Summertime and Our Children Still LEARN!
Loreena D. Parks, Assistant Professor, Special Education, Eastern Michigan University

Many parents are concerned that their children are missing out on academics during the summer months. Children do not have to be in the classroom in order to learn. There are many lessons learned in the summer that can help to make the school year more effective.

Parents can look at summer as a time for learning, adventure, creativity, and fun. In fact Eric Jensen in his book “Learning with the Body in Mind” (2000) says that “ … it gets down to one thing: movement is about living and living is about learning.” Summertime gives parents and children time to move and thus to learn outside of the traditional classroom.

While climbing Mt. Zurich in Switzerland, with family members, we started to talk about what we did in the summer when we were children. This conversation revolved not around just the activity but around what we had learned while doing many of these traditional childhood activities.

• Hiking
• Lemonade stands
• Swimming
• Picking berries
• Making jam
• Baking cookies
• Getting ice cream
• Cooking
• Camping
• Visiting the library
• Reading
• Playing games
• Bike trips
• Gardening
• Putting on a play
• Parks and recreation
• Crafts
• Museums
• Running through the sprinkler
• Making items and selling them to friends and family
• Science centers

Does it bring back any memories for you? Did you have fun? If you think about it did you learn anything? I hope the answer is a big YES!

Just thinking about all the skills involved in the numerous activities listed above can be mind-boggling. Tucker, Singleton and Weaver in the book “Teaching Mathematics to All Children – Designing and Adapting Instruction to Meet the needs of Diverse Learners” says that “…Real-world problems are problems like those students will encounter outside the classroom. To devise a real-world problem that applies a particular concept or skill, it is necessary to first determine how that concept or skill is used outside the classroom, i.e., in the real-world. The next step is to create an activity that will require the student to use the concept or skill in exactly that way”. (2002)

Let’s think for a minute. What skills are involved in the activities listed above? Are all these activities part of the real-world?

• Social skills
• Team work
• Reading
• Basic math skills
• Measuring
• Communication
• Cooperation
• Gross and fine motor skills
• Balance
• Using all the senses
• Exercise
• Marketing
• Organizing
• Visualizing
• Word attack
• Listening
• Planning
• Problem-solving
• Collaboration

Did you realize that so many classroom and real-world skills could be involved in summer activities? Did you realize that your children are learning all through the summer without being in the classroom? I hope you said YES!

The list of summer activities today might include T.V., the Internet, video games and I-pods. These are great, but should not be at the expense of other real-world experiences.

Let’s take a look at a traditional summer activity and talk about the skills a child can use and acquire while hiking. This can be a wonderful excursion because it is easy to do and inexpensive. In fact, I was inspired to write this article after hiking through the streets of Zurich and to the top of Mt. Zurich. This is where I had the motivating discussion about the fun we had during the summer and how we had learned so many things at the same time … SHOCKING!

AN ANTICIPATED FAMILY HIKE IN A NEARBY PARK

Preparation:
• It takes organization, problem solving, and task assigning while planning for a hike.
• It is important to dress comfortably and appropriately.
• One must bring along such things as the right clothes, sun lotion, necessary food, water/beverage, and basic first aid items.
• One must decide the best way to carry everything (possibly a backpack).
• One should bring a map if it is needed.
• If one is going to write, draw, collect or play games while hiking it will be necessary to bring the tools required for that task.

Benefits:
• Exercise - movement
• Fresh air
• Use of many of the five senses
• Fun
• Humor
• Cooperation
• Collaboration
• Social skills
• Learning

To Expand On Learning:
• While hiking one can use books and pictures as a reference when matching up trees, flowers, plants, and animals that are seen on the hike.
• Math skills and reading skills can be used when reading a recipe and preparing food, especially if there is measurement to do. Math and reading skills can also be used with a map while hiking (for example: figuring distances or times it takes to hike somewhere).
• While planning the hike team work and collaboration take place.
• If games are played there is teamwork, sportsmanship, and social skills being used.
• Children can learn about plants, animals, flowers, and trees while hiking.
• Families can make up math games using measurement, counting the number of trees, creating categorical lists of trees, plants, animals and flowers,
• Children can draw pictures of what they see.
• Children can write in journals about their hike.
• Families can converse about what they see, what they like best, where would they like to go hiking next time, and reflect on what they might do different on the next hike they take.

Did you realize that a simple hike could provide so much education? Are you thinking about other things that can be learned that were not mentioned? I hope you said YES!

Of course, one does not always want to make every summer activity a major thing. However, even without preplanning, summer activities involve learning outside of the classroom.

Keep in mind that the more expensive a summer activity is does not make it necessarily a better activity. Be on the look out for simple, inexpensive, and easy to acquire fun. Stop by your local library and check out the many brochures available with lists of activities and things that families can do together. Here is just a sampling of just such summer activities.

CELEBRATE SUMMER ACTIVITIES AND LEARN OUTSIDE OF THE CLASSROOM

• Write a letter to a friend, family member or pen pal
• Sign up for a local community education class
• Visit three or four different playgrounds and have your child rate them
• Plan an organize a fire drill in you own home
• Make sure your child has a library card and use it regularly
• Attend activities sponsored by your local library
• Read or view a video of a book that will be part of your child’s curriculum next school year
• Help your child put on a play for the neighborhood
• Help your child put on a talent show for the neighborhood
• Help your child put on an art show of their work for the neighborhood
• Use chalk to draw on the sidewalk
• Encourage your child to use a camera and put together a photo album
• Take family bicycle rides
• Enjoy a book as a family – create a family book club
• Attend local concerts – many cities offer free ones
• Let your child try a new hobby
• Encourage crafts
• Have many family conversations
• Frame and hang up in you house one of your child’s pieces of art work
• Watch a T.V. show with your child and talk about it
• Let you child plan a special outing for you on the weekend
• Let your child cook a meal for you

Did you say, “I have done that” or “that is a good idea”? I hope you said YES! I am sure that you could very easily add to the above list. Why not have your child help you create a list of summer activities.

Every year I get many requests from families and students about summer camps. I myself will never forget the fun I had at a summer camp when I was in the fourth grade. It is overwhelming when I think about all of the skills I learned those two weeks.

If you are looking for a camp you might want to check out these websites that will introduce you to summer camps across the nation.
1. Kids Camps, Summer Camps and Program Websites
http://www.kidscamps.com/special_needs/learning_disab_add.html
2. The National Camp Association
http://www.summercamp.org
3. Camp Resource
http://www.campresource.com
4. The Internet’s Most Comprehensive Directory of Camps and Summer Experiences
http://www.kidscamps.com

Remember camping with ones family, with scouts and with organizations is great. But, there is nothing like having a backyard campout … simple … inexpensive … fun!

You should feel very comfortable that your child is learning during the summer even if it is not in the classroom.