Summertime is the time that kids love to get out of school and just run around outside or think they can play video games all day long. But really, summer is still a great time to keep learning, especially if you can keep it fun. We had the chance to check out Summer Brain Quest for Adventures Between Grades 3 & 4.

The Summer Brain Quest books are filled with Math, English Language Arts, Social Studies, and Science pages to help your child keep learning in a fun way all summer long. But this isn’t just a summer workbook with all the subjects separated, instead, this is an interactive workbook that mixes the subjects up and has a map for your child to follow as they go. The map has different quests along the path, and different levels as well. Your child can advance along the paths by completing the workbooks pages.

As they finish a lesson, they put a sticker on the matching spot on the path. These can be regular workbook pages, outside quests, or bonus questions. With the 3rd and 4th grade book, there are forks in the path. Your child will have to pick one and follow that path to the end. Once they are done with that path, they can go back and do the second fork as well.

At the end of the book, there is an option to earn a 100% sticker on your map. To get this, your child must complete all the activities and have 100% of their stickers on the map. This map gives your child incentive to finish all the lessons in the book before summer is over.

One side note, this workbook aligns with common core state standards. While I don’t always use curriculum like this, this workbook has been just fine for us, and we haven’t run into a problem with it because of this fact.

We homeschool all year, so we don’t have a summer break to worry about, but this book has come in very handy for our busy days. Instead of using this for a summer break, we have used this on our busy days, which we have a lot of lately. On those days, I don’t want to miss out on the ability to learn if we can do so.

When a busy day hits, or if we need some extra learning, we pull out this workbook. In fact, I find my son pulling it out more than I ask him to because he wants to finish the map. The pages are short, and while not hard, they are challenging enough to make him think about what he is doing.

My son loved the fun, colorful pages. It was not enough to distract him from what he had to do, but enough to keep him interested in doing the pages. The map kept him motivated to keep working and allowed a visual as to how much he had done and what was left before he reached the next level.

I loved that the book was mixed subjects. I enjoyed not having to tell my son which pages to do, just to do the next two or three pages and put on his stickers. The map was the other part I loved. I could see what was being done by checking the map and seeing his progress was a great thing for both of us.

This book was a fun book to brush up on skills and a great way to keep learning when the days get busy. This is a collection that I would love to keep in our house as the children get older. I can see us using these on a regular basis in our homeschool.

—Product review by Amanda Hopkins, The Old Schoolhouse® Magazine, LLC, June, 2018