As school doors close for the year to the jubilant cries of "no more teachers, no more books," parents face this age-old question:
What are we going to do with these kids for the next three months?
The most important thing, experts say, is to make sure you keep that book bag from being tossed into a forgotten corner of your child's bedroom.
"It's absolutely essential that parents work to maintain what's been learned during the school year," says Dr. J. Mack Welford, associate professor of education at Roanoke College in Salem, Va. "Summer is a good time for parents to help their students 'catch up' or provide enrichment activities to further their understandings of concepts."
It can be a great time to expose children to difficult subjects in a new way, says Dr. Anne Rambo, associate professor of family therapy at Nova Southeastern University in Fort Lauderdale and author of the book, I Know My Child Can Do Better (McGraw-Hill, 2001).
"Summer offers a chance to come at a challenging subject from another angle," she says. "Phonics games, flash cards and workbooks can be valuable if your child is not learning to read on schedule. Try chemistry in the kitchen or experiment with pulleys and levers. A child who struggles with math worksheets might come to life if you ask him to count change for you, or help you plan the budget for the grocery store. Interesting practice in basic skills can take place every day in the summer, with a little ingenuity from the parent."
Let your child have fun with learning, says Dr. Cyrene Wells, professor of education at the University of Maine at Machias. "Kids need to recreate in the summer. Now, recreation can take a number of forms -- reading for the love of it, going to camp, doing volunteer work -- but I don't think we should give kids more of what they did during the year, during the summer.
Summer vacation is an ideal time for acquiring or deepening a passion. Parents can help children develop a talent or skill that is not being developed in school by encouraging them to learn an instrument, create art, play a sport, or learn to dance.
"Such extracurricular activities help build confidence," says Rambo. "Particularly for the child who lags behind academically, these other skills may provide an opportunity to shine. And for the bright child who is used to doing well in school, struggling with a new skill may provide a good lesson in perseverance. Summer is such a great chance to help the child become a more fully developed person."
Perhaps most importantly, summer vacation offers parents the chance to get to know their child a little better -- a practice with more than one educational benefit.
Research has shown that conversation with parents is very likely to enhance children's reading ability, says Dr. Linda Thornton, associate professor of education at Harding University in Searcy, Ark. "The number of rare words in preschooler's family dinner table conversation predicted their reading ability at third grade," she says. "Talk about moral issues. It builds character as well as literacy."
If you learn about your children, you'll know more about how your children learn, says NSU's Rambo. Does your child thrive in a group setting, or prefer to daydream on her own? Is your child very physically active and need a few hours of strenuous activity to calm down and focus or does your child wear out quickly and show his fatigue with tension and distractibility?
"This information will come in handy during the school year," says Rambo. "Armed with such information, you can state assertively that your child needs a chance to run around at recess if he is to do well during the afternoon, or that your child's interest will be stimulated by library books about sports figures. If you don't know these things, it is unlikely your child's busy teachers will ever learn them."
Some more tips for making the most of summer vacation:
* Read all about it. "I strongly believe children should read every day and that the reading should include a variety of genres and topics," says UMM's Wells. "It's important, too, that children choose what they read. They may be helped by some guidance, but it's important that children learn how to choose books and reject ones they don't like." Harding's Thornton adds that summer is a good time for parents to share with their children the classics they enjoyed as children.
* Take advantage of local programs. "Many local colleges, clubs and organizations offer specialty residential or day camps that focus on particular interests such as computers and technology, nature and the environment, and archeology," says Roanoke's Welford. "Some museums offer these kinds of activities as well as some local recreation and parks departments." If you child needs extra help in reading, look for a reading club or program at your local library. There are also programs like Upward Bound and Head Start that provide academic support and social enrichment to families who meet low-income guidelines.
* Encourage writing. "Journals and diaries are fun," says Wells. "Kids can assemble their own books during the summer, maybe collecting favorite poems and making their own anthologies. Or older siblings can make books documenting years for their younger brother and sisters."
* Get out of the house. "Map out the summer vacation," suggests Wells. "Use maps, AAA guides and the Internet and plan the family budget for the trip." But don't think you have to leave town to learn something. "I recommend ordinary places that the parent enjoys and can explain to the child," says Thornton. "It is especially beneficial to take children with you as you do things for others. Visiting a homeless shelter or a food bank would be a valuable learning experience for children."
For more information, feel free to talk to Dr. Mack Welford at Roanoke College at 540-375-2562 or [email protected]; Nova Southeastern University's Anne Rambo at 954-262-3002 or [email protected]; Cyrene Wells at UMM at 207-255-1381 or [email protected]; or Harding's Linda Thornton at 501-279-4928 or [email protected].
Please let me know if there's anything further that I can provide; we help these schools with some of their public affairs work. You may reach me at 814-867-1155 or at [email protected].
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