During the three years that we have been homeschooling, we have always schooled year round. When 'life' happens (as it tends to do,) I don't have to fuss and fret if we have to take a week or so off. Every year there has been something come up but it was so nice not to have to stress about the time we were taking off. Also, I don't have to stress about getting the books completed because each year gels in with the next one. There really is no starting or ending time.
This year has been a bit different for us. We have been following Ambleside Online schedule. We finished it at the end of May. Well, I didn't want to start Year 2 in the summer because I thought that would mess us up in the end. So we are going to do the basics, math and latin and we are going to do some unit studies.
As I said in my previous post, I like the idea of unit studies. I don't think, though, that I could do them on a regular basis. But as a break from regular studies, I think that will just fit the bill. I so need a break this year.
This is how our schedule has been going. We start the morning off with Bible reading, our read aloud, then off to math and latin. Rocky does math with us. I am surprised at how well I am doing two maths at once. After Mia is done latin, then Rocky starts with his phonics and Explode the Code. School is finished for the morning.
We start the afternoon off with Mia, Rocky and Missy each picking out a picture book for read-aloud. Now that I am reading chapter books to all three children, I miss the picture books that we used to read. I am making a specific time for picture books because there so many great ones out there that I don't want to miss. After read--alouds, we start our unit study. We are doing a unit on Beatrix Potter right now. I got many ideas from other web sites. From those ideas I was able to add on with brainwaves of my own. We do two Potter books a week. We plan our activities around those books. This week we did Peter Rabbit and Benjamin Bunny. We have been learning about rabbits. Tomorrow we are going to do a Venn diagram on real rabbits vs.literary rabbits. We made current buns just like Mrs. Rabbit had. Mia drew a rabbit and painted it. She also is doing copywork from the various books. We are putting all of our information into a lapbook. Mia is enjoying herself. She loves making lapbooks.
So this is how we are spending our summer holidays. I am enjoying this break so much. It's nice to be laidback (as far as school goes.)