Homeschool Summer School

Is summer school for your student among your summer plans?  Every summer this is a question that must be faced by homeschool families.  While the traditional school year runs from September to May,
homeschooling families often march to the beat of a different drum.
One of the benefits of homeschooling is being able to set your own schedule.  Some homeschool families take advantage of this flexibility to make a schedule that works best for their family and the way they live their lives.  Consider the benefits of setting your own schedule as opposed to forcing your family to conform to the schedule designed by a school system.
One example of how homeschooler’s flexibility where scheduleis concerned is homeschooling during the summer.  In some parts of the country the weather is very hot outside during the summer.
 If the family chooses to be inside during the dangerously hot months, they might as well do school then.  Summer school frees them up to participate in outdoor activities when the weather is more agreeable and less extreme, such as spring and fall.
Another reason to homeschool during the summer has nothing to do with weather, but more with convenience.
Consider the many reasons you might want to deviate from the traditional September through May school schedule.  Suppose one parent is in the military and will be returning from an overseas deployment.  Wouldn’t it be wonderful to interrupt school for a short period of time to welcome that parent home and establish a new normal?
Perhaps the family is expecting a new addition.  If the family homeschools all year long, including summer time, then it would be possible to interrupt school at the end of the pregnancy and during the first couple of weeks when the new baby comes home.  This takes pressure off of Mom and allows everyone to relax and get acquainted with the new family member.
By homeschooling during the summer families have more days a year to meet state requirements for hours or days of education required.  This means that families can take more frequent breaks, breaks when they want them, or need them, not when a school board decides it is time for a break.  By taking more frequent, but shorter breaks, students and teachers alike are more likely to avoid feeling burned out.  This also falls in line with what many homeschooling families believe which is that learning happens all the time. Homeschooling is a lifestyle choice, not just an educational choice.
Maybe the biggest reason to homeschool during the summer is to avoid the long break that allows students to forget some of the knowledge that gained all year long.  Summer “brain drain” is like two steps forward and one step back.  Unfortunately, you have to take that second step again.  To retake that step means that you will have to devote school time to reviews that will bring your child back to the point they were before the long summer break. This seems like a waste of time.

What if you could avoid summer brain drain? One way to avoid the brain drain is to shorten the lengths of breaks from school.  This would mean that instead of taking off from the end of May through the end of August, the break would be shorter, perhaps weeks instead of months. Some homeschool families adopt what they call “school-lite”.  School-lite might mean that instead of keeping up the schedule that is in place for the rest of the year, that school takes on a slightly different focus, or less intense focus.  Students could be allowed to follow individual interests, or do more work in a subject that they love, such as science.  By having more time in the summer there might be more time for experiments, or science fair type projects that are longer or more involved.
Things that are typically done in the summer don’t have to be done only in summer.  Summer reading lists might be expanded to be simply reading lists.  By encouraging the student to read all year long, just as they school all year long, means that their brain is constantly moving forward.  If you wanted to make summer reading lists special put no limits on the books they can read.  Do not require that the books be biographies, or novels.  Allow the student to choose the subject of summer reading.
The one downside to homeschooling through the summer might be that the teacher/parent might want a break from planning lessons, teaching, and grading.  However, if the teacher takes breaks when the student does then both are refreshed and ready to return to school after the frequent but shorter breaks.    There may be other downsides to homeschooling through the summer, but for the most part the positives out weight the negatives.