Summer School

Photo via DesignMom.com

Hello! How was your weekend?  We had a good but busy weekend, what with our deck project working into the late afternoon on Friday and all day on Saturday.  Have I mentioned that we rented a dumpster for this project?  No?  Well, we have a 20 foot long dumpster in our side yard, and Skip has been intent on filling it to the brim in order to get our money's worth. Disposing of the old deck was the impetus for this rental, but we have also culled through the basement and discarded many, many boxes and other items that no longer have any value or use to anyone.  This project has been very therapeutic for Skip, for whom de-cluttering is a spiritual experience.

Now that the deck project has concluded, we will resume business as usual, as documented here.  Whenever we mention school activities at home, there are usually questions.

What, exactly, do you do? 

When we sit down for school, we read a Bible story from The Beginner's Bible: Timeless Children's Stories . Next, we read a poem and sing a song from What Your Kindergartner Needs to Know: Preparing Your Child for a Lifetime of Learning. (Last year we used What Your Preschooler Needs to Know: Get Ready for Kindergarten.) Then we tackle the Kumon Workbooks (see below). After the workbooks, we work on site words and other phonics exercises before returning to the Kindergartner book to study literature, history and science.  I keep this portion brief because 1) doing so allows them to digest the information and 2) we space the information out over the summer, meaning we tackle only one topic at a time so as not to repeat the material.  After reading and discussing those topics, we usually work on crafts, e.g., coloring, drawing, painting, etc. At this point, the girls are on cloud nine. They have always enjoyed coloring, but they have really become budding artists over the last 6 months. They love glitter glue, paint, colored pencils -- all of the basic art supplies. Lauren will literally color for an hour or more. Gracie's favorite artistic endeavour involves any type of paint; otherwise, she will color or draw for about 30 minutes before moving on to play with something else.  The artwork could fill a portfolio and covers our home from one end to the other.

For some good tips on getting your artists the right tools, please see this great article on putting together art supplies from Design Mom posted a couple of weeks ago.   

How did you know what to do?

Skip and I are readers, and therefore, we have always read extensively to the girls.  In looking at various books and resources, we would pick up some educational books here and there.  When the girls were about two and we were learning colors, shapes and the alphabet, I discovered the Kumon workbooks.  I bought the first book, My Book of Amazing Tracing, designed to help children learn to write lines. After using (and loving) that first book, I looked at the flow chart on the back jacket for suggestions on the next steps, as each book builds on the concepts learned. We are starting our 10th or 11th book now. The books are well designed and genuinely fun -- so fun that the girls ask to work in them. They post their completed work on the refrigerator each day, and Skip makes a huge deal out of reviewing it before dinner. 

What are your parenting tricks of the trade?  How do you stimulate your child during the lazy summer months?  I would love your tips!