I have gotten tons of emails lately from people offering resources that will supposedly help my kids stay up to snuff academically while they navigate their summer vacation. I also know several parents that are consumed with using the summer months to “homeschool” so that their public school kids have a leg up when school starts again.
I can’t say that I don’t think about this sometimes but mostly I just realize that they are always learning. Maybe it is not the exact stuff they need to know for whatever grade they are entering but for kids in public school, summer is just about the only time that really allows for our children to direct their own learning experiences. And they do learn… all on their own.
A few weeks ago my kids asked me to renew their JumpStart subscription. Well, actually it was my son’s subscription and he used to play the JumpStart game when he was being homeschooled. When he went back to public school he lost interest and I cancelled it. But for the past few weeks my kids have been playing the JumpStart game version for their particular age groups and having a blast. They solve math problems, do spelling, and learn a variety of other things from these games. My 5 year old daughter especially learns a lot because she watches her older brother while he plays too. For parents that seek activities to help their kids stay sharp this is a good one but it is only for kids on the 4-10 year old age ranges. I do have a few complaints about the actual performance of their software but the activities are awesome. The games also really help them learn how to use a computer quite well.
My nearly 9 year old son also got to fulfill a HUGE dream of his. He got to ride down a quarter mile racetrack as a passenger in a 11 second car. He kept saying over and over that it was the single best moment of his life. ;) Here he is standing next to a race car that runs on Ethanol. He is very interested in alternative fuel racing.
This week my 5 year old has also started reading and that was all her idea. She wanted to read before she entered kindergarten. She read me four books this morning from the BOB collection (which we adore).
To keep my son reading I have been a bit sneaky. When he wants to go to the water park in the morning or go to the skate park nearby I grab a book and have him read it to me first. I tell him I have been eyeballing this book and I would just LOVE to hear it before we go… works every time. In the evenings I read Harry Potter to him.
Learning is also occuring via weekly trips to the zoo and at the local Science Center. We are lucky to live 9 miles away from COSI, voted by Parents magazine as the best science museum in the country. I bought season passes so we can go as much as we want and this summer they have an Ancient Egypt exhibit with artifacts, mummies, and a replica of the Rosetta Stone. We also saw an IMAX movie there are about mummies. My son and I LIVE for that stuff. We both adore Egypt, history, and archaeology.
So all in all I see no reason to worry that their brains are rotting away and they will enter school and have difficulties. Their brains are fully functional and leading them to places and activities that truly interest them.
