Summer time is here and that means kids will be home all day long looking for fabulous and wonderful things to entertain themselves with. This also means there will be ample opportunities for fighting, mess making, and other forms of trouble. I don’t know about YOUR children, but after my kids have been playing outside in the hot sun for hours on end they come home hot, tired and a bit cranky. We place a very high value on DOWN TIME at our house; that means, no friends, no TV, no computers. The kids enjoy playing in their room, coloring, and listening to or making music. This year I decided to give them a bit of guidance as to what they would do with some of their down time. As J5 and C7 are considered “big kids” because they go to “big kid school” I thought it best they work on improving the skills they will need to succeed next Fall.
I never had any formal training to be an educator, I only know what works for my kids and one thing I know works well for them is to have an outlined ‘project’ that they can call their own. So, I made them each a ‘Summer Homework’ book with a few worksheets and a schedule for some special fun things to look forward to. Here is the schedule:
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Monday
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Tuesday
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Wednesday
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Thursday
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Friday
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Math
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Math
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Math
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Math
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Math
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Writing
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Writing
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Writing
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Writing
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Writing
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Science
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Sight Words
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Art
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History
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Computers
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Park
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Hiking
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Movies
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Swimming
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Snow Cones
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Each day has a math worksheet and a writing/journal worksheet along with a worksheet or project from other various subjects. These pages should be quick and easy to accomplish in about 10-15 minutes. I then assigned an ‘extracurricular” activity for each day to give the kids something to look forward to. I’m sure there will be many days we don’t make it to the swimming pool or the park but this way if we are ever LOOKING for something to do we will know where to start.
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Now, if you’d like to try this (I know summer is already here, but it isn’t too late!) don’t feel too overwhelmed, the books are really quite simple to make. Our summer vacation is approximately 10 weeks long so I figured I would need 50 days worth of worksheets, which is over 150 pieces of paper. Between the ink, the paper, and the effort of FINDING free worksheets online we are talking about a MAJOR project. It doesn’t have to be that DIFFICULT.
Only a few simple steps and your book will be complete!
Step 1: Purchase a 3-ring binder and some page protectors.
Step 2: Purchase a Math Workbook (one like this Mead 1st Grade Problem Solving Workbook, 10 x 8-Inches, 96 Pages (48028)
), a siteword workbook (like this 100 Words Kids Need to Read by 1st Grade: Sight Word Practice to Build Strong Readers
), a Science Workbook (like thisRead and Understand Science, Grades 1-2
) and a book on any other subject you want your child to learn about and review. OR, you can find free worksheets online (I have included a few sites at the bottom if you need a place to start) For writing practice I simply made a page that looks like this: (You can have it forFREE, just click HERE)
), a siteword workbook (like this 100 Words Kids Need to Read by 1st Grade: Sight Word Practice to Build Strong Readers ), a Science Workbook (like thisRead and Understand Science, Grades 1-2) and a book on any other subject you want your child to learn about and review. OR, you can find free worksheets online (I have included a few sites at the bottom if you need a place to start) For writing practice I simply made a page that looks like this: (You can have it forFREE, just click HERE)[ux_image id=”3597″ width=”76″]
Step 3: Cut out the workbook pages you want your child to complete for each subject.
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Step 4: Make piles of worksheets for each day of the week. For example, I made 10 ‘Monday’ piles, each containing a math worksheet, a writing page, and a science worksheet. Place the worksheets for each day in a page protector (you will need 50 page protectors for 10 weeks).
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Step 5: Put the completed ‘day packs’ into a three ring binder and your little scholar is ready to learn.
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Now, you may be asking yourself ‘why not just give the kids the purchased books to work on’? You can definitely do that, but chances are your workbooks will end up looking like this:
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Cutting out the pages and having the kids use them as an assignment will encourage them to do the work WELL rather than encouraging them to treat the book like a coloring book. I also like the fact that they know they need to complete one ‘packet’ of worksheets a day so there is a defined GOAL to accomplish. If I were to give my kids a workbook they may or may not be in the mood for workbooks so they will either do 10 pages or no pages. I want this summer homework program to be structured so the kids understand what is expected of them each day. If they want to do MORE than the packet contains they are welcome to get out the stack of workbooks and coloring books.
*For “Art” days I simply found 10 art projects online that I thought the kids would enjoy doing.
* For “History” days I found coloring sheets and short stories about different countries and different presidents of the United States
*For “Computer” days I have a few learning computer games for the kids to play or they can practice their skills on THESE websites:
Here are a few website I used when looking for additional information:
wildaboutteaching10.blogspot.com
www.atozteacherstuff.com (this site has some AWESOME worksheet creators)
GOOD LUCK!! Now is the perfect time to show your kids that YOU think learning is fun. The most valuable lesson a child will learn is that their parents think education is important. Take responsibility for your child’s education; don’t expect their teachers to do it all! This summer is the PERFECT time to start.
