Summer Balance
By Chelsey Dankert
I think it’s safe to say that summer is finally here in south-central Michigan. Our spring was touch-and-go with some really gray and rainy weeks, but even with the storms forecasted the weather is warm and the sun is bright.
Our homeschool journey is a little different this year, as some commitments have shifted that will allow us to actually be home the majority of the summer (that’s a topic for another time…), and I’m excited for all the possibilities that my favorite season will bring for our family in the coming weeks.
As much as I’d like to kick back and spend hours at the lake reading, tending my barely-budding garden (thanks to the cold May we experienced), or make day trips as far as our budget could take us, there are still goals and responsibilities that must be kept in check to keep our household moving (chugging, clunking, or some days even limping) along.
Over the last 2 years of our homeschool adventure, I’ve tried various ways of segmenting schoolwork - I tried rhythms, I tried loops, I tried color-coding subjects to be completed in certain timeframes…and often it felt like things, many things, fell through the cracks or certain loops were constantly missed because of our activities or my work schedule. I eventually looked at our entire week and created a daily expectation that fit into each day independently, while (ideally) achieving our overall goals. I revisit these outlines and goals quarterly and adjust them with the input of my husband, as needed. I will openly admit that I likely (okay, okay, actually in fact) spend way too much time designing these each quarter. But it brings me joy and the kids love to pick out their themed character for the season. (Photos below)
Our daily expectations for this summer season includes:
Our daily self-care reminders
Checklist for before approved screen time
Quarterly home blessing (chores)
Simplified summer school schedule
Routine Self-Care. This is pretty basic, but clearly needs reminding. We keep these together on clip boards so hopefully they won’t be lost in their rooms too quickly. Usually I just have to ask “have you completed your self-care?” and they know well enough what they have missed. This doesn’t really change from one quarter to the next; mainly just the design. I cut the page out into thirds and laminate along with the Daily Checklist…
Daily Checklist. This goes on the other side of the “self-care” card so each child has responsibility to look at both sides. This checklist is another basic element of our day and is often referred to when screen time is requested too early.
Home Blessings. This is what we call chores. I tried rotating weekly, but I didn’t feel that the kids really learned how to do the blessing well; it has worked well to change the home blessings quarterly along with our school schedule. As the kids are getting bigger, their blessings will change, but we rotate through the same basic 6 or so and simply adjust to meet the age-appropriate levels. Weekly during the school year we have a very light day of book-work and focus most of our mental and physical energy on “deep cleaning” our assigned areas of blessings. This is the first summer that I am working on keeping that deep cleaning expectation to help keep the house in order.
School Focus. We are working through the Summer Bridges workbooks and I am determined to finish them. We have found these very easy to get through and they keep the fundamentals top-of-mind. The time commitment that these require is about 15-20 minutes each day. Each child has a “100-day Devotional” book that they read and use a journal to write or draw what stood out to them for that day. Depending on the child this can be completed in 10-20 minutes. We LOVE the summer reading challenge that our library hosts so generally reading is not a problem in our house - getting them to read something other than graphic novels however, can be more challenging. Our oldest son is 8 and has really been enjoying the actual novel of the Wings of Fire series. It was a happy mistake that the next book requested wasn’t the graphic novel. He’s trucking through it and I’m slightly invested in finding out if Darkstalker is trustworthy or not, now that I’ve read out loud to him everyday this week.
Weekly Focus. While I like the simplicity and open-and-go of the Bridges Workbooks, I knew we would need to hone in on a few topics to be sure the kids are where we think they are in grade-levels and know where they can be challenged a bit more next year. This is a single worksheet or activity each day in addition to their other expectations. Even with fussing about “more math” this really takes very little time in the grand scheme of the day.
Our two older kids have a certain level of independence as they can now read instructions and complete their workbooks almost entirely on their own while I check their work afterwards. Our oldest seems to be able to concentrate best alone in her room; and our 8 year old has more confidence sitting beside me while I work at the table. If there are problem areas we will work together or bring in the Big One (aka, Dad) in the evenings when I just can’t seem to get a breakthrough on the subject. Our 5 ½ year old loves to write and will copy most anything until her little hand gets tried. She enjoys listening to a story, then drawing her own picture of what she heard. Some days we get through our routine quickly in the morning, other days I enjoy watching them all play together in some sort of wonderful imaginary world. Most days, whatever time it is, an easy question like “Have your completed your self-care?” or statement of “It’s time to check home blessings,” they know well enough what to do next and it keeps our home more manageable without constant micromanaging and overseeing from my part.
I do try to have 2 touch-points for home blessings each day, one in the morning and one after lunch/before dinner. The key word for the daily checks is “tidy” - pick up the big things and the items that do not belong in that space. Aside from the home blessings, each child is responsible for putting away their laundry (when I actually fold it in their correct baskets).
These are not perfect rules or strict timelines, but they are a constant reminder of what we expect and how we take care of our home, our minds, and our bodies throughout the day.
I am excited about some potential changes to our fall routines that I will share later in the summer!