The Community Reinvestor Magazine

SUMMER/FALL Volume 4
2004 Alabama Edition

FEATURES

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Surviving The Summertime Blues
by Julon King Eatmon and Jessica Badio

Well, it’s that time of year again. School is out and kids are happily shouting joyful noises everyday. Regardless of your child’s age, televisions and play stations all across American will be working overtime. All the parks and swimming holes will be bursting with kids everyday from dawn until dusk. Now, if all this excitement is going on, just ask who has the Summertime Blues? Parents! For the past nine months, your child/children has been spending seven hours a day enriching his or her mind with knowledge. Your worst nightmare is that once school begins in August, your child would have forgotten everything he/she has learned the previous year. There is hope. You don’t have to necessarily spend a lot of money on different programs that will not only empty your pocketbook, but might cause you and your child to begin a tug-of-war with education. What you need are some activities that you can do daily that take less than an hour a day and still be fun and educational.

Preschool and Elementary Age:

While at the dinner table and you have finished eating, read a story from a book to your child while he/she is still eating. Sometimes let your child give an alternate ending than the one in the book. This helps the child develop his/her imagination. Always give the child the opportunity to pick the book that will be read. It will seem more like fun than work.
Go to the library and check out audio children’s books. Instead of listening to the radio in the car, listen to the audiotapes. Stop the tape every 3-4 blocks and asks questions about the story. You are strengthening listening skills with this technique.
Find an age-appropriate game and set aside one night a week for game night. It’s okay to make-up a game, but try to use a different game each week. Examples include word games, spelling bees, memory games and math games.
Every week, study and

discuss a different country in your house. Make sure your child can locate the country on the map. In addition to learning about the new country, find a short story about the country or a book written by an author from that country. Also fix one of the specialty foods representing that particular country. Eventually, make a blank map and asks your child to identify the country. Limit the game to no more than three countries at a time. Not only will your child have fun, this will reinforce geography skills learned in class.

To reinforce math and reading skills, buy an age-appropriate workbook for your child and give him/her one worksheet daily to complete. Pick one that will only require 15-20 minutes to complete. Compile all of their work in a binder. The binder will allow you to reflect on your child’s progress. It will also help you to determine which skills the child has retained or lost over the summer.

Elementary age to Middle School age:

Get your child books about Alabama and a map of Alabama. Twice a week, try learning about a different city located in Alabama. On the weekends, if time permits, take a field trip. Get your child a map and some push pins and let him/her identify all the places visited. Not only will your child have fun, he/she will learn more about the state where they live.
In addition to the field trips around Alabama, have your child start a picture journal while traveling. He/she can write a short paragraph about their experiences.
Set up an art gallery in your house that’s dedicated only to your child’s artwork. The gallery can consists of newly created work or pictures from your child’s Alabama picture journal.
To improve handwriting and fine motor skills, get a notebook which contains grape story. You are strengthening listening skills with this technique.
Find an age-appropriate game and set aside one night a week for game night. It’s okay to make-up a game, but try to use a different game each week. Examples include word games, spelling bees, memory games and math games.
Every week, study and

h paper. Have your child spend a few minutes daily copying a small amount of text in the notebook. The object is to make sure the writing is neat and that it stays located in the box. By keeping this in the notebook, it helps you keep up with your child’s progress. This activity is very helpful with continuous development of fine motor skills. Most kids in high school view the summer months as a time to get much needed rest or time to earn money. Money is usually the most important thing to a teenager. They get an opportunity to begin purchasing things that mom or dad will not always buy. Basically, it is also the beginning of young adulthood.

In addition to getting a job, try to encourage your teenager to do some weekly volunteering. Volunteering ten to fifteen hours a week is a good start. Places to volunteer are churches, libraries, nursing homes, and childcare facilities to name a few.

No one has to sing the Summertime Blues. Just because school ends, does not mean learning has to stop. Summer gives parents everywhere the opportunity to become your child’s main enrichment source. It might require some adjustments to your already busy schedule; however, the outcome will be more than worth it.

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