Desoto Elementary

From The Counselor

"How I spent my summer vacation"
or
"What to do when not watching little league"

School counselors are frequently asked for sage advice on how to prevent the learning curve from becoming a learning droop by the time fall classes reconvene. It is true that kids lose a certain amount of edge if not honing their hard-won skills over the summer months. Summer school, tutoring, and just plain regular drill will obviously lessen the decline, but how can a family realistically balance those choices and do the myriad things that families do? Isn't there a way to provide enrichment and still leave time for the child to "just be a kid for one more summer?"

The following list of suggestions are not for the faint of heart or the non-adventurous. You will also notice a slight aversion to too much television and over involvement in organized sports. They have their place in family life, but many would be shocked to actually calculate the percentage of time allotted when compared to such as reading, chores, real family dialogue, or just learning how to exist with one's self. The old saying "If you're too busy to go fishing then you're probably too busy" applies to families as well. Over-scheduling prevents a child from learning self reliance, inductive thinking, and the experience of solitude. Many of the following can be done on a daily basis with little planning. Others may be done less often or on a onetime basis as time and desire allow.

1. Don't instantly understand your child's problems. You have all summer, so when your child confides or has a problem, don't be too quick with explanation, analysis, or understanding. Children feel their experiences are unique and they're right. Don't assume you already know their meanings. Take a moment or two of just asking for more explanation or "What do you feel" or "Need to know."

2. Get up early. Save late sleeping as a treat or as makeup time for a late night before.

3. Read daily in front of the child and have them read as well from a variety of sources.

4. Teach recycling and encourage diverse interests by having the kids collect old magazines from neighbors and friends. You never know what interests will be sparked by fishing, photography, travel, auto, and other magazines. you may wish to censor some sources however, or you may generate more interests than you bargained for.

5. Limit TV to an amount equal to independent reading. In the case of nonreaders, double time for time having things read to them. require, according to age, (younger ones may recite or dictate notes to other siblings) that a synopsis or critique of the show will be written. Titles such as "Why this program is so important to my intellectual, social, and moral development that my parents would let me spend valuable time a\watching it" should be encouraged. Well, not really, but you get the point.

6. Introduce them to the comics, want ads, and editorial pages of the newspaper. Explain political cartoons to them, maybe even compose a letter to the editor.

7. Read and trade recipes that would allow a child to learn basic cooking skills.

8. Hand them a Sears catalogue, newspaper ads, and grocery ads and assign $150 in play money. Tell them to figure a budget for the week or summer. Show them your utility bills and property tax statements. What better place to learn about real life than from you.

9. Teach them how to "properly" wash a car.

10. Enlist their help scouring for coupons.

11. Go rummage sale shopping. To really make it interesting, offer a 25% rebate for all savings between costs of the usable rummage items and the retail price of clothes, books, and toy purchased. Let them calculate their cut. You check the math, too!

12. Use city and county maps to plot directions to such events as sales, shopping, and visits to friend's houses.

13. Volunteer, civic groups, church activities, and even politicians need help with such things as stuffing envelopes and wiping tables. Hurried neighbors and the elderly can always use a hand.

14. Take long drives on back roads. Pack a lunch. Plot the map. Take a wild flower identification book.

Enjoy your summer!