Mom's Summer School

There is one more week of school left at our house.  The kids were so excited for summer break to be here...and then they asked, "We're not going to do summer school this year, are we?"  Oh, yes we are.  Don't misunderstand, though, I'm not a drill sergeant.  I usually try to have a lot of fun and mix a little education into it.  I generally have some sort of math and language arts lessons each week, then fill in the rest of the week with topics they are interested in, or are not taught in school.  For example, in previous years some of the "other" subjects we've studied include art history (which included reading passages about various movements in art, viewing examples of each movement, then creating our own art in that style), cooking (which included lessons on the science of cooking, then creating dishes based on that science), and finance (which included lessons on checking & savings accounts, interest, and the stock market).  

The finance course was one of my favorites.  I printed out dummy checks for the kids and gave them each a blank check register.  They worked for me, doing chores and what not. They could either earn bonuses or get docked based on their behavior.  At the end of each week they received a "paycheck" and paystub printed out by me.  I was also the bank.  They had to either deposit their checks using a properly completed deposit slip, or cash their checks  (I gave them play money.)  They also had bills to pay. I based the cost of their rent, utilities, and car payment off of a percentage of their pay.  They had to pay their bills by check.  Also, they had to "buy groceries".  To determine this cost I had the kids make out a grocery list of what they thought they needed each week to plan out healthy meals.  Then we went to the store and wrote down the cost of what they wanted to buy.  They had the opportunity to revise their list before we finalized their cost.  This was their grocery bill each week.  Oh, and they could spend their extra money on things like buying extra dessert, buying video game time, or hiring a sibling to do the chores. Finally, at the end of each month "the bank" (that's me) gave them a statement for their account and they had to balance their checkbooks.  It was a LOT of prep work on my part, but it was so much fun and they learned skills that they will never be taught in school. Perhaps I'll create a course to post online for everyone else.  We'll see...

Anyway, back to what we are going to do THIS summer.  There is such an age difference between my children that I have two separate schedules.  (If you've never checked out the About Me page, I have two 15 year old boys and a 9 year old daughter.)  

For my daughter:  she needs to improve the speed of her math facts, so I downloaded and installed a free version of Timez Attack from Big Brainz.  She will play for 30 minutes per day, 4 days each week.  This will be her math class for the summer. (See, I told you I try to make it more fun than work.)  There are four areas of language arts she will be working on this summer; inferring, comprehension, handwriting, and writing 5 paragraph essays.  She will have a lesson on one of these each Monday, meaning she will study each area once a month.  I don't have lesson plans for these yet.  I'm still working on that. One day each week will be spent doing some sort of craft-ish activity.  She loves cooking, sewing, and paper crafts, so I thought we would combine home-ec & science and get crafty.  I'll post about some of those as we do them.

For my boys:  they are taking Algebra II this fall.  After taking Geometry between Algebra I & II, I think they could use a refresher course.  I've purchased Algebra and Algebra Practice Book from CurrClick.  We will pick and choose the specific chapters that they need the most help with.  Since this is our first year in Florida, my husband suggested that they take a boating safety course and get certified to operate a boat.  We found a free boating safety course that they will complete one lesson in each week.  Finally, the boys are getting old enough to go get jobs...the tax paying kind, not the work around the neighborhood kind.  I did some searching and found some lessons on Money Instructor that I though would give them a head start on being successful in the workplace.  They include topics like filling out an application, how to give a good interview, filling out a W-4, giving & receiving criticism, and dealing with difficult people.  Note that some of Money Instructor's lessons are free, and others are only available to subscribers.  

For all the kids:  our local library is planning an extensive summer reading program this year.  They are having separate events for younger children and for teens.  Both programs take place on Wednesdays, so we are setting aside Wednesday as reading day.  We will not study other subjects or do other classes that day.  It will be a day for reading and doing activities at the library.  Finally, summer is about getting to play and do some things you don't get to do during the school year. With that in mind, we are setting aside Friday to hold a Video Game Summer Olympics.  We scoured our library's video game collection and came up with a list of competitive games that we've never played.  We will check out two different games each week and hold competitions.  Scores will be tallied, and carried over from week to week, until we have an overall champion at the end of the summer.  Most of these games are for the Wii and are active participation type games, so I don't have to worry about them just sitting on the couch like slugs.

Finally,  I stated Tuesday that I would announce the winner of the $10 CurrClick gift certificate giveaway.  Unfortunately, there were no entries, so there is no winner.  If you tried to enter, but were not able to, please contact me right away.

Karissa