Summer School, Home School Style

This summer, we've opted to not send Micah to summer school. Again. I like to keep my kids home with me in summer because the school year is long enough. And Micah likes to be home when his siblings are. It's a form of cruel and unusual punishment to send one child to school while that child knows his siblings are at home enjoying themselves in the pool.

I do have a teeny, tiny little bit of concern for not sending Micah to summer school this year. Summer school is recommended for those kids who will lose so much of what they've learned that it'll take longer than most kids to re-learn it once school resumes in the fall. These kids will then fall further and further behind their peers because of all the recapping they have to do in order to retain learned things.

This is the very first year that Micah actually learned anything to forget. He now knows his alphabet, and can recognize the letters in print as well as verbalize their sounds (as much as he's able), and he can count and write his numbers. Pride oozes from him as he does this, too. Much like it does from me while I listen to him.

So we've decided to be proactive this summer and make learning a daily event without actually making it a chore. We have the alphabet taped to the patio door so that he has the opportunity to review any time before he heads outdoors. We also have the alphabet in the upstairs hallway, and I take time to go over this with him as frequently as I can. Micah mostly counts things on his own because he's my boy and lurves numbers a whole, WHOLE lot. But still, he needs to practice writing them to keep up his handwriting skills. (He struggles with that a lot.)

I had Luke help Micah with his counting one day. Luke rocks at things like that.



But the daily rain shower washed it away (seriously, it's like a rain forest here), so Micah recreated it. Learning. It's what summer school is all about.