Summer Learning.... Oh - What to Do?!

I've been a stay at home mom for 4 years.  It is by far THE HARDEST job I've ever had.  This is the first summer (going into my 5th summer as a SAHM) that I don't have any crazy life stuff going on. The first summer we moved.  The second summer I had major surgery.  The third summer we moved again.  The fourth summer I was having some major mental health issues.  Fifth summer - I'm feeling pretty good and wanting to have some healthy routines for me and the kids.  Luckily I have a good friend that is really good about setting goals and implementing them.  I can set goals, but the implementing part seems to not be a part of my routine.  She had her kids summer homework schedule up and going as soon as school was over.  Since I over-complicate almost everything in my life, I saw how simple she kept it and I was able to mimic her schedule.  

I'm mostly happy with what I'm having my children do each weekday morning, however, I feel like I want to fine tune it a bit.  I've spent some time this morning doing some research on the internet.  I decided to compile all of it in a blog post.  

The first few days out of school were a big crazy because I had appointments and activities going from morning until evening.  By the 4th day of summer I regrouped and decided that I needed to schedule appointments and activities in the afternoon (as much as possible).  Then I would have time first thing in the mornings to get my family into a routine with homework and chores.  It hasn't been perfect, but we're keeping at it.  

My oldest, Thor, just turned 10.  He is pretty independent and can get his homework done without much from me.  He reads for 30 minutes, he practices his typing for 10 minutes, he practices math and fact fluency for five minutes each.  We use a program called MobyMax, which runs each session for five minutes.  I just pulled it up and logged my son in and it has a tab where I can check progress and time spent.  I can now see that my son only spent one day last week on it.  I asked him about this and, of course, he was shocked and didn't know why it only shows one day.  So maybe I rescind my comment about him working independently :).  

I'm laughing at myself because I'm looking over another website I use for my littler children and I realized that I need to be more involved while they are doing their homework.  I was thinking that I could just leave them to work and I'd continue on with my day.  I just checked my soon-to-be first grader's progress on Brainzy (a program through education.com).  Last week while Hercules was working, I noticed that the math seemed really hard.  I wondered if Brainzy followed common-core.  Well, let me tell you that Brainzy isn't the problem, it's me (I say with a chuckle).  Looking at my son's profile, I just noticed that he was working on 2nd grade math, HAHA!  I was thinking that he couldn't progress until he worked through the lower levels.  Apparently there is a screen where you can choose the level.  Again, I'll need to pay more attention while they are working on their homework. 

Isn't it lovely when you realize that you may be a big part of the problem, LOL.  During my research earlier, I came across an article on understood.com called Should My Child Work on School Skills Over the Summer or Take a Break?  The first thing that author says is

“I understand why parents want their kids to take a break and recharge their batteries. But it’s very important to find ways to keep working on these skills over the summer.  The long vacation doesn’t simply hit the “pause” button on reading, math and writing skills. It can actually erode these skills. When it comes to certain kinds of knowledge, kids really do have to ‘use it or lose it.’”

The author does mention “There are many ways you can help prevent ‘summer brain drain.’”  I’m only going to mention one of his suggestions.  His other suggestions are great ideas, however, I don’t want to take on too much.  I’ll start small and build from there.

“Encourage your child to keep a daily journal. Together you can come up with a minimum length for each entry and other details such as correcting misspelled words. But give your child the freedom to choose what to write about. And have her share the journal with you each day so she knows it’s important to keep up with it.”

 I’ve worried about my child’s writing skills and wanted to find a way to work with him on them.  This idea hit home and I’d like to try it.  I have found worksheets that have writing suggestions.  Maybe I’ll use some of these to get him started and then he can run with it.

 Now, confession time – I really struggle with reading with my two younger kids.  It isn’t them, it’s me!  I struggle with sitting down with them and reading to them.  I know how important reading is but I still struggle with it.  Does anyone have any suggestions on what works for you? 

Now I feel like I have a better grasp of what I want and what I need to do to help my children have more success with their summer homework.   My goal is to find ways to improve reading with my two younger children.  Also, to be more involved with them while they are learning.  This will help us all stay on track.