Inquiring minds want to know. Really, we do!
I'd never even heard of the "Summer Slide" until a guy promoting summer camps spoke last night at our school's PTA meeting. I missed the first few minutes, but I gathered the "problem" he was there to solve was an academic concern shared by schools and parents. His one-hour response to that apparently urgent question could easily have been wrapped with a five-minute plea to send our kids to his camp and only his camp. Instead, he lumbered through two dozen Powerpoint slides that did not even try to mask his message that the "hybrid" camps he represents are far more enriching and well rounded than all those other camps we were considering. Surprise!
Going in, I knew how the "Summer Slide" presentation would play out; yet as PTA Secretary, I needed to attend the meeting. THAT is a another blog post for another time.
The one interesting part of the presentation was a discussion he fostered between the dozen or so parents in attendance. We were asked to share our summer goals for our children in the areas of: Academic, Physical, Social, Life Skills and Hobbies.
While many shared a concern about kids losing their ability to write or recall their multiplication facts, the majority of parents expressed a desire for their kids to learn new skills or just to enjoy their families and their free time. Swimming and playing were high on the list, as was visiting extended family in other parts of the country or world. One mom with older kids plans to teach them how to cook. Now there's a good life skill! Inspired by that mom, I decided I will teach my older one to build a fire at the beach; the old fashioned way, with matches and tinder and kindling. You know, in case he's ever stranded on a remote island somewhere. Life Skill - check!
When they are not training for Survivor, my kids will attend a variety of summer camps and spend plenty of time in the pool. This is not driven by summer slide prevention, but by the fact that I'm neither a martyr nor Julie Andrews. They truly want to attend Mini-Hawks, Lego camp, a music/theater camp, and even an outdoor woodsy camp with a sleepover and macrame crafts.
Even with several weeks of camp, a ten-week summer still seems like a wealth of time. You know how you always optimistically bring too many books for a cross-country flight or vacation? I do. In the same vein, right now in early May, summer seems like such a great opportunity to pick up new skills and experiences that we are unable to do the rest of the year when pesky school schedules and PTA meetings get in the way.
So here is the part of my blog when I ask for your input. We're trying to create a little community here ;-) You can comment anonymously, but please share: Forget this summer slide nonsense, what fun things are your kids doing this summer?
summer slide is not an official trend until it shows up here:
ReplyDeletehttp://www.google.com/trends?q=summer+slide
so far we are ok, no official trend :) Is there a summer slide available for adults? we'll take two. sounds like a mixed drink; 2 Summer Slides on crushed ice please. meyers rum and meyer lemon, with pellegrino, perhaps some mint ?
I didn't know it had an official name, but Malcolm Gladwell highlighted research on kids' school performance in one of his books - Blink, maybe? He noted that when measured between Sept and June, kids in all socio-economic groups and schools achieved roughly the same degree of academic progress. It's only when you measure them on full year progress, Sept to Sept, that kids on the upper end of the social economic spectrum outperform others. The theory as to why is the camps, reading and engagement that their families support over the summer months.
ReplyDeleteWe've signed our boys up for cooking and soccer camps, and have a family tradition we lovingly call "Daddy School" where my husband and the boys do reading and math and fun projects for hour or two each morning on summer weekdays. But most of all, we want everyone in the family to relax and explore over the summer so the emphasis in our house is definitely on keeping things fun.
Last summer my then pre-kindergartner attended a few different camps, almost all with friends of his, and complained a lot about having to go. This year when I brought up the subject of summer activities he announced, "The only camp I'm going to this summer is Camp Home." Though I suspect he'll have to deal with more than a few hours being bored, especially during weeks when his constant playmates, the neighborhood kids, are in camp themselves, I figure that he probably won't ever want to be home as much as he does now and I should enjoy it while it lasts. Besides, a little boredom can generate creativity... or was it mischief? We'll see our experiment goes :-)
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