10 Fun Summer Homeschool Ideas to Keep Everyone Sane

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The warmer months are coming and you’re looking for some fun summer homeschool ideas to keep everyone happy and not let all that learning go to waste.

It can be tricky trying to decide how to treat the summer months because all of us have different ideas of how they should look.

If you need help to find your way with this and especially if you’re new to homeschooling, the ideas below should really help you out.

Summer Homeschool Ideas for the Summer Months: Should You Do Summer School?

If you follow the traditional school year like public school in the USA then your summer break is fairly long.

Here in New Zealand, it’s about 6-8 weeks and we celebrate Christmas during that time. For us, it is very natural to take a break from doing any kind of formal learning because we’re busy celebrating the holiday season. We’re more like year-round homeschoolers and we don’t take the whole summer off.

However, I can understand wanting to keep up some kind of learning activities when your summer break is quite long.

So, what you want to do may depend on the kind of homeschool year and homeschool schedule that you follow.

There’s no right or wrong thing to do here. If you want to continue with learning activities over the summer break then do it. If you don’t…then don’t.

Regardless of whether you choose to do school work during the summer months, there are some things that will truly help keep everyone happy and sane and those are what I’m sharing below.

The Best Summer Homeschool Ideas to Keep a Happy Family

Okay, you’ll not find a list of science experiments or lesson plans here however, I like to think that these homeschool ideas and this list of things will add joy to your family and keep life simple and sweet.

We all want to do fun things over the summer, but I don’t want any mom to every feel overwhelmed by what others think she should be doing.

With that said, not all of these ideas will apply to you but I hope that the ones that do are a blessing in some way.

#1 Create a Loose Schedule

As a mom of three little kids close in age, schedules have been my life for the past 6 years. However, as kids get older they naturally loosen up.

Nap times aren’t so much of a thing and once school breaks there’s even less focus on it.

I strongly encourage you to create some kind of summer homeschool schedule or at least a gentle rhythm for your days regardless of whether you’re doing school or not.

Having no routine is fine for a week or two but in my household everyone starts to get on each other’s nerves after that point and we crave routine.

Your days can still be flexible with a routine, but your kids will appreciate knowing what to expect and you’ll appreciate less pushback as a result.

You could even use a cute routine chart like this one so your kids can look at that and not ask you what’s happening when a million times a day.

While we do have a general routine, summer break means there’s a lot more free time to be had and so there’s loads of fun.

#2 Create a Chore List

Unfortunately, the house still gets dirty on summer break, the dishes still need washing, and the clothes still need folding.

Chores don’t ever take a vacation and so for the sake of our home (and my sanity), we still have chores that need to get done.

Set clear expectations for your kids so they know what they need to get done and when it needs to get done by.

It’s also a great time to change up the chores that they normally do so that there’s more variety for them.

We have household chores that need to be done just because they live in our home. For the sake of allowances and learning good money management each child has 3 jobs they need to get done in a week.

We follow the Barefoot Investor’s techniques for teaching kids money sense. I highly recommend reading his book if you’re looking for simple, easy ways to approach this topic.

#3 Ask Your Kids for Ideas

Summer is a unique time where it can be fun to do more as a family. I know for me I have more of an opportunity to be a fun mom because I’m not teaching them all morning.

Sit down and chat to your kids. Ask them for ideas of what they’d like to do this summer.

You never know what great things they may think of and the rabbit trails it could lead you down.

You may find that when you leave them to their own devices and encourage lots of outdoor play that they end up doing creative things like setting up a lemonade stand or figuring out how to make homemade ice cream.

Homeschooling means giving our children the tools they need to seek out what they want to know. Summer break can be a great test to see how that’s going.

#4 Plan Some Outings

Raise your hand if you’re a homebody (it’s me!!!). Seriously though, I don’t love leaving the house more than a couple of times per week. Home is my happy place.

However, for the sake of my children I do like to go out more during the summer months and do things we can’t do other times of the year.

These outings don’t have to be extravagant, especially if your kids are still little.

Also, while I know that some people refer to them as field trips, I just think of them as living life and doing things together.

We live in a coastal town and so for us, the beach is an easy option. I don’t take the kids swimming there on my own because the ocean and little babies scare me, but we do go looking for shells and have fun exploring the rock pools. Once we begin again we may look at different unit studies that could tie into our summer adventures.

We have a couple of berry farms nearby that make the most divine ice creams, and also a fun (free) splash pad down at our local playground.

All of these are places where we’ve made special memories together and they require very little effort on my part.

Kids of all ages will enjoy this kind of thing and I love that it means my kids are making memories with not just me but with each other too.

These family trips are learning experiences.

#5 Keep Reading!

If there’s just one thing I suggest you keep up with over school breaks it is reading.

This is something that you can easily put into your daily routine so that it doesn’t get missed and I can tell you that your kids will appreciate it.

I like to read aloud to my kids over lunch and just before rest time. It helps to wind things down and just bring us all together after a busy morning playing.

My children are all still little but because I’ve read aloud to them for the past couple of years, they do super well listening.

If your kids struggle then I suggest doing it during a meal, or giving them quiet toys to play with.

Here’s a list of books that we’ve read so far are:

You can also find a list of our favorite books for kindergarten right here.

And of course, don’t forget about your local library. I love that we don’t always have to actually go to our library if we’ve got other plans because we can just borrow ebooks for read alouds.

#6 Keep Meals Simple

I’m not a fan of cooking in general, but who loves to be working over a hot oven when it’s already sweltering hot?

Seriously, if ever there was a time to keep meals simple, it’s over summer.

We do a lot of BBQ meat and then just easy sides like salad, rolls, and oven fries (I do these in our air fryer).

I also like to cook larger meals that’ll last more than just one night. That way I only end up cooking 3-4 times per week.

Summer days often mean that dinner is eaten outside which is a great tip so that you have less mess to clean up!

#7 Enjoy the Season

I know this is vague advice but I think sometimes we get so caught up in what a season should be that we forget to just enjoy it.

Have you seen that meme going around about how you only have 18 summers with your children? Talk about pressure!

Here’s the thing, yes, time is fleeting but sometimes when we focus too much on that we spend all our time stressing about not having much time and we fail to see the blessings in the right now.

Your summer doesn’t have to include a fancy summer vacation, elaborate outings, and an impressive summer school unit study.

If all you do with your kids this summer is read a book outside while they play and spray each other with the hose, I guarantee that it’s enough.

#8 Embrace Nature Study

Give your kids a magnifying glass and tell them to go and find bugs outside, then when it gets too hot, have them come inside and draw or paint a picture of what they found. Bug studies are a hot favorite with my kids!

Another great investment is a microscope for examining all the interesting things they find in the back yard.

You could put up a shelf just for the outdoor treasures they collect and have a pile of nature study books right next to it for them to delve into as they wish.

Our favorites for this are Curiositree: Natural World and The Julia Rothman Collection.

If you go for a nature walk bring a picnic and a backpack full of notebooks and sketching supplies. Your kids can spend a lazy afternoon eating and drawing things that they find interesting.

Despite the fact that we take a break from formal education…learning never actually stops.

#9 Keep Rest Time

Rest time is my love language. Just kidding…kind of.

Seriously though, if you don’t have rest time as part of your day then I strongly recommend you introduce it.

And if you do typically implement rest time then don’t give it up over summer! I mean, you can totally be more flexible and skip it some days, but there will also be days where everyone really needs it.

In fact, I find my kids need it more over summer as they play so hard and the temperatures are warmer.

This isn’t just something for little kids, in fact, I have family friends who had an hour of rest time every afternoon until they left home.

Rest time is the secret sauce for many homeschooling families (and how to avoid homeschool mom burnout) because it gives everyone some breathing space. Your older children will likely really appreciate it for that reason.

Older kids can read, listen to audio books, do puzzles, play games, sketch, etc, etc. There are so many options for quiet activities that help restore calm to your home for at least a little while.

Oh, and just before I continue…I totally allow some screen time in the afternoon as long as chores are done. You know…in case you needed someone to say it’s okay if you want to do that too.

#10 Play board Games

If you want to do some homeschooling without actually pulling out the workbooks then a great way to do that is by playing some board games.

There are so many skills that can be taught simply by playing games together with your kids. A bonus is that they get to work on so much more than just academic skills.

Think about the relationships they’re fostering, learning good sportsmanship, and growing their attention span.

Some of our favorite board games are:

Closing Thoughts – Focus On Your Family

With the highlight reels you are constantly bombarded with on social media, you’d be forgiven for thinking that you’re not doing enough, but here’s the truth…

Our kids don’t need a fancy summer, they just need us. They need us to be invested and intentional when it comes to parenting them.

A list of summer activity ideas is meaningless if you’re just doing it because you think you should.

Don’t worry about what everyone is doing this summer when it comes to homeschooling or just life in general.

As a homeschooling mom I know that I sometimes feel the need to overcompensate for my children because of the untruths that society constantly tells us about homeschooling and homeschooled kids.

Simple is best. Less is more.

If you want to do all the fun activities this summer and book a vacation at a stunning resort do it!

If you want to lie in the sun and read a book while your kids make mud pies…do that! These summer homeschool ideas are just meant to help if you’re feeling a bit lost.

Focus on your family, focus on your kids and enjoy the days as they come.

These are the good old days.