 Hey everybody, welcome to the Wallach Way. I'm Jessica and today's video is going to be our summer homeschool plans. Now, we technically homeschool year round and there's a few reasons for that. One is because all of us are people who thrive on having some sort of rhythm or routine and the idea of there being absolutely none would drive all of us crazy so we continue to homeschool through the summer so that we kind of keep up with our rhythm or routine because that's what we thrive on. Another reason is that it gets ridiculously hot here in Florida and so we are inside a lot anyways. Actually, we're indoors more in the summer than I would say that we are in maybe probably the fall, spring or even winter. So it seems like if you're indoors, we might as well do something like school anyway so that we can get some of it done. And then the other reason is because for us, there is never like a this is school time and this is living lifetime. For us, school and learning is life. Like we literally live a learning lifestyle and so there would never be a way for us to say, okay, we're not schooling or we're not learning for three months. That's who we are, it's what we do. So we homeschool through the summer. However, in the summer, our homeschool looks a little bit different. It's a lot more relaxed and our schedule or our routine shifts a little bit and it shifts a little bit because in Florida at least, number one, it is ridiculously hot later in the day and it's a little cooler early in the day and it's 99.9% chance of afternoon thunderstorms every single day for the entire summer. So while we're not early birds and we will never wake up at the crocodile, our school schedule shifts on its head and we try to spend like we get up and we get outside, we get in the pool, we go for a walk, we do whatever we wanna do as far as like outdoors. Then we typically don't come back in until around lunchtime, well, lunchtime for us, which would be like mid-afternoon, like I'm talking 3 p.m. And then at that point after lunch, we'll kind of like sit down and start school because the thunderstorms for the afternoon are rolling in and you can't be outside anymore anyway and it's kind of hot and humid. And so that's when we would start our morning basket, which at this point would be an afternoon basket and then we would work through whatever we were gonna do for a table time and our activities together and whatever that is. So where during the school year, we typically kind of get up and start our school day during the summer, we get up, we start our fun and then we do the school when we don't have a choice because we can't be outside anyway. So we might do some school earlier but it's very untypical for that to happen in the summer. Like I said, our day kind of flips on its head because we wanna take advantage of the weather when it's nice and when we can be outside. We also typically do a lot of review in the summer. I like to spend the summer reviewing the things that we learned the year before and to make sure that we've mastered the things that I personally wanted us to master, that Emily's got the concepts I wanted her to get, that we're not forgetting things. I don't normally introduce new concepts when it comes to math and language arts. I feel like the summer is a really great time to brush up, master the things we didn't master, review the concepts I want her to review, maybe get some fact fluency for math, maybe get a lot of reading in, those kinds of things, but I don't typically introduce new concepts. It's not that I won't, it's just not typical that that happens, at least not intentionally. So I'm gonna go ahead and show you the resources that I have for us for this summer. The two things that we'll be using kind of as a spine for the summer are the BrainQuest summer workbook from fourth into fifth to get ready for fifth grade. Now there are multiple different bridge or between workbooks or whatever you want to call them. Last year I actually reviewed three different summer workbooks, so if you're curious about maybe some of the differences, I will link that video up here for you. Emily's personal favorite is the BrainQuest one, and that's because it's a lot of fun, at least to her. It's colorful, it's lively, it's vibrant. There is a map, there's always some sort of map, but there's a map in the back of this one, and it is a way for you to put stickers as you complete different pages, and it was kind of another personal fun thing that it happens to be kind of an under the sea type of theme, this particular book in this particular year, because that is something she was super excited about and wanted to learn more about anyway. So when she saw it, she was sold. She was like, oh, yep, that's the one I want. So that is what we will be doing kind of as a spine. That's the thing we'll be doing most every day. And then the other thing I have is from Lakeshore Learning, and it's the Are You Ready for Fifth Grade Game Show. This plays a lot like Jeopardy. It has questions for math and language arts as well as challenge questions. We don't sit down and do all of the cards in one day. We typically do about four to seven cards a day from whatever category she wants to do them from. I keep the things she gets correct and incorrect separate. The ones she gets incorrect, I will kind of make a note of and make sure that we are using that as a way to review or go back to those concepts and say, okay, what can we do to make sure that we understand them? Is it things that I necessarily don't care if she learns? Is it things that she's forgotten or is it things that I didn't teach well enough? Do I need to teach it in a different way? So it's kind of a really great way to check behind myself as well as make sure that she's keeping current on the concepts that we have already learned. And I personally love that it's math and language arts and not all the subjects because to me, math and language arts are the ones I like to master. Everything else, while I like to expose her to them, I don't really require or expect mastery from her. So I love that this doesn't include anything other than that. Now for unit studies, like I said, I like to be interest based. So this is a little bit of a mixture of interest based and opportunity. We are going to be spending two weeks in the keys this summer and we are going to be doing three of the national parks, all of the national parks in Florida, but three of the national parks. So we will be using traveling the parks for that. We will be going to visit and explore Biscayne Bay, the Everglades and Dry Tortugas. So we will specifically be doing those sections out of traveling the parks so that we can learn more about the places we're gonna visit and where we're gonna be and kind of the things we wanna do and let Emily kind of figure out the cost of it and all of that. And then what she asked to learn about this summer was the ocean, so we will be using the ocean unit study for that. And I'm really, really excited for this because I learned a ton, even just writing this study. Like I've lived in Florida my entire life, we're surrounded by oceans. I really thought I knew quite a bit about the ocean and I was wrong, I learned a ton writing this. I'm excited to learn it alongside with her again this summer. I'm excited to spend a lot of time at the ocean, at the beach, have an excuse for that, going to aquariums. I just feel like summer is the perfect time to literally dive in, no pun intended there, but anyway. To the ocean and so I'm like, I can't wait. Like I'm really, really ready to start that one immediately. And then just some extras that we will be doing. Emily will be taking two online classes over the summer, one of which is her Lego class. She loves doing the Lego class. It's with Miss Bethany. They are still working through the Passports to More Adventures book so she themes them around that. So they are finishing those up this summer. I will leave all the links to everything in the description box if you wanna sign your kids up for it. It's really fun. Emily gets to build and show off what she's built, but also while they're building, Miss Bethany is constantly telling them and quizzing them about facts and history and science and just all this kind of random stuff, but it's always so much fun. Emily's always running up to us after class trying to stump us like, hey, did you know whatever it is? Cause there's always so many fun facts on it. And then the other class that she's gonna be taking is a book club on out school with Mary Hannah Wilson. We absolutely love her book clubs. And this summer, she did me a huge favor and she is actually doing books and movie book clubs, which I was thrilled because I didn't plan any this year, which is surprising. I almost always plan books for us to read that are books that have been made into movies. It's kind of a thing that we love in the summer. We like reading the book and watching the movie together as a family. And I plan none of them. I'm not even sure why I planned none. I just didn't plan any. And so when Miss Mary released her book clubs, I was like, oh, this is perfect. She did it for me. So we signed Emily up for all of the ones that we would be home for. So she's going to be doing holes, the BFG, Ella Enchanted and Percy Jackson, The Lightning Thief. So she'll do all of those. And the book clubs are meeting twice for each one of them. One week they'll discuss the book and then the following week they'll discuss the movie. So we'll still get to read the books and watch the movies together as a family. And then she'll also get to go discuss it with peers instead of just mom and dad. So I think she's really excited about that. And she loves Miss Mary's book club. So I know she's going to love that. Kevin is going to continue to do a steam with her throughout the summer. The only subscription that we have continued to get throughout the summer for them is Mel. So they will get Mel chemistry and Mel physics still. Now we actually are signed up for a physics subscription as well as a chemistry subscription. So we get both of these every month. So they get a chemistry and a physics each month. And so they will continue to do those throughout the summer. They absolutely love doing them. It's kind of a special time for them. And so I will pay for those all day long for them to have that special bonding time together. We will continue to also receive universal yums. This is a family favorite. It's something we've received for years since the beginning of homeschooling. We've, I literally can't think of anything else to have more fun with as a family. We've done it when friends have come over, when grandparents have come over. We love pulling it out and being like, hey, you wanna try food from wherever it's from, you know, Taiwan or Hong Kong or Europe or all these different places. It's just really, really fun. And that is one of our family night, like family night favorites. So we will definitely continue that throughout the summer. And then the last thing that we will be doing a lot of the summer is pool schooling. And I will have a video up next week for you guys of all of our favorite pool school resources. So if you wanna sneak in some pool school for your own self, like some learning while you're in the pool, stay tuned, because all of those resources will be up next week. Now, I hope you enjoyed seeing a little bit of our summer homeschool plans. As always, if you wanna see things a little bit more in action, try to follow me on social media, because I try to post a little more like, day to day stuff there on Instagram and Facebook. However, I will make sure that I do a day in the life this summer so you can see all of this stuff in action. So stay tuned for that. And I would love it if you would tell me down in the comments your summer plans. Are you homeschooling through the summer? Are you taking a break? And if you are doing either of those, I would love for you to tell me why or what you're doing because of it. If you're taking a break or you're going on some fun vacations, if you're gonna school through, what are you using for resources?