Summer Home School

Some of my small group girls got to talking about summer plans and I opened my big mouth about how I wanted to do some thematic lessons with my kids.  Here's the link to my blog post where I first started brainstorming this idea (March 25th post).  Well, my small group ladies, knowing me the way that they do, knew I would be nerdy enough to have plans already drawn up and asked if I could share them.

All of the themes are not set in stone but this is how I was thinking I would keep us busy this summer (along with many trips to the pool, the zoo, small group, and the YMCA) and also keep us from watching too much TV.

Week of:	Theme	Mon	Tues	Wed	Thurs	Fri
May 31-June 4	Family	library	letters	pictures	numbers	outing
June 7-June 11	Safety	library	letters	pictures	numbers	outing
June 14-June 18	Money	library	letters	pictures	numbers	outing
June 21-June 25	VBS	Off	VBS	VBS	VBS	VBS
June 28-July 2	4th of July	library	letters	pictures	numbers	outing
July 5-July 9	Where I live	library	letters	pictures	numbers	outing
July 12-July 16	Vacation	Off	Off	Off	Off	Off
July 19-July 23	Health/Food	library	letters	pictures	numbers	outing
July 26-July 30	Exercise	library	letters	pictures	numbers	outing
August 2-August 6	Manners	library	letters	pictures	numbers	outing
August 9- August 13	Music	library	letters	pictures	numbers	outing
August 16- August 20	School	library	letters	pictures	numbers	outing
August 23	KINDERGARTEN STARTS!

I figure I'll spend about 30 minutes to 1 hour each day on the "lessons," except for the outing day which will of course take longer. Also, because I want to help Isaac get more prepared for Kindergarten, I have specific goals that I want to work on for each activity that I do:

Skills (In Italics)

Library Day: Check out and read books on the theme: Sight Words

Letter Day: Print out words related to the theme; have kids practice writing same words in their journals: Letter Recognition, Letter Sound Recognition

Picture Day: Print out pictures related to the theme for kids to color and glue in their journals: Holding Pencil Properly

Number Day: Use the theme to do some number skills: Adding/Subtracting, Counting (by 1’s, by 2’s, by 5’s, and by 10’s)

Of course, this plan is rated "high" in parent involvement so I definitely have time sets aside in the day for them to play independently.  Also this is a big disclaimer: just because I've drawn up the plans does not mean that I will follow through and actually do this to the end.  Please allow me wiggle room to decide it's not working!