How to Make Summer Learning Fun with Rocket Science!
Do you homeschool year-round?
We do! I find it’s easier and more relaxed to keep homeschooling through the summer. This way we maintain a good homeschool routine and don’t suffer from the dreaded summer brain drain. But, that DOESN’T mean maintaining a grueling academic schedule. It’s easy to create a plan to make summer learning fun while leaving my kid’s more room to explore their interests.
A sneak peak into one of the great book recommendations
What’s the key to fun in our summer homeschool plan?
I let my kids pick what we explore! They both love science and arts so I plan a lot of great hands-on summer STEAM activities. NorthStar’s Rocket Science! Activity Guide fits the bill perfectly. NorthStar makes many different STEAM activity guides and secular homeschool unit studies. This one is brand new and it’s sure to be a hit with kids of many ages. The guide is perfect for about a week of hands-on fun and it has lots of extension ideas to make it a much longer activity for super engaged little future engineers. We like to pretend it’s our very own DIY outdoor STEM summer camp!
Here is our simple summer homeschool week:
MONDAY: Cozy Reading Time
I like to cozy up on a big picnic blanket to read with my kids on summer mornings. It’s such a great way to connect and relax outdoors. Using Rocket Science! you kick off with some excellent summer reading picks. The books are optional but totally amazing and engaging for kids. Your top pick is all about the people and engineering behind humanity’s greatest adventure - the MOON! And you’ll have other great selections about the science of rockets and diverse figures in STEM history.
Very helpful guide pages
TUESDAY: Explore and Get Creative
The next day, we explore the big ideas behind rocket science with a quick and easy primer. The guide has some reference links to explore the ideas further if needed. Then, you introduce the design process. Your kids will be engineers taking a mission to space! You’ll encourage them to get their creative juices flowing by telling stories about their plans for this adventure. When it gets hot out, you can head inside to watch an inside scoop of a more recent space venture - the Mars Rover landing!
WEDNESDAY: Hands-on STEAM Activity Labs
After that, you dive into your two main hands-on STEAM activities, designing your very own rockets! I always encourage the kids to ask lots of questions to deepen their engagement and this guide has many prompts to help you do this too. It’s truly an inquiry-based approach. You’ll also have a chance for some fun play-based math integrated into the labs. Failure is part of the design process, so you’ll fix your designs together, with some great tips, and do each lab several times, learning a ton about emotional resilience along the way.
Engineering the perfect rocket launching base - it’s not always pretty, but we learn a lot along the way!
THURSDAY: Playful Literacy and Learning Extensions
You’ll have the chance to take it further with additional types of rockets to explore. Or you can delve into one of the recommended books that prompt discussion and artistic exploration about big dreams and overcoming limitations in life. You also do some playful activities with your new science vocabulary words. Content-based literacy has never been easier!
FRIDAY: Notebook and Share your Discoveries
If you follow my blog, you knew this is coming. I love using a notebook in our homeschool. We call it our “Discovery Journal.” My son loves looking back on everything he’s learned, which is saying a lot because he’s a reluctant writer. At the end of your week of Rockets, you’ll log the whole experience into your discovery journal. NorthStar helps you prep this notebooking project and it’s a great tool to use for all your summer STEAM learning. Then, to wrap it all up, you can share your best photos and your kid’s honest review with NorthStar and get featured as a student of the week.
That’s it for your great week of science and engineering fun!
I truly think you will love Rocket Science! It’s available now in the NorthStar store for the sweet summer price of $7. Oh and considering a STEM summer camp would cost you at least $350 a week and typical STEM subscription boxes cost about $30, I’d say this is a super affordable option!