I love the freedom homeschooling affords a family to plan a schedule that works best for them. I have friends who do school through the summer, taking some time off for Christmas and spring and just love doing it that way.

We have always opted to break for the summertime in order to accomplish projects I haven’t been able to get to during the school year, such as home improvements, reorganization of space, painting baseboards or walls, etc. We also plant a large garden each year so we spend some of our time working in the garden, canning, and freezing. I found it helpful through the years to assign rows to various children. They were responsible to plant, weed, and harvest those rows. That way, someone was responsible and it made it easier to know who needed to apply more effort. We all chip in and can or freeze, although more recently, one of my daughters is handling that and enjoys it very much.

Although we don’t “do school”, we do continue with a schedule that includes time in the morning for character studies and hiding God’s Word in our hearts and some time for reading as well. Sometimes I give them a reading list of books they can choose from, being open to their suggestions as well. I usually have a book we’re working on that I read to them each morning as well. I like maintaining a semblance of a schedule to make sure the most important things don’t get crowded out.

Often I would use summertime as an opportunity to do special activities the kids were interested in, such as cake decorating with the girls or swimming when the opportunity arose, scrapbooking, tree house construction, horse back riding, or whatever their interests may be. It’s also a great time for visiting some historical points of interest. We always end our summer with a family beach trip- which everyone looks forward to all year round. I love the relaxed atmosphere of summer and the chance to focus on having fun with my kids and now my grandkids, too!

Here ‘s one of our summertime favorite recipes when the kids were little:

Fruit Yogurt Pops

We made these all summer long. They’re nutritious and the kids love them. We use all different types of fruit, fresh or frozen.

2/3 c. yogurt                                                              1 c. strawberries or other fruit

2 generous Tbsp. honey

Put yogurt in blender. Blend and add  1 strawberry at a time until smooth. Add honey and blend. Freeze in plastic popsicle molds till frozen and enjoy!

~Marilyn