10 Fun Summer Homeschool Activities

Whether you are a year-round homeschooler, or you take a break for the summer, summer (home) school activities are easy and fun to incorporate into your days. A more relaxed schedule and more daylight hours allow time for electives and other subjects that get pushed aside for the essentials during the regular school year. In my house, busy kids are happy kids, and they do not even realize they are “doing school.”

1. Choose a time period for a family unit study. Plan some simple crafts, cook a theme meal, and watch a related movie. Pioneer times could involve reading the Little House on the Prairie books, learning how to cook Johnny-cakes, dipping candles, and watching the movie Shane. (history)

2. Plant a garden and learn how a seed grows, the parts of a plant, track and measure growth, learn about photosynthesis and pollination. Read about World War II Victory Gardens. Learn how to can and freeze your harvest at home. (science, history, home economics)

3. Plan a field trip to a zoo, farm, botanical garden, or historical site. Go camping in a national park. While on vacation, visit the local museums. (history, science)

4. Go for a nature walk and take a camera and a field guide along. Start a nature notebook and draw your observations. Put up a bird feeder and observe its visitors. (science)

5. Form a summer science club with friends and collaborate on all of those science experiments you have been meaning to do, or get a head start on next year. (science)

6. Read a classic book for read-aloud time, or read a whole series of books like The Chronicles of Narnia or Lord of the Rings or read several books by the same author. Check out audiobooks from the library to listen to in the car. (language arts)

7. Turn off the television and have family game night: geography puzzle (geography, history), word games to practice spelling and vocabulary (language arts), and games that involve adding and multiplication. (math)

8. Learn about an artist, do a picture study, and try some techniques in his style. Read a biography of a composer and borrow his symphonies from the library. Attend an outdoor concert. (humanities)

9. Learn a foreign language by listening to audio lessons in the car. (electives)

10. Go outside and play! (P. E.)

 

Anne CampbellAnne Campbell is the mother to three boys who think they live in a zoo. A former classroom teacher, Anne has been homeschooling for ten years with the support of her husband of 25 years. When they are not in their schoolroom, the Campbells are outside soaking up God’s beautiful creation and looking for new critters to bring home. Anne is a writer and reviewer for Home Educating Family Magazine, and she writes about her spontaneous life and her children’s light bulb moments of discovery at her blog Learn Table.