Summer Time Fun!

With the “school year” at an end, I know that many of us are wondering just what we’ll do with the kids, now that most of our curriculum is done with. I have been wondering the same thing! With two active boys, I’m constantly dealing with pent up energy and the need to be doing something. There’s just too much testosterone in this house for it to be otherwise! So I’ve been looking for various projects to keep our minds and hands busy for the summer – and learning along the way.

Here are our favorite ideas for summer projects:

• One of the boys really, truly, loves nature and books. The other one loves books and drawing . We found this WikiHow on binding your own book! Since I have to repair the binding on the Algebra book anyway, I’ll be sure to order enough supplies to make our own books too. This will be a terrific way to bring out the artists within while learning something truly useful in their life, and keeping their hands busy.I can’t wait to see what they draw or write in their very own books! I am positive these books will be very special to each of them for a very long time.
• We love Science. We are going to be continuing our Science lessons(we’re loving Nancy Larson) over the summer, but we’ll also be adding some extra projects just for fun. We have found some fun little kits, and plan on building a windmill powered LED light, probably find more uses for the vibrating motors we have from the bristle bots and I’m absolutely positive they’ll want something to blow up.I’m sure you could build this windmill generator with an old R/C car motor and tin cans – we may just try that too, but the kit is inexpensive and looks easy to do.
• We’ll be outdoors a lot. We have our own archery gear, so we’ll get to the range regularly. There happens to be one nearby the museums, so we like to go early to the range, then visit museums. Our local museums have free museum Tuesday, so we figure out which ones are free so we can visit those!We also love the beach – there are loads of tide pools here, near to areas where the kids can swim a bit. Then there are the mountains! We’re only 30 minutes away from Julian, home of the best apple pies ever and some amazing hiking and camping. We love bike riding too and there are great trails all around the county.

What are your ideas for summer? We’d love to hear about them – just comment below to share with all our readers!