Fishing Activities For Kids

Summer homeschooling (+ fishing)

I have to admit, fishing with kids is one my favorite summer homeschooling activities! It’s one of those things you can do periodically, spur of moment, without much planning. Last summer, I took our older two kids out once the younger two were in bed. We have a few docks locally, that feed into the Mississippi River. Sometimes, other family members bring them out in our shared boat!

In the summer, our family typically takes a break from schooling. The month of June is 100% school-free. The exception is reading, which my kids do as part of their bedtime routine. (We also maintain chapter read-alouds in the summer, as a more lenient schedule allows).

In July, we start up some daily maintenance work, which entails math facts and a simple writing prompt each day. The summer after our first year of homeschooling, we took completely off–and when fall came, I regretted it! I felt like I had to reteach some basics, which got us a bit off track. So, each summer now, I have my kids do what I call “maintenance work.” They keep up with their basic addition, subtraction, multiplication and division facts, and also complete a basic writing prompt of 5 sentences each day. I worked really hard this year on writing with my kids, so I don’t want all of that work to get completely forgotten this summer!

silhouette of boys fishing at sunset in istanbul

Summer Fishing Projects in Homeschool

Alright, so here’s a little context. I grew up fishing in the Midwest. Not often, but consistently–once a year, at a special resort our family would go to. Fishing wasn’t my *absolute* favorite activity, but it’s nostalgic for me. A few of my immediate family members were die-hard fishermen. I knew my fish species, what lures attracted which fish, and how to pay attention to weather, weed lines, and water depth. I watched my grandpa , uncle and mom gut & filet fish, and enjoyed the savory smells as they cooked it up in our tiny, un-airconditioned resort cabin. Lots of nostalgia is wrapped up in fishing, for me!

I now have a diehard fisherman of my own, in the household! My eldest caught the fishing bug early on, and hasn’t quit since. He will be competing with a friend in The Bass Federation Junior Nationals tournament, this summer! We are so excited. He joined a Bass Fishing Club last summer and it’s just fueled the fire! I think fishing is an awesome hobby, and am so thrilled to support him in that.

Along those lines, I came up with a few fishing-related activities for this summer!