What do you do to keep your child learning during the summertime?

I have been keeping my GD the last years - she just turned 8. I keep her learning all summer...we play school...Nanny 2nd grade is where we are now. Started with Nanny Kindergarten! You can pull things off the internet - school papers, coloring pages, work sheets etc. Try Familyfun.com - it is a magazine I subscribe, but what is on the site it what is in the magazine - great stuff! I have 2 book reading programs Barnes and NOble - read 8 books get one free - and another place where you get a free t-shirt. We have alot of fun playing school and she loves outdoors so she is always creating her own science experiments. Teach them to cook and you cover measurments, sizes, timeing etc. Most anything you do in daily activity can be structured, very quickly and easily, to be a learning secession. You'll be surprised at how much they learn when they are having fun and not even realizing how much they are learning!

I am lucky enough that both my boys will be in summer school over the summer so I dont need to worry to much. My youngest has Autism so he will have summer school every years as he needs the routine.

Our local libraries always hosted a Summer Reading Program. My kids loved it when they were younger, but as they moved to upper elementary grades, lost the appeal. They had prizes and certificates for all the kids at the end of the summer. I was a big fan of reading and always wanted all my children to have a deep love for reading. I don't think any of them made it to that goal. lol

sports lesson would be great to develop and enhance his positive attitudes and values! In our Country, we can send them to any Center for recreation and arts lesson!

You know sweetheart my 2 have always loved to learn and we learnt to make everything a lesson long ago! Like on a drive my daughter would always try reading the signs we passed and try to figure out what they meant, games like I spy help with their letter and spelling skills, helping grocery shopping they learn about maths and money as well as nutrition! It is a reflex with us now that we help our kids learn about life and nature etc in every situation! Then of course there are books on maths and reading and writing that are good fun for the kids and keep them learning at the same time. You are using one of the best learning tools right now - although I don't let my kids use the internet all the time when the weather is bad there are so many sites and games that are educational it is unbelievable! Hope some of these help - there are so many more but right now I am struggling to stay awake! lol xxx

My son is going in to first grade next year as well. He'll be attending a local art camp the week after next. We're also taking him to our library for kid days once a week. Maybe picking him up some activity books to do during the summer to keep up the academical side?

I would suggest that you use your local library's summer reading program. You can get science book for his age and have him collect insects and other things from the park and learn how they live. There are museums trips too that he can learn from. Read, read and read. Those are the best ways to keep him learning. Even if he can't read yet on his own He will learn faster if your reading to him.

Although I don't have kids I push my Nephew to keep up with alot of reading when he's over during the summer. I talk to him alot and we play learning games on the pc to help him learn also. **AT PEACE WITHIN** ~~STAND STRONG IN YOUR BELIEFS~~

My son is in a 3 week summer school program at school. He gets out on the 16th of this month. He brought home all of his school books that they did not finish during the school year, so he is going to be doing those and we are going to finish up his hooked on phonics this summer to help improve his reading.

My daughter will be ready for kindergarten this August. We keep appropriate workbooks around. She does a few pages a week. We go to the library frequently. I have age specific crafts around. The key is to keep her busy.

I home schooled my son from 4th grade through 12th and during that time there were no summer breaks. Sure, we eased up a bit in the summer. But it's easier to remember things if they're presented year round. At your child's age, we made trips to museums, hands-on kid's museums, art museums and art galleries. He also had about 10 books he wanted to get through for the summer. We also played lots of his favorite game - discovery. I would give him three "tools" and have him make discoveries in our backyard or on the cul-de-sac where we lived. When he came back inside, he had to tell us what he saw and make a picture. (Usually, he insisted that we come and look - when he found interesting bugs or plants.) The tools he used varied - magnifying glass, a spoon, a ruler, a piece of string. It was up to him to make discoveries with whatever tools he had for the day. In school, they're not focusing on the love of learning. They're just interested in each kid getting shoved to the next grade. That's how they get the government money, if the kids all progress onward. Because of that, I really think it's the parents job to make learning fun and to make reading fun. Set an example. Tell your child that you like to learn one new thing every day (everyone should!). Let him see you reading - magazines, newspaper, books. Share with him what new things you've learned.

I don't have kids yet but based on my parents' experience, they bought a bunch of second hand books and my sister and I did some summer reading. It really helped us expand our vocabulary. So that's what we did during summertime that helped us learn.

this is what i have done for the past two years and will continue to do so. after preschool my son still had some trouble recognizing specific letters so we memorized them each day until he got it down pat because it was required for kindergarten. the next thing we worked on was formation of letters for his first name. he already knew how to spell it but writing it was a differnt thing. once we mastered that we worked on just knowing and reciting the alphabet in order. i only spent 15 minutes per day at that age. at the end of kindergarten i reinforced everything that he learned by buying 1st grade level work books on all his subjects and spent about 20 minutes per day doing them. the teacher said that was enough time to keep him stimulated and so he would not forget what he learned. in addition she felt that getting first grade level instead of just review of kindergarten would help to get him ahead a bit. this summer we are going to be working on memorizing some math problems and writing neater and tying our shoes. i only work on what he needs to so he is not overwhelmed. after all they deserve a break and need to have fun too.

hi i have put my 3 year old son in various classes he has art and craft class twice a week,swimming camp is thrice a week,roller skating is twice a week, best is he goes for dance classes where he has a lot of fun he has learnt the boogie woogie dance ..they all look so cute dancing in a group...at home alos i try teaching him nursery rhymes through cds or games i read books to him...i do picture talk with him so he knows lot of things for his age he knows his alphabets capital and small , colors, shapes, names of baby animals, habitats of animals and nothing was forced i give him a book he likes to see and keeps asking wt is this and stuff so he picks it up..u can also try..i hope it helps..

Here, teachers have sent home recommendations on ways to keep your children learning over the summer. One of the major ones is getting them to help with groceries, especially the pricing and adding the totals, or counting out the change. Also helping cook or bake helps them learn measurements. But really, there is nothing more educational than reading. Keep him reading all summer long. He could easily fall behind if he doesn't keep reading.

there are so many great things you can do. you can having reading day with him. you can do at home science projects with him. you can take him out and identify leaves with him. I mean there are endless things you can do to keep him learning. write down the name of things on cards and tape them around the house and have him say the words, that will help him identify the words with the object. good luck and most of all have fun with it

There are tons of learning games that you guys can play together. Most cities have boys and girls clubs with excellent programs so he does not get bored. I am assuming that the city does not offer summer school or maybe you do not want his learning experience to be quite that structured over the summer.

Sign up for activities at the public library. We just had the children's librarian come in yesterday and there are so many neat things coming to our libraries this summer.

I will go over practice worksheets that his teacher gave him while in class. Plus, I will do things that he may have done in school. I also plan to go to this website, www.starfall.com. Here they have activities that a young child can do. I will be letting my kids look at this website during the summer.

My child isn't old enough to even go to school yet but my brother is 8 and he goes to summer school at the college. Right now he is taking a Spanish class that lasts about 3 weeks and an Art class that lasts a month and 1/2. Last year he took Algebra and he went to a singing camp that was sponsored by his church. Maybe you could enroll him in an Art class if he likes that or they have all kinds of camps that he could go to. I hope you find what you are looking for. Bye