I love summer. I love having the kids home, moving at a slower pace, and doing things that we normally don't fit in during the rest of the year. Since we generally live overseas, our summers also mean traveling and visiting family and friends. Our routines are disrupted, we enjoy long daylight hours, and we don't have a set schedule. Yet, as a mother of four I've learned that my children still need some element of structure.
It’s also no surprise that children forget a lot of what they learned at school during the year. According to research reported by the National Summer Learning Association, we're lucky if our kids stay on par. Most of the time, it states, they lose 1-3 months of academic knowledge (especially in math and spelling) over the course of the summer. That means they start off in the Fall worse off than they ended in the Spring. Who wants that? This summer, even though we're in the middle of an international move, I've decided to make a student-centered proactive learning plan.
Summer Learning Adventures
Each child signed up for a private one-on-one meeting with me called "Summer Learning Adventures." We talked about what they have enjoyed learning about this year, what they have struggled with. I then helped them set two sets of goals. One set is Stretch goals and these include self-identified areas of improvement (involving some reading and math). The other area is Fun goals and these include anything they want to learn that they just don't have time for during the year. One wants to learn about space and the world (Google World Wonders Project and Google Earth are winners for these). One wants to learn about birds. One wants to take an online photography course on SkillShare or try out ModernLessons. They each had a list of things they really want to learn about: just because. We've discussed apps, websites, and field trips we can take to support their goals.
This isn't about rigorous structure, because that's not what summer looks like in our house. It's about making an effort – together – to keep our brains alive and growing. Bring it on!
Here's the Symbaloo (also linked to in the Prezi above). Click on 'View on Symbaloo' to see the whole thing:
Summer Learning Adventures
Each child signed up for a private one-on-one meeting with me called "Summer Learning Adventures." We talked about what they have enjoyed learning about this year, what they have struggled with. I then helped them set two sets of goals. One set is Stretch goals and these include self-identified areas of improvement (involving some reading and math). The other area is Fun goals and these include anything they want to learn that they just don't have time for during the year. One wants to learn about space and the world (Google World Wonders Project and Google Earth are winners for these). One wants to learn about birds. One wants to take an online photography course on SkillShare or try out ModernLessons. They each had a list of things they really want to learn about: just because. We've discussed apps, websites, and field trips we can take to support their goals.
This isn't about rigorous structure, because that's not what summer looks like in our house. It's about making an effort – together – to keep our brains alive and growing. Bring it on!
Here's the Symbaloo (also linked to in the Prezi above). Click on 'View on Symbaloo' to see the whole thing:
And here's the Google Doc (also linked to in the Prezi above full of some creative iPad apps we'll be using:
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