During our homeschooling journey, there were a few times when we felt it necessary to continue our schooling during the summer months when most schools were out. There were a variety of events that led us to this decision.

One year, I had my appendix removed and, due to complications, it took several weeks for me to recover. While family members stepped in to help with making sure the kids were taken care of and that they did their schoolwork as I had planned out, I felt like things fell through the cracks and they needed to be work on.

Another year we struggled with finding the right curriculum for my daughter's math. We tried 2 different ones before finally finding the right fit for her with the third. While it is a perk of homeschooling to be able to switch curriculum mid-stream, it can stall your goals for the school year while trying to find the right one.

And there was another year when a series of unexpected family circumstances prevented us from keeping a steady pace and, while we did our best to stay on track, we fell far behind in our academic work.

In those years when we homeschooled through the summer, we relaxed our schedule and concentrated on the core subjects. We also modified our lessons and skipped a lot of the extra work. Our goal was not to cram in everything that had not been done, but to focus on mastering the material so we would be prepared for the new academic year.

As you might have guessed, homeschooling summer school was not exactly met with enthusiasm from my children. We did, however, keep the hours spent in the classroom to as few as were needed. When the weather permitted, we would often do our work outside or take it with us to a fun location like the park or to the lake, providing the kids with an added incentive to not drag their feet to finish their assignments. Most years we were able to get caught up in about 6 weeks leaving plenty of time for a summer break.