The Rookery

So, we're one week in to summer and I just walked into my living room to find two children sprawled out on the floor, their screen time exhausted and their day stretching before them.  What to do?

This is an unusual summer (understatement, I know).  We are coming off of two and a half months of distance learning and lurching into three months of summer in which most if not all camps have been cancelled or put on-line.  Biking to a friends or the pool or the playground – if it was even an option before – is now much more problematic and there are only so many times you can say, "Why don't you walk the dog?" before even the dog starts to roll their eyes.

I have a few thoughts — but know that, with my parent hat on, I'm trying to figure this out, too.

Schedule

Set up a rough schedule with your child that includes wake up time, meal times, screen times, project times (perhaps when you are available) and active times.  They are old enough to plan outings, too.  The schedule should definitely include chores and tidying up times (especially after those projects!). Social times with relatives and friends are also something kids can look forward to (and take more coordination with others).  Have them cook a meal or two every week as part of the schedule.

Summer Academic Work

Normally, I suggest reading every day and reviewing some math facts/playing with math ideas on a regular basis.  Summer is the time to muck around and get a little bored.  It's a time to recharge.  But this year, with the spring disruption of our regular academic work, I'm recommending some additional academic work.  I'm sending out a summer learning grid every week that has articles to read, math games to play, and lots of making/experimenting ideas.  I'll send it to the students and carbon copy you – I'd like this to be their summer work. The idea is not to do everything on the grid but to keep things fresh and different.  Summer slump always happens to kids – they lose some of that hard fought learning over the summer.  I would like to minimize that.

At the very least, students should read at least a half hour a day and, ideally, be read to for fifteen minutes to a half hour.  Students should also continue to work on their math fact fluency.  I will share a blog post next week on ways to work on fact fluency with your child.  

Chores

I mentioned this already but it bears repeating.  Students this age need to be contributing to the work of the household.  They are old enough to be really helpful and they also like to be needed (even if they complain at first.). In our house, most chores are not compensated with money – but several "optional" tasks like lawn mowing or weeding are a way to earn a little pocket money.  Learning how to manage the discomfort of doing an unpleasant task is so valuable and it's a skill students use when they are tackling new and difficult academic content.  (If we are distance learning in the fall, being able to manage the discomfort of learning will be extremely important as I won't be right there to cheerlead and help kids get over that initial struggle.)

Goal Setting

On the radio this morning, the journalist mentioned that she had asked her children to choose an activity to get good at this summer – something to devote time and energy to mastering.  Her daughter was going to learn a language with DuoLingo.  I think this is a great idea.  A language? Drawing animé? Unicycling? Juggling? Nature sketching? Yo-yo? Cooking?  What would they like to be good at by the end of the summer?

Outings

Getting out and about is going to be important this summer.  We've been compiling outing ideas for years on the Out and About Blog.  It's searchable by "free" and "Northfield".  Some of the information might be dated (especially in light of Covid) so call ahead or check on-line.

Projects

Just as another resource – here's the Prairie Creek Makers blog.  I've been documenting the projects that we do along with web resources and ordering information.  It might be a good place to send a kid who is saying, "I'm bored…" Of course, it could lead to the situation I'm in today which is helping my daughter find screen and a blender so she can make paper.  (Whose idea was that!?! Oh, yeah.)

What's working for your household?  What resources are you looking for?  Add your thoughts and ideas and questions to the comments!  We're going to need all the help we can get these next few months!