Ahh, Summer...

No more teachers, no more books, no more teachers' dirty looks!

Can you remember that chat from elementary school? I do. Somehow the summer seemed so wonderful and stretched out before us like an endless road that kept going and going and going.

Ahh, Summer.

Many folks want year round schooling and I guess I can understand why. With so many working parents who have to pay child care in the summer, it makes sense to have school so the kids will be productive and not be left alone for many unattended for hours or will not have to be in long term day care situations. It is much easier for many parents to take a week here and there during a year-round school calendar to spend time with their children, than to take off an entire summer.

Also, studies [so they say] show that kids loose a lot of knowledge over the summer and shorter breaks are better to keep up skills.

I have to question this. If the kids really learned something, are they going to forget it all so quickly? I mean, if you take smaller breaks during the year [and more of them] won't they forget more?

I know with my kids a summer off seemed to bring about a maturity that always surprised me. Sure, they might forget some math process over the summer, but I could usually review it with them and they could "remember" it in about 5 minutes. But, there is something magical that happens to a student in the summer between grades that is hard to explain but I know many parents will testify that they have seen it too.

The kid grows up.

The little kindergarten student in June, becomes a more confident 1st grader in a matter of months. Children that have time to think and play and do chores and maybe get to go camping with the family mature at a greater rate than when they are going to school every day. I don't know why, but I think it is true.

Perhaps it is the lack of schedule that helps them learn to manage their time better. Perhaps it is because they spend more time with their parents and siblings. Perhaps it is because when the brain that has been working hard on academics is given more freedom, other parts of it that do not have to do with school-type thinking get a chance to develop.

I am not sure, but whatever it is, I am glad for it. I am glad that a lazy summer can be the means for a child to mature.

Along this line, I thought you might enjoy these thoughts as well:

• Fire Escape and Playing Poker -Why even the public school textbook writers think homeschooling is a good idea--even if they don't realize it!
• I'm Bored- Ideas for beating summer boredom
  

Take care,
Jill

[Photos of fun in the summer time]

Fire Escape and Playing Poker...

Dr. Susan Canizares who actually writes for Houghton Mifflin Harcourt [public school textbook publisher] and an expert in elementary education and child development, would probably be shocked to know that she supports homeschooling! [See Summer is no excuse to take a break from learning.]

She had lots of ideas and says summer learning "isn't about erecting a chalkboard and having mini-lessons in your living room." Here are some of her tips for summer learning that really work:

• Teach math through cooking
  
• Take you kids along on errands so they can have "real world" learning
• Let kids help plan trips and vacations--have them calculate # of shirts they will need for the trip, how long will it take to get to your destination
  
• Use penmanship and critical thinking, work with maps
• Read to your child, she says, "You can never read to your kids too much...it expands vocabulary and comprehension..."
• Write--have your kids keep a journal
• Use varied colorful language around your child

This sure sounds a LOT like homeschooling, doesn't it? When homeschoolers take our kids to do chores with us, it is called "sheltering them from the real world" --when they do it as part of school it is called "real word" learning.

Makes you wonder where and what this real world is. It is in school? Or at home and out in the marketplace?

When we use our home to teach we are called isolationists and are accused of having socially inept kids. When schools use "homey situations" to teach concepts it is called "bringing real life experiences into their classrooms."

I think homeschoolers and public schoolers agree on more than they think, perhaps it is more a question of semantics and location?

In all fairness, I think the good doctor has a lot of wonderful ideas and it is great that she is encouraging kids and parents to spend quality time doing enriching activities. I just wonder why the same experts that give this type of advice, who recognize that learning can take place in many ways and that parents are great teachers, balk at homeschooling?

Whether you homeschool or traditional school, the advice from a real bona fide expert says we should read to our kids, have them bake cookies and pack their own suitcases, who am I to argue? Enjoy the summer with your kids--honestly the years fly by [but the days can be really long].

Take care,
Jill

Photos--Real World Learning

• Top-Practicing Fire Safety and escape

• Middle-Kids on a trip--they always packed their own duffle--since they were about three years old. I would tell them how many days we would be gone and they had to pack that many "sets" of clothes. A set is one bottom, one top, one set of underwear all rolled up together. Then they had to add something to sleep in, something to swim in and their toiletries bag.

• Bottom-Learning math skills playing poker with Grandpa. Notice the hats--they all had to wear hats and have a cowboy name--ahh learning cowboy history with Grandpa!