Keeping Summer Fun and Educational ~~ Guest Post

I am happy to share another guest post from April (check out her last guest post).  April is the author of April Noelle, a very insightful and inspirational blog.  Today, she provides a guest post that will ensure that your child is enjoying summer, while learning at the same time.  You can also learn more about her summer challenge.  Be sure to stop by April’s blog for more wonderful posts and podcasts.

Summer is now upon the Grant household. As much as I want it to be free time for the kids, I also remember being a child. After getting to do all the things that I wanted to do, and didn’t have time for during the school year, meant that before July 1st, I was completely bored out of my mind.

I loved swimming, but I couldn’t possibly spend eight hours in the pool every day. Nor did I feel great about finishing more than one-two books a day. Yes, I read that fast. I didn’t go to the library quite enough to keep up my reading patterns and it became harder to find books that I enjoyed in the kids section. (I wasn’t allowed to get adult mystery books.)

As a stay at home mom, I am taking my children’s fun by the hand and taking it for a ride. Oooh, that sounded like a lot of fun. Not sure it’ll be that exciting, but here’s what I am doing to make this summer fun:

70 Days of Summer

Since there are about 70 days between the last day of the year to the first day of the next year, I’ve challenged myself to do something “new” everyday. Some of these things will just be new-to-us (think of “preowned cars”) and some will be finding new things to do around the county. We will be visiting libraries, museums, beaches and more. Part of this is for me to break out of my comfort zone because I could stay in the house all day every day. Come join me on my journey, on my blog and Instagram.

Summer Reading Programs

Besides the fact that my son has reading assignments that he has to accomplish over the summer, we’ll be hitting up the library for as many events as we can. Our library has a suggested reading list, and we will be reviewing as many books as we can.

TenMarks.com

Math is another subject that slips over the summer and I want to make sure that my son’s skills are at least on par with his level at the end of this school year. I was introduced to the website called TenMarks.com. We’re still new to the program, but so far I like it:

1. Your child starts out with a math assessment. I’m assuming that it properly assesses their current level of math. I watched over his shoulder as he completed basic addition and subtraction, all the way up to basic algebra.
2. There is a parent login that allows you to track your student’s progress.
3. You can create rewards for completing assignments AND/OR making a minimum score. Those rewards are visible to the child every time hits the home screen.
4. Assignments are broken down by subject matter, like Expressions, Fractions, Decimals, Geometric Figures, etc.
5. It’s FREE over the summer! I’ll be using it for the summer and see if it’s worth it at the end of the summer (August 31st)!

I’ll keep you updated on how we like the program. If you would like other resources, more math sites can be found at KidSites.com.