Sleep in, watch TV, go to camp, hang out with friends and play video games – that about sums up my tween’s plans for the summer.
It came as a bit of a shock to them when I grabbed the pages from their school work books that they hadn’t finished and started assigning them a page to work on a day. There was even a full on tween temper tantrum!
While children do need a time to rest and relax, they need to continue to expand their knowledge and reinforce the skills they learn during the summer. Cristy’s husband assigns his daughter math worksheets throughout the summer to do just that. Their family sets aside about an hour of ‘school’ per day when the girls are not in camp. Worksheets are an idea that must have some fun around them or they can be boring. As previously mentioned, tweens are not very happy with sitting and doing “school work” during the summer.
A few ideas on how parents can encourage learning throughout the summer months:
- Encourage your child to keep a daily summer journal. They can write, draw, paste photos or whatever they’d like. Check the journal daily for neatness, punctuation and grammar. Tweens will develop stronger writing skills and have a great keepsake at the end summer.
- Stay up late reading. Tweens love to stay up later during the summer. Allow them to stay up an extra half-an hour or hour as long as they are in bed with a book. Provide them with the materials by visiting the local library or downloading new books on the e-reader.
- Visit the local museum or attend a concert or play. Find fun ways of learning in your community and take advantage of them.
- Sign your tween up for a sports camp, team or skills class during the summer to encourage them to partake in daily exercise. They need to be active during the summer just as they are during the school year!
Whatever you do this summer, be sure to take extra time to talk to your child. Learning from mami y papi is just as important as learning at school!
Abrazos,
