17 Jun Why We Are Choosing to Homeschool Through the Summer

At this time of the year, there is always a lot of discussion whether to continue to homeschool throughout the summer.  We started to homeschool Clark one year ago, just as he was graduating from his little preschool.  We thought we would work through the summer, see how it went and make a more permanent decision before school started in September.

Needless to say, we were convinced in the first month and we have never looked back.

Do We Homeschool Through the Summer? Or Not?

Now as we approach our first official summer, we sat down to discuss whether we would continue to homeschool through the summer or not.  Well, honestly, it wasn’t even a discussion.

Clark and Luci are very early risers.  (Nothing I do seems to change that – believe me, I’ve tried!)  Clark has learned to get up in the morning and start on his math right away.  It’s taken a while, but he is finally seeing the benefit of getting it done quickly.  Luci will often join him, doing her “work” – she wouldn’t dream of being left out!  After breakfast, we do some copywork and writing, leaving the reading for the evening.  So by 9am every morning, what we’ve decided to be the necessary subjects are all out of the way!  This leaves us the entire day to play!

My Goal is to Create a Love of Learning!

For the other subjects, we’ve been doing the Five in a Row curriculum.  The children do not recognize this as school.  For them, this is delight-directed learning.  As we follow their interests, they learn their strengths, talents and passions.  We are then able to develop those.  But that’s not work – that’s FUN!

So why would we stop homeschooling throughout the summer?  We love homeschooling!  We love learning, playing and developing our passions!

This morning, we spent several hours at the pool.  I watched my children play, their crazy imaginations working overtime as they pretended to be deep sea divers, mermaids and kitty cats needing to be rescued.  They don’t know the meaning of the word bored.  Their personalities are literally bursting out of their little bodies.  This is what homeschool looks like to me.

Nothing Can Stop a Child Who Loves to Learn

A couple of weeks ago, we randomly declared a “free day.”  No school today!  Clark and Luci thought it sounded like a pretty awesome idea and they ran outside to catch bugs.  Shortly afterwards, I found Clark sitting at the table in our school room with a book on the life-cycle of a fish.  He was reading the book out loud and recreating the pictures.  “Whatcha doing, Clark?”  I asked him.  “Learning about the life-cycle of a fish,” he responded.  And it dawned on me – it’s working!  We’re instilling in these children a love for learning.  They will continue to learn for the rest of their lives because they love it!

So yes, we will homeschool all summer.  Clark and Luci wouldn’t let us stop…  even if we wanted to!  And based on these two little faces, I think they’re alright with this decision.