Summer, Homeschool, ESL

Summer in Zacatecas with four kids means a lot of free time which can lead to pure insanity. Grace is 12 Hattie is 10 Fatima is 9 and Oscar is 8.  I knew we needed something organized for part of our day to keep the craziness at bay, and we really needed Fatima and Oscar to be speaking and understanding English as soon as possible.  Since we don't have a TV and the kids I-pod computer time is limited to 1 hour total for the week, media was not an option.  Ultimately the goal of our summer is English, English, English!  So we put into action English Summer School.  We start school at 10:00 a.m. and finish at 1:00 p.m.  This includes a 15 minute break at 11:00 a.m. for outside play and a snack. As I prepared our summer school I wanted free resources for all subjects.  With the amazing amount of free stuff online now it was not difficult to find free it only took some time to wade through the options.  We are covering 4 basic subjects this summer.  Bible (Character training), English, Math and P.E.  For each subject I gathered the worksheets and put together two workbooks for each kid. 

For our  Bible/Character training course we are using Character First Education you can check it out here at this link.  http://characterfirsteducation.com/c/curriculum.php  So far we really like it.  I added a scripture memory portion each week to go with the character traits we are studying as well as a list of scriptures that we can use for a sword drill.  At first it seemed a little elementary for my older girls but as we got started we all really like it. It includes, crafts, activities, songs and much more. 

For our English I am using two different web-sites.  For Fatima and Oscar we are learning English and I really like the English for Kids, Anglomaniacy here is the link http://www.anglomaniacy.pl/ .  I went through the webpage and downloaded all the worksheets and helps that I needed then had them copied into a workbook for each kid.  This website is great if you want to use the lessons online or print and teach them yourself.  There are also many games and activities which make it fun for the kids and keeps them engaged.  For Grace and Hattie I downloaded basic worksheets that went with the grade they just completed as a review.  I wanted something simple that reviewed what they had learned in the last year so there will not be a lot of teaching during the summer.  TSL books is where I got all of the worksheets for English for the girls as well as math for all the kids.  You can check out their website here: http://www.tlsbooks.com/ .  You just pick the grade level you want and the subject.  You may have to weed through what you want to use but it is all pretty good.  We are focusing on a lot of basic math facts to review addition, subtraction, multiplication, and division. 

P.E. is of course a favorite for all.  I wanted to do something that got the kids moving and exercising every day in something specific.  I designed my own options for this as I could not find exactly what I wanted online.  I put together 5 index cards, each with a different activity.  Each activity is 30-40 minutes. 
Monday is exercise monopoly - this is a monopoly board I put together on a large cardstock.  Each square has a different activity for the kids to do.  When they roll the dice and land on the square they do that activity.  While waiting for their turn they jog in place.  Each time they pass go they get a point/dollar for our house school store that I do each month.  This game is a big hit and the kids never want to stop.





Tuesday is circuit training.  Each circuit card has 3 moves each move done for 1 minute.  When that circuit is done we trade circuit cards.  Usually I play music during the movements. 






Wednesday is exercise video.  There are so many great videos to use on you tube and you can research these on your own to tailor to your kids.  One of our favorites for warm-up is
pancake manor- https://youtu.be/zl5QodAFuVklist=PLmY2_g2GhwJS6Ry64oeJMYzaJrQ6M04qH
for workouts- https://youtu.be/L_A_HjHZxfI?list=PLmY2_g2GhwJS6Ry64oeJMYzaJrQ6M04qH.   https://youtu.be/OJ8L1DRB34E?list=PLmY2_g2GhwJS6Ry64oeJMYzaJrQ6M04qH  

Thursday is sport skills and running.  We go to the park and start with relays and running in a variety of forms.  Then we focus on a sport skill, dribbling a basketball, throwing, shooting, passing a volleyball etc... 

Friday is game day I want this to focus on fun.  Silly, active Awana type games are what we use.   Anything involving craziness works! 

Teaching school in the summer does take time and commitment from me but in the end it is very worth it!  If you have a plan for your kids it really helps to keep the sanity and peace in the home.  The kids have all afternoon to play freely, go to the park, or have friends over.