Summertime Fun with a Touch of Learning – Part 1
By Amanda Bennett

Ah, the sights of flashing fireflies and the sounds of summer -- crickets chirping and slamming screen doors, the sound of bare feet running through the house, the squeals and laughter as the children play in the sprinklers remind us of this season of fun and outdoor play. For many families, the summertime is used for a rest for mom, and a time to let the kids unwind and interact with the neighborhood kids, attend Vacation Bible School, and perhaps go on vacation. Over the years, I have found that keeping the learning process going, casually, through the summer has some valuable benefits. Summertime learning can help keep their thinking skills honed, reading interests and ability don’t go through the throttle up and down that is typical in a structured school calendar, and it helps direct their activities in more beneficial areas of fun AND learning.

First, understand that these suggestions are shared with the intention of lightening your load and enriching your family’s summertime learning - - NOT to give you more burdens. Take these ideas and custom fit them to your family's schedule for the summer. You will find that the "I'm bored, Mom!" isn' t heard quite as often, and trips to the library are more interesting than ever. So, with these things in mind, here are some ideas to get you started. Reading can be a custom-made hobby for homeschoolers and summertime. The child can read more using those times when it is too hot to play outside, too rainy, or while traveling in the car.

While some children look forward to reading, others drag their feet about it, requiring more motivation to get started. Consider having them participate in a summer reading contest at the local library. If your library does not offer this type of program, how about designing your own family or neighborhood reading contest? Keep the prizes affordable and fun, something that everyone will enjoy. A few ideas include:

Rewards of pennies per page for the younger readers, along with weekly trips to the store so that the awarded pennies can be spent. Make some coupons on the computer or with construction paper, and reward the reader with a coupon for each book completed. At the end of the contest, the coupons can be traded in for some fun treats rides at the amusement park, nights at the pizza parlor, a day at the water park, etc You might also consider having a reward system using items that your child already collects: baseball cards, Matchbox cars, doll clothes, etc.

Reading can be enjoyed as a family during the summer, too. What about all that time spent driving on vacation? I've heard of several families that use this time to read aloud to each other, making the miles go by while keeping the interest level high. Depending on the family members interests and ages, consider some of the classics like Swiss Family Robinson, Anne of Greene Gables, David Copperfield, etc. The book by Jim Trelease, The Read Aloud Handbook has a wonderful list of books to share during family read-aloud times. For those of you with readers that get car sick while traveling, consider getting some books on tape/CD at the local library for your journeys. Also, one of our favorite traveling stops is at the many Cracker Barrel restaurants along the interstate. These restaurants offer a books-on-tape rental program and you can return the tapes at any Cracker Barrel along the way.

Now, how about math skills? You say that your child forgets everything he/she learns about math over the summer? Then summertime can be a great time to keep the skills honed while having fun. If you are planning a special vacation or trip, consider having your child or children plan the vacation, under your supervision, of course. After you explain the places that you d like to visit and the total amount of money that you can afford to spend, have them get busy planning the project. They can divide the budgeted amount up by day or by event. They will have to map out the route to take, calculate the mileage, estimate gas expenses, hotels, food, etc. Then they can develop a fairly complete vacation budget, and keep track of actual expenses versus planned expenses–what a valuable lesson!

Tune in next week for Part 2 of Summertime Fun!

See you here on The Front Porch on Tuesdays,

Amanda B.

www.unitstudy.com