Learning Opportunities for the Summer

Ryan Crowley

The continuous tag game between parents and teachers leaves the parents “it” for almost the next three months. During this time, educators and school personnel are taking a much-needed break from the kids. Parents are going to be left scratching their heads and trying to figure out a way to keep their child learning during the summer, instead of being glued to Facebook, video games, junk food, and the television.    

As a teacher, I can attest firsthand, children that do not continue their education during the summer will come back to school lacking in the skills that they just had acquired the school year earlier. Parents need to continue educating their child as much as possible. After all, parents are the number one teacher for their kids. They spend much more time with them than anyone else ever will. They have a vested interest in their child doing well in school and life. Plus, as you get older, hopefully that child will turn into a successful adult and help take care of you rather than entering you in a retirement home! 

Music Lessons 
It seems every adult that does not play a musical instrument wishes they could. As a kid, they might not appreciate having music lessons every week, but as they get older, the coolness factor goes through the roof for someone having the ability to play a song on an instrument. During the summer, there is quite a bit of downtime for your child. It is the perfect opportunity to introduce them to a music teacher that will help inspire their love for music! 

Cooking Class 
Young children love learning about cooking actual food instead of putting Pop Tarts in the toaster. One of the most exciting times during the school year is when I have a chef come in and make some delectable delicacies with the students. The kids go crazy for it! 

Check your local junior college’s website. There are usually some sort of cooking classes offered through them. Dropping them off at grandma’s to help her bake some goodies would be a fun day of learning as well. Or you could be one of the most amazing parents ever and contact a local establishment and ask if they would be interested in doing a cooking class for children. I know that through prior experience, quite a few of them will say yes. It will bring in perhaps a lifetime of business through their doors! 

Family Field Trips 
School field trips usually happen once or twice a year for educational purposes. Students climb on a bus and visit somewhere that will enlighten them. Family field trips are much the same, minus the big, yellow school bus. Head out somewhere fun and informative that will have the kids enjoy learning, and allow them to spend some much-needed family time together. 

Museums are always a quality choice, and they usually have more than enough exhibits to entertain the children. Going to the zoo will have the students acquiring knowledge about animals that they may never have received from a textbook. Visiting a park will teach the kids about nature and various elements of science. There are many extraordinary family field trips that can be taken, you are only limited by your imagination! 

Start a Rock Collection 
One of the most popular Science lessons of the school year has to do with minerals and rocks. All of a sudden, each student turns into a gemologist and starts to bring in every weird rock they come across. Many of them end up purchasing rock tumblers that shine and gloss their new find. By the end of the year, it appears every child has their own mini rock collection. Start them off a bit earlier and visit a few places near home that will have them finding some unique minerals that they can show their class during the next school year! 

Make a Classroom in Your Home 
Students love to have their own desk at school. It makes them feel a bit like a grownup. But do you know what they love even more? Their own desk at home! Or better yet, their own small schoolroom complete with a whiteboard, bookshelves, a couple of student desks for their younger siblings or cousins, a laptop so they can do their studying, and a small printer to print off their masterpieces. You may inspire them to become an actual teacher someday! The perfect time to construct this little classroom is during the summer. 

Family Reading Time 
As a primary teacher, I have heard many parent confessions stating sheepishly that they didn't have their child read at all during the summer. This greatly affects not only their learning but their overall reading skills. Literacy is part of every content area, so why would you take off three months from having your child read? Would you let your child take three months off from brushing their teeth? Of course not! Both would hurt your child, but in different ways. Parents that leave all parts of education up to the classroom teacher are participating in their failure.

Every night, set a time aside for family reading. Each member of the family is to be reading their own book during this time, parents included. All electronic devices are turned off. Even if it is only thirty minutes a night, this will inspire the child to hopefully start reading on their own as an act of enjoyment, especially when they see their own parents reading during this time. Trips to the library once a week will help with completing this nightly activity! 

Daily Math Problems 
Once again, I have heard parents proclaim that they did not work on math skills at all during the summer. Later, they wonder how their child is scoring in the lower ten percent of grade level math achievement two months down the road. There is a direct correlation between these two items. If your child practices math during the summer, they will achieve better results during the school year.

Give your child math worksheets to complete every week. There are numerous websites that allow you to print out free worksheets on almost every conceivable math skill that your child will need. And don’t worry if your own math skills are lacking, they have the answer key for these sheets as well. You could even call up your school and ask to see the Math textbook for the upcoming school year. This will show exactly what skills they need to be working on in preparation during the summer!

Google Docs 
Lastly, have your child write reports on various topics during the summer. This will help them with their own research skills and turn them into better writers. I would highly recommend the free Google Docs app for this part of their summer learning. Students love using technology, and Google Docs is something that they will be using throughout their education. If you have already created a small classroom for your child like I wrote about up above, purchasing a Chromebook is quite a bit less expensive than a full laptop. Plus, it will have everything they need. 

Either through Google Docs or Google Slides, there are templates where it is correctly formatted for children to do book reports, write letters, and various other presentations. Once again, this is something that the child will use during their whole education. It is much easier for the child to learn when an adult is sitting down with them one-on-one and showing them how to use the free apps than trying to figure it all out in a classroom of 25 needy students. Your child’s future teachers will greatly appreciate this! 

Plan to Succeed
The easy thing to do during the summer is to let kids keep themselves busy with their friends and electronic devices. While this is not such a bad thing to do, everything needs to be done in moderation. Take an active role in their education. Summertime is when a child can do some of their most important learning in life! They are not constrained by grades and classroom rules. The world is their classroom! They won’t be young forever. Step into the role of being an active parent and lead your child to a productive summer and a productive life!

Ryan Crawley is a writer/educator from Illinois. Born into a family of eleven, he spent most of his childhood watching old reruns of Three's Company and Happy Days. He has his Masters in Reading and Literacy, and is a certified Reading Specialist. He spends his free time writing, working out, and hanging with his two dogs Flair and Smoosh Face.