Summer Fun and Learning for Homeschool or Homepreschool

     Summer has finally hit here in the Central Valley of CA, and it is not only HOT, but it’s humid, too.  That’s unusual here.  We mostly get HOT weather from May-October, but little humidity. You might as well say we live in the desert.  We’re lucky to get 5.72 inches of rain a year!  We have an average of 223 sunny days a year, and of those we average 38 days over 100 degrees.   Day before yesterday it was 98 degrees and 70% humidity.   So now, after a rare extended spring, we are adapting to our summer schedule. 

        Due to the heat here, we have to do things a little differently in the summer.  I try to find a balance between “summer fun” and our year-round school schedule.  Here’s what we do:

 –Rearrange our schedule:  In the summer our kids play outside in the morning and stay inside during the afternoon.  They often go outside again in the cool of the evenings (if there is such a thing.)  In years past, I’d let them stay out until dark.  This year though, we’re trying to keep to our usual bedtime so it isn’t so difficult to readjust bedtimes in the fall.   

 –Avoid the “summer slump”:  Children who take their whole summer off from school lose two months of learning (or more.)  To avoid this, we do a light school day (one or two hours) at least three days a week for most of the summer (working it around our vacation days.)  My goal is to keep things short, light and fun:  We’ll play games (especially math games); do some art projects, baking, or science experiments, and read, read, read (read aloud.)  This year, I need our boys to keep up their reading practice and cement those math facts, too. 

     Learning Ideas for Summer:

 -Explore new ways of learning:  If you normally use textbooks, try a summer unit study.   Choose a subject your child is fascinated with, and explore it together.  If you avoid art, music, science experiments or geography during the school year, spend some time doing some “catch-up” work (err, I mean fun) in those areas over the summer.   

-Try lapbooking, notebooking, scrapbooking or stamping.

 -Continue doing your Bible study, devotions and memory work through the summer.  I’ve learned the hard way that if we skip our Bible time, my children’s behavior starts to deteriorate.

 Summer Ideas For Moms:

–Be sure to give yourself some time to recoup and refresh.  Try to arrange a day alone, time alone with your husband, and time with a friend. 

-Lay out your plans for next year’s schooling:  Use the lighter summer schedule to explore new curriculum options, decide on your curriculum, and prayerfully set goals for each child.

-Spend some time reading a novel or catching up on your “how to homeschool” books.

Favorite FUN Activities For Kids of all Ages: 

     Summer isn’t summer without some fun!  Plan to spend some time in nature, even if it’s just a day trip.  For fun around the house, try:

-Playing in the mud (use a water hose to make rivers, lakes, and mud pies.)

-Coloring with sidewalk chalk

-Painting with Crayola brand sidewalk paint using old, heavy paintbrushes (it washes off the cement just like chalk does.)

-“Painting” the sidewalk with paintbrushes and buckets of water. 

–Making a “playhouse”:  Ask you local appliance store if you can have an old refrigerator box for your kids to paint, and then play in.   Cut out windows and a door using an Exacto knife.  (This is a job for Mom or Dad.)

-“Camping” in the backyard:  Either set up a tent, or sleep under the stars.  Be sure to turn off the automatic sprinklers first!

-Blowing bubbles

-Using old soda bottles and a baseball to “bowl”.

-Combining toys in new ways:  If you haven’t done this yet, try adding plastic animals/”Pet Shop” animals/cars to blocks; Toilet paper for bandages for a doctor kit (add a cat carrier and stuffed animals to play “vet”, or check out these PROP BOX ideas.)  

-Have a woodworker in the family?   Try asking if you can have all the little leftover pieces of wood–especially those small, odd shapes.  Glue them together to make a sculpture, or use a combination of nails and wood-glue to make a unique creation (one year I made a “house boat” for my Barbie dolls that way.)  Note:  Be careful of splinters!

-Try using a variety of different sized containers and freeze water in them (old yogurt cups, plastic margarine containers, etc.)  Pop the ice out and let your child play with it in the tub, the pool, or outside (science!) Tip:  Freeze small plastic animals in some of your containers. 

 -Consider investing in one keepsake “family toy” over the summer.  Our ultimate favorites are:

Marbleworks  have been a long-time favorite around our house for children who can be trusted not to put things in their mouths.  At first we had to help them build it, but now they create their own special design with drops, jumps, and more. 

 Dr. Drew’s Blocks (we made our own)

 Brio or Thomas wooden train sets:  Target.com carries some nice sets.  Brio or Thomas brands are the best, and they are compatible with each other–but they are very expensive.  However, any nice wooden set will suffice, although I’d check to make sure it was “Thomas” compatible.  We bought the wooden tracks on the cheap, and added the “Thomas” trains.  A few times we caught “Thomas” sets on clearance.  Over the years, we built up a large set. 

 -Make an obstacle course in your back yard.

-Have a family game night.  For preschoolers, try Hi-Ho Cheerio, Candyland, or Chutes and Ladders.  Our newest faves are Uno Flash (ages 7+), King Me Checkers, and various card games.

 -Make “waterland”:  That’s what my kids call it, anyway.  When our kids were little, we put our snap-set side pool under the slide (get the 8 foot size if you can), filled it up, and then ran water down the slide to make our own water slide.  You should stand in the water and “catch” your kids the first few times, until you see how far they slide on landing.  (WARNING:  They’ll go FAST!)   HERE is a link to a great idea from Family Fun Magazine that shows you how to use PVC pipes to make your own “waterpark.”  

-Make some art, then have an art show—invite your friends and family!

-Christmas in July:  Finally finish those big, messy art/craft projects you meant to make for Aunt Ruth the last three Christmases…spend a week  or two making Christmas presents and crafts.

 FUN Activities for older kids:

-Teach your children to play traditional games like Jacks (age 6+), Hopscotch, (ages 5+), Chinese Jump-rope (age 7+), and Marbles (age 6+)  Jump-rope and skippers are fun, too.  

-Set up an area where your children can  pound nails OR set up an “inventor’s laboratory” with all types of things to take apart, “repair”, or build.  (Supervise carefully.)

     For more ideas, check out:

www.funattic.com/game_summer.htm  

http://www.amazingmoms.com/htm/summerfun.htm

http://www.gameskidsplay.net

      Have a fun and safe summer!

                        ~Susan

© 2010 Susan Lemons all rights reserved. 

Common Preschool Myths Debunked: Part 1

            It’s amazing to me that so many parents stubbornly hold on to these common  “preschool myths”–even in the face of overwhelming evidence to the contrary.  Many parents believe these myths so strongly that they will not even investigate any evidence that might disprove their premise.  I hope that you, my dear readers, will have open minds.  If you don’t believe me, look up the evidence I site and find out the truth for yourself.

Myth #1: We haven’t started doing anything educational with our young children yet; our children are “just playing.”

Truth:  All children are learning, all the time–whether we are aware of it or not.  All play is learning– especially child-initiated play.  Through play, children learn:

~Academic readiness skills/academics

~Thinking skills

~Speech skills

~Small and large muscle strength, control, and coordination

~Eye-hand coordination

~Play gives children the opportunity to:  Act out and deal with emotional upsets; practice social skills; develop their attention spans.

~Play is vital to normal child development. 

        Never underestimate the value of play, or your child’s need for it.  The best type of play for young children is “creative” or “dramatic” play—the type of play where your child comes up with “pretend” scenarios.  Examples:  A “Mommy” and her baby, a cowboy/cowgirl (“playing ponies” is what we used to call it for my daughter), a superhero, a doctor, firefighter, etc.  Preschoolers also need plenty of time for “manipulative” play; puzzles, play-dough, table top blocks, pattern blocks, rice bins, and so on.

 Myth #2:  Preschoolers need special, “educational” toys in order to optimize their brain development.

Truth:  All toys are educational.  Many of the toys that are labeled “educational” are simply labeled as such for marketing purposes. 

    The best toys are interactive and child-powered.  Avoid toys that are battery run or computer based like the plaque.  These toys often promise great educational benefits, but in truth, they fall short.  (Read the article, Hi-Tech Toys Offer No Educational Gain.  It is also wise to avoid toys that are based off  television shows or movies; these have limited play possibilities.   

     The best toys are the “traditional” toys.  They can be used in many different ways.  When your child plays with a Buzz Light Year action figure, he will always play “Space” or “Buzz.”  But when your child plays with blocks, he can use them as props for many different imaginary scenarios:  He could build a “space station” or add cars for a city; s/he could add plastic animals for a zoo; she could add small dolls to play mommy, or just practice building and stacking.  All traditional toys like blocks, cars, dolls, play kitchen, building toys (like magnetic building toys and Legos), balls, stuffed animals, plastic animals, and so on inspire endless opportunities for years of creative play.

 Myth #3:  The preschool years represent a limited “window of opportunity” when it comes to learning.  Preschooler’s brains are growing neural connections at an unprecedented rate.  We must take advantage of this brain development, or our children will lose the opportunity forever. 

Truth:  It’s true that it is very important to provide a loving, stimulating, and balanced environment for all children, no matter their age.  It’s also true that young children’s brains are growing new neural connections at an astonishing rate.  In fact, by the time children are 11 years old they have almost twice as many neural connections as adults do.  Starting at around age 11,  the unnecessary (unused) connections are pruned away. 

        Older children and adults continue growing and pruning neural connections throughout their lifetimes, and can learn just as well as young children can.  However, there are three areas of special concern when it comes to early brain development:

~Speech development:  Young children learn to speak by hearing speech and then copying it.  It is critically important for brain development and speech skills that you talk to your children all the time about everything you do (from birth.)  Make eye contact with your children, and engage them in “conversations” (yes, even babies!)  Conversations involve a “back and forth” interaction (i.e. baby makes a sound, you make the sound back, adding some speech as well; then wait for baby to respond again.)  It is also important to sing to your children, and read to them everyday (preferably many times.)  All these activities help to stimulate speech development and thinking skills.

~Language development (foreign language):  Baby’s brains are primed to learn language—any language.  So it’s true that it is easier for very young children to learn to speak a second language than it is for an adult (especially if you want to sound like a native speaker.)   However, this doesn’t mean that an older child/adult can’t learn a new language.  

     If you missed out on teaching a second language to your  young child, don’t worry about it; the window isn’t closed;  all is not lost.  Your children can pick it up later.  My daughter took up Japanese in high school (took 3 years of lessons from an exchange student) and I can vouch for the fact that interest and determination makes all the difference.

   If it is important to you that your child becomes fluently bilingual, you might want to introduce him to a foreign language early on (just be sure to do it in a fun, non-pressured sort of way.)  The best way to do this would be to find someone to spend time with him who speaks the language you want him to learn.  Have this person speak the language while playing with/reading to your child.  Ideas:  Foreign exchange students, extended family, etc.  If this is impractical, check out the resources offered by Sing ‘n Learn-especially the “Teach Me” CD’s.

~Music:  I don’t have any proof of it, but I’m convinced that the people who have developed a good “ear” for music–and those who seem to have “natural musical talent”–grew up in musical homes.  The amount of time you spend singing with your children and listening to classical/quality music together is directly proportionate to their later musical talent and “ear” or instinct for music (including pitch.)  It’s not only in the genes; it’s in the nursery (or the CD player?)  So turn off the TV and expose your children to music (see the tab, “My Articles”, then scroll down to “Why Music Matters for Preschoolers” for more information.)

         What about teaching very young children to read or do math?   If their brains are developing so rapidly, shouldn’t we take advantage of that growth and push them ahead academically?  I’ll address that in my next post.

 For more information about brain development, read Endangered Minds: Why Children Don’t Think-and What We Can Do About It, and Your Child’s Growing Mind:  Brain Development and Learning From Birth to Adolescence, by Jane M.Healy, PH.D.

 © 2010 Susan Lemons all rights reserved.