I call it summer break because we put aside the normal daily work load, but the summer is far from a break from learning.  We have so much fun, though, that I have been able to disguise the learning part so far!

Mom is "off duty" for the most part, but I always have a stash of planned out activities.  I try to give them something planned by me everyday - an art project, a science experiment, a trip to the library, maybe even a math page to keep the skills up.   For the rest of the day, I try to provide them with lots of neat ideas to keep themselves busy.  I don't demand that they do the extra things.  If they want to hang out in the kiddie pool the rest of the day, that's fine by me.  But most days, I hear the words, "I'm Bored!" too many times.  So here's a list of some of the things I have available to them:

Art - a stash of idea books, some old Abeka Art books I found at a curriculum sale, and lots of materials

watercolors, tissue paper, glue, markers, colored pencils, foam shapes, foam sheets, pipe cleaners, clay, play dough, chalk, pastels, oil pastels, tempera paints, lots of paper types, fun scissors, scrapbooking materials, old magazines, crayons, rulers, googly eyes, pom pom balls, sponges, rubber stamps............

Crafts - I keep on hand (for Mahayla mostly), books on knitting, crocheting and sewing with all the materials for these, lots of beads, and the occaisional cheapo craft set from the dollar store or WalMart.

Science experiment books - I've run across many of these at yard sales.  My kids love to try experiments on their own!

Science craft books - these are fun.  They include projects like making bird feeders, windchimes, water microscopes............I found most of these at yard sales, too.

Nature study - We have a bag packed and ready for them to take off on their own nature walks/hunts.  We live on a farm, so they have a tad bit of freedom in this area.  In the bag we keep things like a hand-held microscope, baggies for collections, colored pencils and drawing paper, magnifying glass, Fandex field guides, sunscreen...................

Library trips - We do what I call "free reading" during the summer.  Books that have nothing to do with some sort of unit we're studying or checklist we need to check off.  The kids both pile up their stacks to take home and we just sit around and read, read, read all summer.  The trampoline is a great place for reading, by the way.

Field Trips - I like to just get up and go a lot during the summer.  We are blessed with many educational day trip destinations in Central KY!

I try to keep up with daily Bible reading to them.   Like I mentioned before, I still throw in the occaisional math worksheet.  The kids like to buy and work through the fun dollar store workbooks, so I'll pull those out some days.  Rainy days are good for computer games.  I don't let them have too much "free time" on the computer during the school year, so I don't feel bad allowing more in the summer.

I also make and print out a 100 Things To Do If I'm Bored list.  I've found several on the internet that I paste into a Word Document, then tweak to fit our family.  Do an internet search.  The lists have great ideas!

One thing my children have come up with that yours might enjoy - they've created spy journals.  The spy journals are just steno pads.  They have the most fun creating secret codes, spying on Dad or Papaw and writing down what they've seen, meeting in secret hideouts to discuss a mission......Hey, it's creative thinking and writing practice!!  I love it!

Summer is not a time to slack from chores!  They continue to have assigned chores daily.  I love summer break!!  Twelve days to go!