Summer Upon Us

Makenna brought home her last progress report [before summer vacation] a couple days ago and I must say, I teared up. Makenna is 6 BUT she's in Kinder because her birthday is in November. I hate that the school system works that way because it makes her one of the oldest in her class and she was held back from really learning before she could get into a classroom.

Kinder has been great for her. She loves her classmates and loves her teacher, heck we love her teacher. She's amazing.

So her report card. It said that this quarter Makenna has excelled in her reading and she is at the top of her class. Reading so fluently it surprises her (the teacher) and that Makenna can write a 5 sentence story perfectly. Her speech has definitely improved because of this too I must say.

Now with her first official summer vacation coming up before a new school year we've been trying to think what we want to do with her. Get some books and still teach her through out the few months she's off while still letting her enjoy her summer? Hire a tutor? Another this is that I know Spanish is huge here in Florida and it's one thing she's been really asking me about lately. I constantly hear, "Mommy how do you say ___ in Spanish?" or '____ in Spanish?', it's at random times but I always have to answer "I don't know" because yeah, I took Spanish in school but do I remember it?! Heck no!
So I think we might get Makenna a Spanish tutor for the summer and see how that goes. I think she'd love it and really learn a lot.

What are your plans for keeping your kids focus over the summer so they can still go back in August with the drive to learn?? I'd love some ideas on how you teach your kids from home without overwhelming them.