In Favor of Schooling Through the Summer!

It is so tempting to break for the summer like everyone else! Here, a few reasons why you might want to rethink taking an entire summer siesta.
First and most obvious; kids will forget much less if they continue to work through the summer. I have heard others say that the entire first third of the math books deal with math from the previous year so as to bring kids up to speed from the long summer mental sabbatical. It just doesn't make sense to not keep up! It seems to me that if you go on through the summer, your kids will be that much more ahead in their academics.
Second, you don't have to struggle through that difficult first month or so of school in the fall when it seems the kids brains are still asleep and their academic habits have been forgotten. I always notice that when we take a break for the holidays or some other reason, even if it's just for a week, it takes twice the effort to get everybody going again! If they're already used to schoolwork then you can continue seamlessly into the next school year.
Third, it's fun! By about the third day of summer, kids are bored anyway. Why not continue school with it's science experiments and history projects, math games and journal writing? I have found so far that if I keep it fun and loose and have a good attitude myself, my kids get a kick out of learning! Summer is a great time for all those big projects or educational field trips or day trips that you never seem to get to in the colder busier months of the year. Why not take the kids to an abandoned field and let them do an archaeology dig? Have them set up a small business selling things to learn about money and how to run a business-it could even be something as simple as a table and chairs and a pitcher of lemonade to sell.
Summer is a great time of year. Time for daydreaming, swimming, playing with friends, and time for learning! Make sure you allow enough time for the fun things of summer and add a couple of educational projects and your kids won't complain about summer school!
Until later,
Kristy