Post by Admin on Jun 23, 2005 3:59:58 GMT 10
A frugal fix for retaining over the summer months, what your children learned this year in school. (Cindy says they loose about 25%, ouch)
This is copied from Cindy's porch ezine. You can find her link at our board in the Links category.
***********
So how do we keep the kids learning over the summer months?
1) The library: I can't say this enough. Visit your library.
Take the kids. Show them how to use the catalog and put books on
hold. Let them explore new topics. Sign out some books with outdoor
science experiments (and then let them try the experiments).
Encourage them to read other books by their favorite authors. Talk to
the librarian. If you tell them that your child loves mysteries, they
will have many suggestions of great books to read. Your kids can read
all they want and it won't cost a dime! (Make sure you sign out some
books for you - when your kids see you read, they read!)
2) Summer Reading Activities: check to see if your library has
any summer reading activities or games. Our local library has prizes
associated with their summer reading game. All my kids won something
last year and they are looking forward to reading this year.
3) Let the kids cook! Recipes are a wonderful source of
fractions, logical thinking, and problem solving (why do mom's
cookies always burn?). If it is hot out, let them make frozen
treats, slushies, salads, or other summer foods. Who knows, maybe
they will love cooking so much that they will take over some of the
supper duties!
4) Let your kids explore outside: nature is right out your front
door. Everything from bugs, to plants, to birds, to water, to
weather, etc. is waiting for your kids to discover. Get on your hands
and knees and join the kids. Put a hula-hoop out on the lawn. How
many bugs can you and your kids count inside the hula-hoop? What kind
of bugs are they? Watch an ant. How much can it carry? How does
it "talk" to other ants? Where is it going? Let your kids plant
something and watch it grow. We plant two: one to leave in the
garden, the other to pull out so they can look at the roots, the
stem, the leaves, and the flower. We have a microscope that is
perfect for studying the details.
5) Let your kids plan the shopping list for the week. Then let
them do the shopping (with you accompanying them of course). Tell
them what the budget is. They have to plan the meals, shop for the
ingredients, AND stay within budget. Show them how to roundup numbers
so they can keep a mental tally of everything that is in the shopping
cart. And mom or dad, if they are planning something weird or
something your family has never tried before, relax! Go with the
flow - let your kids learn (and you may learn something too. This is
how I found out that I liked "homemade" sushi as much as the higher
priced store-bought sushi).
6) Encourage your kids to move. Swimming lessons are a must for
our family during the summer. It keeps them cool and provides them
with a life long skill. My oldest is signed up for a one-week
basketball camp (just in the afternoons). And that's it. The rest of
the "moving" is done with their friends, the neighbors, my husband,
and me. We encourage our kids to play tennis (free), basketball at
the school (free), Frisbee in the front yard (free), bike in the
neighborhood (free), play tag with the neighbors (free), and dodge
ball with their dad (hilarious to watch LOL). Of course, there is
always our family favorite - walking and hiking.
7) Are you traveling someplace? Get the kids to help with the
trip. Where are you going? Put them in charge of looking up the
history of the place. Ask them to find places where the family can
stop for lunch and a picnic. Are you going through the prairies or
the mountains? Sign out some books from the library about the
geography of the area. Ask them to find out why everything is so flat
or how the mountains came to be. This doesn't need to be fancy. The
kids don't have to write reports (unless they want to LOL). They just
need to know how to do research - how to look up things they are
interested in.
8) Encourage your kids to write a letter (or draw a picture) and
send it to grandma and grandpa (or any other long-distance relative).
Remember, the letter doesn't have to be perfect - it just has to get
mailed!
9) Dig into your stash of office supplies and see if you can
find an empty notebook and a couple "fancy" writing pens. Perhaps
your kids would like to make a journal of their summer adventures.
Let them borrow the camera and take pictures. If you have scrap-
booking supplies or stamping supplies, let the kids use some for
their journal. Let them have fun with this and let them create. I
don't tell my kids "how" to do this; I just leave them with a basket
full of supplies and let them go for it.
10) Let your kids be bored once in awhile. A kid who is
daydreaming is thinking. You do not have to plan every minute of
every day. Turn off the TV and turn off the computer games. Let your
children discover new things. I often find my kids sitting under a
bunch of beach umbrellas (usually around 5 or 6 umbrellas) that they
have set up with their friends in the back yard. Underneath, there
will be this elaborate maze of activities such as board games, home
made snacks, cool drinks, and of course a special dog bed for
Charlie. They have a blast!
******
Keep em learning and do it frugally. Thanks Cindy...Be sure to check out Cindy's website and sign up for her ezine..
This is copied from Cindy's porch ezine. You can find her link at our board in the Links category.
***********
So how do we keep the kids learning over the summer months?
1) The library: I can't say this enough. Visit your library.
Take the kids. Show them how to use the catalog and put books on
hold. Let them explore new topics. Sign out some books with outdoor
science experiments (and then let them try the experiments).
Encourage them to read other books by their favorite authors. Talk to
the librarian. If you tell them that your child loves mysteries, they
will have many suggestions of great books to read. Your kids can read
all they want and it won't cost a dime! (Make sure you sign out some
books for you - when your kids see you read, they read!)
2) Summer Reading Activities: check to see if your library has
any summer reading activities or games. Our local library has prizes
associated with their summer reading game. All my kids won something
last year and they are looking forward to reading this year.
3) Let the kids cook! Recipes are a wonderful source of
fractions, logical thinking, and problem solving (why do mom's
cookies always burn?). If it is hot out, let them make frozen
treats, slushies, salads, or other summer foods. Who knows, maybe
they will love cooking so much that they will take over some of the
supper duties!
4) Let your kids explore outside: nature is right out your front
door. Everything from bugs, to plants, to birds, to water, to
weather, etc. is waiting for your kids to discover. Get on your hands
and knees and join the kids. Put a hula-hoop out on the lawn. How
many bugs can you and your kids count inside the hula-hoop? What kind
of bugs are they? Watch an ant. How much can it carry? How does
it "talk" to other ants? Where is it going? Let your kids plant
something and watch it grow. We plant two: one to leave in the
garden, the other to pull out so they can look at the roots, the
stem, the leaves, and the flower. We have a microscope that is
perfect for studying the details.
5) Let your kids plan the shopping list for the week. Then let
them do the shopping (with you accompanying them of course). Tell
them what the budget is. They have to plan the meals, shop for the
ingredients, AND stay within budget. Show them how to roundup numbers
so they can keep a mental tally of everything that is in the shopping
cart. And mom or dad, if they are planning something weird or
something your family has never tried before, relax! Go with the
flow - let your kids learn (and you may learn something too. This is
how I found out that I liked "homemade" sushi as much as the higher
priced store-bought sushi).
6) Encourage your kids to move. Swimming lessons are a must for
our family during the summer. It keeps them cool and provides them
with a life long skill. My oldest is signed up for a one-week
basketball camp (just in the afternoons). And that's it. The rest of
the "moving" is done with their friends, the neighbors, my husband,
and me. We encourage our kids to play tennis (free), basketball at
the school (free), Frisbee in the front yard (free), bike in the
neighborhood (free), play tag with the neighbors (free), and dodge
ball with their dad (hilarious to watch LOL). Of course, there is
always our family favorite - walking and hiking.
7) Are you traveling someplace? Get the kids to help with the
trip. Where are you going? Put them in charge of looking up the
history of the place. Ask them to find places where the family can
stop for lunch and a picnic. Are you going through the prairies or
the mountains? Sign out some books from the library about the
geography of the area. Ask them to find out why everything is so flat
or how the mountains came to be. This doesn't need to be fancy. The
kids don't have to write reports (unless they want to LOL). They just
need to know how to do research - how to look up things they are
interested in.
8) Encourage your kids to write a letter (or draw a picture) and
send it to grandma and grandpa (or any other long-distance relative).
Remember, the letter doesn't have to be perfect - it just has to get
mailed!
9) Dig into your stash of office supplies and see if you can
find an empty notebook and a couple "fancy" writing pens. Perhaps
your kids would like to make a journal of their summer adventures.
Let them borrow the camera and take pictures. If you have scrap-
booking supplies or stamping supplies, let the kids use some for
their journal. Let them have fun with this and let them create. I
don't tell my kids "how" to do this; I just leave them with a basket
full of supplies and let them go for it.
10) Let your kids be bored once in awhile. A kid who is
daydreaming is thinking. You do not have to plan every minute of
every day. Turn off the TV and turn off the computer games. Let your
children discover new things. I often find my kids sitting under a
bunch of beach umbrellas (usually around 5 or 6 umbrellas) that they
have set up with their friends in the back yard. Underneath, there
will be this elaborate maze of activities such as board games, home
made snacks, cool drinks, and of course a special dog bed for
Charlie. They have a blast!
******
Keep em learning and do it frugally. Thanks Cindy...Be sure to check out Cindy's website and sign up for her ezine..
