 Hey everybody, welcome to Flodokway. I'm Jessica. Today's video is going to be a homeschool show and tell. The homeschool show and tell is an open collaboration hosted by Abby from Rooted and Rested Myself. Our goal with the homeschool show and tell was really just to show that there's not one right way to homeschool. And we do that by bringing homeschoolers together from around the world each and every month to share their take on a specific topic. This month's topic is homeschool and summer. So you are probably going to see some homeschool summer plans, maybe some summer day in the lives, maybe even people sharing that they don't homeschool during the summer. It's going to be a little bit of everything. So make sure you check out the link that I will leave in the description of the playlist so you can watch everybody's video. Now we actually do homeschool through the summer here in the Waldoch Way. And there are a few reasons for that. First and foremost, it is because we do not do well with no routine. Like if we don't have a routine at all, everything is just off the hinges. Like the day doesn't go well, it makes it super harder to get back into a routine later. We're just kind of all like aimlessly wondering around, wondering what to do. It just doesn't work for us. We need some sort of routine, even if it's less of one than during the traditional school year, we need something. So we do actually homeschool year-round. We also homeschool year-round not just because of the routine, but because we like to take breaks whenever we wanna take breaks. We wanna be able to go on vacation in the middle of the school year or enjoy parks and aquariums and Disney World when other people aren't there in, you know, September or February versus the summer. So we tend to just take a break whenever we want to in school year-round. Also, we really, really, really get a ton done during the summer. Living in Florida, it is ridiculously hot and there is no way we're gonna do a whole lot of anything unless it involves like water. So why not if we're gonna be stuck inside anyway, do some learning. And so that is kind of the reasons why we homeschool during the summer. However, that being said, our summers are a lot more relaxed. I do not typically introduce any new subjects. I spend the summers doing review. So we don't introduce any new, like math or language arts skills or concepts. I spend this portion of the school year reviewing things from the previous portion of the school year as well as checking my skills and concepts checklist that I made at the beginning of the school year, which I will leave a link to those. They're a free download for every grade level and the description as well. So I kind of spend this time reviewing them and making sure we've actually hit the things I wanted to hit. Did we master them? Did we not master them? Do we need to brush up on a few of them? Do I need to introduce things I've maybe forgot to introduce because the school year was so hectic? This is the time that I do this. Also, the summer is for fun. Like it is hands down a time for us to connect, have fun, follow and leave interest and lead. Not that we don't do that all the time because we really do try to, but she has like total control over the summer. It's the perfect time to deep dive into whatever she wants, which brings me to what we will be doing this summer. And that is deep diving into some animals. Emily is an animal lover. She has been for forever. And she's been begging me to do some sort of animal unit study just for her. And she has devoured these who would win books by Jerry Palotto. Like she absolutely loves them. So I decided it would be super fun to do unit studies based on each of them. And so I created the who would win unit studies and that's what we're gonna be doing this summer. Now, there are 21 total. I do not think we will actually get to 21 of them this summer. I mean, if we do, it would be like really impressive, but I'm just gonna let Emily pick and choose. So I already know that the one we're gonna be starting with is the lions versus tiger because she's obsessed with big cats. And it's two big cats, I believe. Actually, she put all the big cats first. Let's see. Jaguar versus skunk a second because again, big cat. Let's see here, those probably are the only big cats because then next she has Lorraine versus Tasmanian devil. She's kind of already put them in the order that she wants to do them over the summer. And so that is going to be like the big main portion of our summer as we are just going to deep dive into these, we're gonna have a lot of fun with it. We're gonna learn a ton about animals. It's going to be amazing. And then the other thing that we really, really like to do during the summer is books and movie combinations. I don't know why that just feels like so much fun. It gives us a way to connect as a family. So we've always done some sort of read aloud books as a family and then watch the movies like on a movie night, on a Friday or Saturday night. The great thing about that is that her book clubs with Miss Mary, which she loves on out school and I will link those two happens to also do book and movie book clubs during the summer. So this summer I signed her up for five. So as a family, we will read these five books aloud and then watch the movies and we will discuss them as a family as well as she will do the book club with Mary on out school. So the five that we are doing are how to train your dragon which Emily's read this whole series, but we have not. So Kevin and I will be enjoying that as well. The Hunger Games. I'm not gonna lie, I'm so excited for this. I read it like years ago. Wonder, Charlotte's Wed and Matilda. Now we have a list of 50 book and movie combinations on the blog that we have done the majority of already. So I will link that for you guys too. If there's some downtime, if we finish these and we're looking for something to kind of fill in until we're ready to start the other one or we finish all of them, then I will pull a few of the books and movies from that that we haven't done yet and I don't, off the top of my head, know which ones those are because I didn't make a list of them yet. So in addition to the Who Would Win unit studies and books and movies, we will be playing a ton of games. I am declaring this the summer of games. We are going to be playing games all the time. So I did not pick any typical summer like workbook, bridge book of any kind. We typically do the brain quest ones, which she loves but I decided instead of doing that, I would rather spend that 15 to 20 minutes a day playing a game with her because like I said, we don't do any new concepts. It's just review. I'd rather do that with a game so that we can spend that time connecting. So that's what we're gonna do. We're not gonna do any of the bridge workbooks or the summer workbooks. We're just going to enjoy playing a ton of games. Again, we live in Florida and it's super hot. So we spend a lot of time in the water. So this summer we will also be doing some pool schooling. If you're new here and you're like, what the heck is she talking about? We actually have a lot of things that we do in the pool that are educational because we spend so much time in that. So you can check out the pool school video that I did last year of all of our resources right here. And then in addition to game schooling and pool schooling, we will continue to enjoy quite a few different subscription boxes as a family as well. Kevin and Emily will continue to do their steam lessons one to two times a week that typically means him sitting down doing a subscription box with her one-on-one. The ones that we are continuing to get and kind of feel out this summer to decide what we're gonna subscribe for long-term next school year are a mixed mel. So we are subscribed to Mel Science. We get one Mel Science box a month right now and it's a mix of either the mel chemistry, the mel math, which is a new one that we're actually really enjoying or the mel physics. So those are the three that they rotate between when they're sending them to us and we're just kind of trying them out trying to figure out which one she wants to continue doing or maybe which one she wants to do away with. Anyway, so we're doing a rotation of those. They are still really enjoying the Eureka crate from KiwiCo. It's an older one, but because Kevin does it with her, I think it's like 14 plus. That doesn't say on here. But because Kevin does it with her, she has a lot more fun doing the older ones because the projects are more intense and so much more fun. She did a automated cornhole thrower and a ping pong machine. They really are a blast. So she enjoys being able to do those since he does it with her. And then we have really been enjoying the crunch labs as well. These have been a lot of fun. Emily could actually do them by herself but she enjoys doing them with Kevin still. And I think this is one that we will continue to receive but we're still just kind of trying it out throughout the summer so we can make final decisions for next school year. And the two that I know are not going anywhere because one is Emily's hands down favorite and one is our family favorite. Emily's favorite is the my zoo box. I personally think she just loves getting a stuffy every month. It is super adorable because yes, you get a stuffy, which by the way, this is this month's, come on, that really is pretty cute. But you also get a book to learn more about them. And again, I already told you, she's an animal lover. So you get to learn more about them and it has crafts and activities. She probably would just be happy getting a stuffy every month. But I love that she's also learning about whatever stuffy she's getting. So it's kind of like a win-win. And then the one that our family loves and does every month together is Universal Yums. We love sitting down and doing this as a family night. It's super, super fun to go through all the foods and try all the new things. My favorite is doing it when we have company. My mom always cringes when I'm like, it's Universal Yums. Cause somehow every time she comes over and does one with us, it's always like the worst box and has like the worst tasting thing in it. And I make her eat it anyway. But I digress. Those are the subscriptions that we will be keeping slash trying out during the summer. And that is really kind of it. I mean, I'm sure we will still do some journaling. We will probably still do some mail time. Emily is going to be doing two different summer camps. She's doing a C camp as well as a 4-H camp. We're also going on a beach vacation for her birthday. So I really wanted to make sure that I was planning a very kind of low key relaxed summer for our home school because she's not even going to be home for a lot of it. Like I said, two summer camps that are week long plus a week long vacation. That's three weeks right there. We won't even be here. So I didn't want to have so much that me or her or Kevin were overwhelmed. Like that would just not be fun, which is exactly what I don't want for summer. So we're going to focus on fun connections and just making memories. And that is going to be animal based because Emily loves animals and then books and movies and just subscription boxes that help us connect. And that is going to be kind of the basis for our summer. Now I did also want to tell you what our routine or rhythm is kind of going to look like. It flips on its head for summer because again, we live in Florida and it's really hot. So it only makes sense for us to get outside during the morning hours. So typically in the summer in the past, which I'm assuming is what we're going to do this year as we just wake up, do breakfast and go directly outside. Now Kevin and I will probably work out and then basically we just all get in the pool, which is perfect because we will be hot and sweaty since our gym is on the porch. But we spend the first few hours of the day outside, nature walk, beach, pool, whatever, if we're going to go outside, it's going to be between the time we wake up and lunch. So that is how our day will roll out. We'll have lunch and then normally we will roll into our morning basket, which at that point will be more like an afternoon basket. And I will share the details of that with you guys next week. So if you're curious about what our summer morning basket is going to look like, make sure you are subscribed and you stay tuned for that. And then once we finish our morning time together, we will do whatever kind of lessons there will be for that day, which what I'm thinking is going to be some form of the who would win, a little bit of read aloud and then playing a game and or doing a subscription box with either myself or Kevin. That is kind of what I'm thinking our day is going to look like. Really low key, lots of blank space for just fun and playing and doing whatever kind of we want to do. Now I would love to know what your plans are for the summer. Are you taking it off? Are you doing something more low key? Do you have plans? If so, please let me know down in the comments. I can't wait to read them.