Mine doesn’t want any Summer program this year, residential or not. She will read. And she will do some Math study at home.
Now that most of Summer program’s application due dates are passed or near, what’s your child’s Summer plan?
We were just talking about this last night. No residential (kid is not interested), so looking for local programs. Some time with grandparents but have to find something else soon, because 13 weeks is too long to do nothing, plus we can’t take all summer off from our jobs!
My child goes to camp for 4 weeks during the summer, her choice of course. In fact she has received a scholarship this past summer and this summer again. She is practically counting down the days! She usually vacations some with her grandparents as well. Other than that…she’ll probably just enjoy reading and swimming and relaxing over the summer!
This will be the last year that ds will go to his four week non-academic sleep away camp. It will also be his last year going to his day camp as a camper for the remaining weeks of summer. He usually signs up for an on-line math problem solving course and/or an on-line computer programming course as well. I haven’t asked him what his plans are for that yet. This may be his last summer to play, so I would like him to embrace it!
The summer before 7D1 went to BS, we minimized camps/etc. for both kids and spent the money on a family vacation. More than any academic or EC “enrichment”, what my wife and I craved that summer was every last bit of QT as a family.
Yes. Family vacation. She is going to join us for Yosemite backpacking. She couldn’t last year because of a residential camp.
Mine will go to 4 weeks of overnight camp in July (her 6th year there). Haven’t figured out August yet, but will take a short vacation and hopefully there will be a lot of shopping for BS items! Some schools she applied to like Tabor have a summer orientation week.
We do the same as the other seasons. We don’t treat summer any different than the other seasons.
@laenen, yes we treated Summer the same when we traditionally homeschooled.
@SculptorDad – to be honest, we did it this way before home schooling. In fact 2 of my children are in public school. When they get out in the summer, they get a break and then they go to summer school. I have never been a fan of 3 months off. I much rather have children go slow and steady. Shorter school days and longer school year.
Our summer beach house. VACAkid wants to get a job and be a bus boy for the breakfast shift and hit the beach in the afternoon. He has it all planned out. I started working at 14, so did DH, so we are all for it!
@laenen. glad it has worked that way with your family. Mine has refused to take summer courses. 
There’s a lot to be learned away from textbooks and class rooms. I’m all for exploring other areas of interest and for as much family time and sunshine as possible.
@doschicos we explore family time and sunshine all year long. In the winter the whole family skis together. There is no shortage of exploring. We just don’t break for summer. The whole summer break think is a throw back to an economy that doesn’t exist for 99% of Americans.
We worship our short summers here in Northern New England, don’t need an agrarian excuse for that. Only one of us is a skier. My kids have had plenty of active summers with jobs, study abroad, and other amazing adventures but the summer before boarding school starts is a good time take a breather from textbooks. But, hey, I have some hedonistic tendencies and I am a big proponent of gap years, too. It’s good to get off the hamster wheel, but I get the sense that your homeschooling lifestyle allows for that flexibility, @laenen.
Plans for DS will depend on the results on M10. Currently he is registered for a residential program in math but if he will be leaving us in the fall for BS, I would want to use this summer for a longer family vacation. We usually do a one week vacation together after his summer program away but this summer (hopefully) will be different … Because the regular school year is so boring for DS, summer has been the time when he gets to learn at his pace in the areas of his passion with like-minded peers.
I didn’t realize the 70s were over until we hit the BS world. ChoatieKid lounged away his entire life until he left for CT. Except for Boy Scout activities, he pretty much played video games, slept, and prowled around the Internet unsupervised. At least that’s what I THINK he did all day. Summer camps, family vacations, summer school, beach houses, ski trips, test prep? No, it was still 1972 in our house–if you’re bored, find something to do or I’ll make you clean your room, just make sure you come when I call for dinner. The summer before Choate was identical; he slept, played video games, and tortured his cat until it was time to board the plane.
How the heck did he get into BS?
My kid landed a summer job in a specialty food shop when she was 14. It has been a great experience for her and she has continued to work there every summer and during school breaks. She takes the first and last week of summer off, and works full time for the remainder of the summer. There is nothing like a job to teach kids about real world responsibility. The money she earns covers her cell phone bill, pays for most of her clothes, and whatever personal spending she requires during the school year. Last summer, she paid for her own drivers ed class too. She has learned to plan and budget and prioritize, has learned the difference between “needs” and “wants”. I highly recommend a job as a summer activity!
My DC would love a job. But not sure how it would fit around a planned vacation, and plus we spend every other week at the beach. DC also mentioned wanting to go to two or three camps.
Personally, if DC ends up going to BS, I don’t want her to do anything but spend time with us this summer. That’ll never fly.
We sent DD on a language immersion program in Europe for two months. We mentioned that she would be doing this during the interview and I feel it helped make her seem more worldly, adventurous, perhaps mature. It was a great experience and I would recommend it to all. Enforex is the Spanish program.
Other summers were spent doing StarTalk language immersion programs in Mandarin for the month of July. They have several languages available: Arabic, Russian, Mandarin. Applications are being accepted NOW and it is almost free.
This summer DD is taking some courses at her school (CRH) to enable her to take a 6th class next year. Hopefully next summer she is off to China…fingers crossed.