Don’t think you’re the only one who’s kind of tired of school right now! Me too!
But since I didn’t want to lose too much momentum over these summer months, I decided we still had to do SOMETHING. It’s turned out to be so amazing that I wanted to show it to you. It has nothing to do with dual credit though (which is my usual topic around here), in fact, it’s with my younger kids – two boys! And while I wasn’t sure it would go over well with boys, they ask every morning after breakfast if we can get started. The BEST part?? I WANT TO GET STARTED TOO!
Here’s what we’re doing – The Picture Smart Bible and a “class” I call Nutrition. Oh, and because I can’t help the home school mom part of me, I still have them do multiplication flash cards on the computer – I don’t want to lose the little bit of ground we’ve gained there! (There are no links to this product anywhere in this article. If you like it, you'll find it easily online! I wrote this simply because it's a great product and serving our family well.)
The favorite part of our “summer school” is The Picture Smart Bible! Here are my guys DRAWING (actually tracing over some light outlines), COLORING (the part I wasn’t so sure they’d like, but that they LOVE!), and LISTENING as I tell them the story of each Bible book. And MY favorite part is that it’s casually “scripted” – meaning it very simply gives me a few sentences to say about each major event as we draw and color our way through each book.
Because a picture is still worth a thousand words, they are able to re-tell me the story of each book in detail! They’re HEARING it, they’re SEEING it, and they’re DOING it - I love seeing these results in my active 9 and 11 year old.
Each book of the Bible has a page (and permission is given to copy it for your kids and even for your school or home school co-op) that details that book from beginning to end, while some of the smaller books are put together on one page. We also get to label, draw, and color a few maps (like the Israelite’s 40 year journey) and other special pages like the tabernacle and Solomon’s temple.
Another thing my boys like as we’re going through the books is finding each coloring page’s “starburst” that contains a verse from that particular book that points us to Jesus. In Exodus it was Ex. 12:13 – “…and when I see the blood, I will pass over you...,” etc.
The Old Testament has 24 detailed coloring pages, and we’re covering about one page a week spending about an hour a day. So at this rate, we get to continue on into the fall! Then we’re going to do the New Testament.
All this learning is even further cemented as the kids sit on the couch with Dad and “tell” him their picture or share it with their grandparents or other brothers and sisters who aren’t in on the fun!
I had seen The Picture Smart Bible last summer in the huge home school convention exhibit hall - where everything available just kind of overwhelms you. But it stood out in my mind, and this summer when I saw it again I didn’t even hesitate. I sat down and poured over it. I wanted to know four things:
1) if my kids would be “hiding God’s Word in their heart” as opposed to just coloring a picture,
2) if it was going to be a good thing happening at OUR kitchen table – something worth devoting valuable time to,
3) I wanted to be assured that I wouldn’t have to do much (if anything) in advance, AND
4) that my kids would be excited about it for longer than 2 days!
These are some tough requirements, but the answers were yes, yes, yes, and yes!
Now, true, I’m having as much fun coloring (and therefore, learning) as the kids are! Which greatly helps the fact that when they beg to get started after breakfast, I say yes! I so love this over some of the previous summers (before I got a little older and a little more relaxed) when I stressed over “we’re going to keep doing school because it’s so hot outside, and besides, if we don’t, y’all are just going to make a lot of mess and noise.” So, this summer we’re having fun AND continuing to learn.
I thought it was just possible, actually quite likely, that you too could benefit from keeping some structure and learning happening this summer, while making some of the best school memories right there at YOUR table.
So, invest in some good quality coloring pencils like these and get each child a 3-ring binder and maybe some sheet protectors. Keep everything together in one plastic tub somewhere near the table, and I promise you they’re going to WANT to do this, and so will you!
The other summer subject we’re “doing” (as opposed to “studying”) is Nutrition. I had been wanting the book Nutrition 101: Choose Life! for some time. I’d borrowed it from a friend so I could check it out thoroughly because it was going to be quite an investment, and I wanted to make sure I wouldn’t be buying a book that might end up on the shelf. In the same exhibit hall where I rediscovered the Picture Smart Bible, I found this book for only $75 – ONLY? that’s a lot for one book! But because of some recent health discussions in our house, I was now even more aware that knowing how the foods we eat affect our entire bodies (brain, liver, blood, kidneys, you name it) was worth way more time than I was giving it (which at that point was zero). So I took the plunge, and now I’m so glad I did.
Because we were learning so much with the coloring, drawing, labeling, etc., that we were doing in our Bible studies, I decided to go online and get some pictures that would fit right in with this subject. Adding a new section to both of their 3-ring binders, we now had a place to keep the pictures, drawings, etc., that we’re doing on this subject too.
We’re now learning how the food we eat (the apple, the chips, the cookies, the broccoli) all affect the major body systems and how they function, the common health issues with each system, and both the benefits and consequences of good foods and bad foods. We’re loving the science projects and the easy “power” recipes included. Nutrition just happened to be something we weren’t going to learn much about in our everyday school subjects – at least not on the level that I was wanting. When it comes to food (and most everything else), we’re a “normal” family (if such a thing still exists). We eat plenty of fruits and vegetables and usually follow them with dessert! As a mom, I just feel better knowing that now I’m helping my kids (while learning it myself) understand how what we eat affects us in more ways than we ever knew. Just like learning about God’s Word, what we’re learning about nutrition is life-time kind of learning.
One of my high-school-age daughters came up to our school table the other day and said “Wow! This is exactly what I’m learning in A&P!” Yay! Now I feel like I’m giving my young guys a head start on high school and college level stuff. At least when they get to that point, this won’t be new information. And we can be reaping a lot of health benefits in the meantime!
As for the multiplication, if you’d like a great resource for free flashcards online, here’s what we use. Simple. Easy to use. And FREE!
So there you have it - this is what our summer days look like in the morning hours. The afternoons are still kind of crazy; they, supposedly, get their chores done, add a few books to their list for the library’s summer reading program, and hit the pool. While they’re busy with all that, I may spend the afternoon time working with some Dual Credit at Home students, adding a few dinners to the freezer, visiting with my mom that just moved from two hours away to next door (YAY!), or wrapping things up so I can go to dinner with my best friend, my husband!
Whatever YOU'RE doing this summer, I hope it’s bringing you much joy!
