Hi there!

I cannot believe it's already May! When did this happen? Weren't we just celebrating New Year's Day a few weeks ago?! Well, since spring is upon us, that can only mean that summer is right around the corner and I couldn't be more excited! Who's with me?

For me, May also means it's time to start thinking about summer learning for my kiddos. Although we are not year round homeschoolers, I do make it a point to make sure they are doing some kind of school work during this much-anticipated break. Nothing major or back breaking...just a little learning here and there to prevent summer learning loss.

Since I was previously a school teacher, I was used to taking the entire summer off. Once I started homeschooling, I thought I could do the same thing. Now I get why I heard nothing but crickets for the first few weeks back to school! We would spend so much time reviewing the previous year’s concepts, that both students and teachers would end up frustrated. The same thing happened while homeschooling. Once I realized what was going on, I decided to incorporate some learning into our summer instead of taking the whole summer off. The result? My kids retain more, and the transition back to full-time homeschooling in the fall is a lot easier now.

If you're in the same boat and looking for a simple schedule to follow that is already laid out for you, you're in luck! Time4Learning offers 6-week summer learning plans that we have been using for the past two summers, and for me, six weeks is just the perfect amount of time to keep those little noggins sharp. You can use these as you see fit, and for any grade level, so whether it's to review material, get a head start for next year, or to prevent summer slide from rearing its ugly head come fall, these plans are the easy-peasy way I keep my kids from falling behind.

- Robert, homeschooling dad