How to Take Advantage of Summer Break
I earn a commission from products purchased through links in this post.
Homeschooling requires a lot of parents. We have to play the role of teacher, administrator, school nurse, guidance counselor, and school bus driver. Oh yeah, and there are no substitutes- unless you count Netflix.
This is all in addition to our normal parenting tasks such as cooking, cleaning, disciplining, and just hanging out with our family. As a homeschool parent, you need to take advantage of summer break.
I like to use the summer to get ready for the upcoming school year. It helps me start the new homeschool year prepared.
How to Take Advantage of Summer Break
This is the very first tip for a reason.
If you don’t take care of yourself, it is much harder to take care of your family. It is okay, and recommended, to take some time to focus on yourself in the summer.
The school year can take a lot out of moms and homeschool burnout is a very real thing. Do what you need to do to recharge your batteries. Catch up on sleep. Exercise. Laugh with friends. Spend an entire day reading for pleasure.
I try to really spend some time recharging right after the school year ends and again at the end of summer.
Don’t start the year with an empty tank.
No matter how well-rested I am going into the new school year, I am always exhausted the first week or two. I love being back into a routine, but it takes a while to build up to the busy pace of the school year. Make it easy on yourself by having family favorite meals in the freezer.
This can be accomplished in a variety of ways:
- Prep a month worth of meals in one day with Once A Month Meals
- Prep 10 meals in an hour with MyFreezEasy
- Double meals and freeze the extras each night for a few weeks.
- Shop the freezer section of Costco.
Be realistic about curriculum choices
In April and May I always have BIG ideas about what we should learn the following year. It is a very optimistic plan. By the time the beginning of July rolls around, I start to be a little bit more realistic about our curriculum choices.
I need to use a variety of curriculum formats. Some subjects are planned 100% by me, others require just a little teacher involvement, and others are mostly student lead or outsourced.
Take a good hard look at your intended curricula and mentally walk through a typical day. If you instantly start feeling stressed and overwhelmed, look to see what you can cut or reconfigure to require less teacher involvement.
Maybe you can find an online program or co-op class to take something off your plate.
Outsource chores
I once read a time management book that repeatedly suggested outsourcing chores. At first it was frustrating. Like many homeschool families, we are a single income family. I don’t want to spend money having my house cleaned, my dog walked, or my laundry washed. I would rather put it towards something fun like a museum annual pass or a family vacation.
Then I realized that I already know people that can do these jobs . . . my kids! Take a little time this summer to teach your kids how to properly scrub the bathroom or throw a load of laundry in the washer.
They need to be explicitly taught how you want the jobs done. It does no good if you have to go behind them and redo the task.
I am certainly not advocating piling all of the household management tasks on our children, but they can absolutely help take care of their home.
Every summer I spend a few hours mapping out our entire year. I break all of our subjects into month size manageable pieces.
This alleviates stress and concern about what we can get done in the school year. It also prevents the feeling of falling behind. It is basically a master syllabus for the year.
Assemble your village
I highly recommend assembling a homeschool village. This group should be full of people that are supportive of your homeschooling adventure. It might include:
- Friends who also homeschool and understand what your life is like
- Co-op teachers
- Other homeschool moms who might want to teach together
- Family members that will give you a break
Your village is there to support you – emotionally, mentally, and maybe even physically. They help carry the weight of homeschooling and provide a sounding board.
How do you take advantage of summer break?
Related Posts:
