****here.

6.  What if my child only needs help in one area?  Like math?  It's recommended that you hire a tutor to help monitor your child's progress; however, with specific intervention and a plan, they should still see progress in 20 minutes each day.

7.  What about play, exploration and time at the pool?  You're only spending 20 minutes a day on skills.  There's plenty of time left.  Set the timer for 20 minutes and everyone will be happy!

............................

More links to check out to prepare for summer fun and enrichment:

If you'd like to motivate your child with points and prizes.  Then you'll want to check out our Summer Points page here and Pinterest board here.

Life Skills - the "skills they don't teach at school" are great to teach in the summer here.  Find the list here age by age, ideas for everything from getting yourself dressed to learning to cook.

Schedule your day!  I wrote all about that here and how much your students will appreciate the structure.

Check out these School Skills here to see what your child should be working on.

Understanding Book Levels

Audio Books

Additional Resources

Pinterest Boards:

DIY Summer School Pinterest Board

Summer Points Pinterest Board

Boards for Reading and Writing

Math Board

Workbooks

Summer Bridge Activity Books and Review

Brain Quest workbooks by grade level.

Math workbook ideas, click here for ideas from Pragmatic Mom.

Summer Activities with Plans

Sun Scholars - Lesson plans and summer activities, review here.

Virtual Summer Book Club

Play, Learn, Make, and Go!

............................

Kristen is the writer and creator behind Busy Kids = Happy Mom. The site started in 2011 as a way to share Summer learning and enrichment ideas.  First it started with Summer Points, Life Skills were added and now DIY Summer School.  All of these activities have similar characteristics, the main theme being to Make Summer Count!  She is an Elementary Reading Specialist and the mother of 2 boys!

Follow Kristen on Facebook, Pinterest, and Busy Kids = Happy Mom.

Life Skill: Swimming

Is learning to swim a Life Skill?  Absolutely!  It is one of the few sports that could actually save your life.

Why we swim:

1. It gives you confidence.
2. You are safer in and around water.
3. In our family, learning to swim is not a choice.
4. It's a skill that will serve you throughout your life.
5. It's great for kids with allergies and asthma.

How to Start off Swimming with Success:

1. Start early and go often!  
2. You (the parent) need to be comfortable in the water, so that your child is comfortable too.
3. The Red Cross and local community pools offer swim classes for children 6 months and up!
4. Make sure they're warm enough.  A cold pool can turn anyone off.  My youngest still wears a wet suit.  He prefers the Warm Belly suit, but these are good too. 
5. Go early or stay late.  Most swimmer's success happens outside of the swim lesson.  Have fun together!.
6. Bring snacks.  Swimming is a whole body sport and you're always hungry when you're done.

Materials

1. Swimsuit - I'm a fan of Speedo swim suits for girls.  Play suits (ruffles, etc), 2 piece suits, and baggy swim trunks can really get in your child's way when learning to swim. 
2. Goggles - I prefer Speedo Goggles for kids.  I keep a bag of random goggle parts and extra goggles for quick fixes if they break.  Hint:  if you find goggles for $1.00, they won't work.  Purchase a multi-pack and have them for the entire summer.
3. Towel
4. Flip Flops

Tips:

1. Sign up for lessons and practice often.  Completing one week of beginner lessons, once a year, will just land you back in the beginner class next year.
2. Shower before you get in.  We have found that if you let your skin absorb the clean water, then the chlorinated water is not so irritating or itchy.
3. Managing the Locker Rooms.  If you are unfamiliar with how the pool operates, ask for a tour.  You can go one day to learn all about the facility, so you're comfortable on your first day.  Since I have boys, I always ask about family locker rooms as well.  
4. Have a "swim station" set up in your house.  We keep our swim stuff in the laundry room.  This is where everything lands, swimsuits are hung up, and towels are washed.  Keeping the bags packed allows us to not feel like crazy people every time we leave for the pool.  It's also near the clean underwear we don't want to forget!
5. Look for community summer swim teams.  They can be a great experience and often take young children for their developmental teams.

Personal background:  Recently, I spoke to a group and shared the list of Life Skills.  When it came time for questions, one mom asked me why I had swimming to the list.  Honestly, I was surprised.  I grew up a swimmer and swam through high school. Then I went on to become a Water Safety Instructor (WSI) so that I could teach Red Cross Swim Lessons.  In my family, swimming was a necessity.  In fact, I was taking swim lessons before I could walk!

When it came time to teach my own children to swim, we signed them up for swim lessons... with someone else!  We've had lessons in community pools, outdoor pools, friend's backyards, and the new "strip mall" pools that seem to be popping up all over our suburban area.

Watching my kids swim across the pool was like watching them ride a bike for the first time.  I was so proud of them!  

More interesting articles and tips on swimming:

• Deirdre shared about letting go of fear in the pool, here.
• One Mommy recommends making it fun with songs and 
• Katie shared about her son's water accident, click here.  She's an avid believer in teaching children to swim.
• Valerie shared her son's first pool experience, here.
• Heather from localfunforkids.com shared that her kids were fearless in the water.  She taught them how to swim at an early age.  She stressed the importance of having lessons 4-5 consecutive days for a two week period.  Having one lesson a week for a 6 weeks stretch isn't intensive enough.  (I agree).
• Interested in teaching your own child to swim?  Check out Cheerios and Latte's post here.

..........................

To find other ideas for Life Skills and what is age appropriate, click here.

Life Skills Pinterest board full of ideas and practical tips, click here.

Kristen is a former Water Safety Instructor and the blogger behind Busy Kids = Happy Mom, a site dedicated to fun, practical, and purposeful activities to do with your kids.  Follow Kristen on Facebook, Pinterest, and Busy Kids = Happy Mom.

•