Summertime can be fun and educational

As we head into summer vacation, good educators are crying the age-old lament of learning lost over the long break. Research says they are right to be worried, especially with students who are below grade level or struggling in school. However, learning takes on many forms beyond the classroom and schoolhouse walls. Summer can be a hands-on, fun and rich learning experience with a little effort, time and ingenuity.

Our long summer break may not be ideal for education, but it is a magic tradition in a child’s life. Much educational research has been done showing that play is important, perhaps even critical, in the development of a happy, balanced child. We explore the world, build social skills and express our imaginations and creativity by playing. Let’s not take this away from children and remember that summer is their open canvas after a winter of structure, rules and routines.

If your child has a reading or math deficit, absolutely, address it this summer. These are core areas where we cannot let our children fall behind. However, resist the urge or advice to sentence them to a summer of structured homework or drill and practice. As Winston Churchill said, “I am always ready to learn, although I do not always like being taught.” Instead, spend the summer doing fun projects and activities. Language and math skills can be developed and enjoyed through hands-on summer experiences.

Tree-house math trumps textbook learning every time, hands down! What kids doesn’t want an awesome tree house, fort or playhouse this summer? Math skills expand with hands-on projects, bringing real-world application to numbers, measurement, distance, shapes and direction. When building, involving children in each step. Show them how to use a tape measure and fractions come to life. Soon, they will be calculating angles and area, and maybe even trying out the Pythagorean theorem. Not that handy? Bake and cook with kids, again incorporating measurement and numeration. Discuss the value of estimation as a real-world math skill and share benchmarks you use for measurement estimates.

Other projects could include setting up the classic lemonade stand, bringing money into the lessons involved in both of the previous examples. For teens, babysitting and mowing laws are classic examples of one of the greatest things we can do for our kids — teaching them entrepreneurship. Running a small business involves important life skills such as trial and error, communication, customer service, hard work and dedication. It also brings in critical math and language skills in a wide variety of ways. A summer business is the opportunity for a child to experience rich, hands-on, real world learning.

Although forcing a book on a child is rarely a good idea, summer is a chance to introduce your childhood favorites to them. What book really sparked your love of reading? One of my earliest memories is of my stepfather reading “Old Yeller” and “Where the Red Fern Grows” out loud to me. That set the stage for a lifetime love of reading. Reading out loud, no matter how old your child, is an incredible way to engage them in a story while modeling reading fluency, voice and expression. If you begin a book by reading it out loud, they will soon be picking it up to see what happens next.

Another vastly underrated resource is the comic book. While adults sometimes view comics as frivolous, they are a great way to engage kids in reading. Comics are packed with high-level vocabulary words and illustrations showing what those words mean. Further, comics encourage visualization of the story, a critical skill in high-functioning readers (do you see a movie in your head when you read? Poor readers don’t, but comics can foster this). Promise to take them to a big summer movie — if they read the book first. That’s how I got my son and daughter to read “Hunger Games.”

Family activities, as simple as walks and hikes or as large as vacations and road trips, are opportunities to explore geography and history, as well as fun math exercises involving distance, rate, time, even budgeting, tax, percentages and more. Build a healthy love of fitness with walks, hikes, biking, swimming or summer sports. With all of these activities, language and computation skills can grow rapidly. With a journal, children can record their experiences. Try incorporating sketching, drawing and scrap-booking to make the journal lively and fun. The family trip is prime time to sneak in backdoor learning.

This summer, real learning can happen. Let’s make it a fun, hands-on adventure for our kids. Tap into their natural curiosity and creativity. Get out and explore, build something and play — you might learn something as well. After all, as George Bernard Shaw said, “We don’t stop playing because we grow old, we grow old because we stop playing.”

Of course, I do have to leave you with a couple of TED talks to supplement this piece:

For more information:

• Summer projects with kids: bit.ly/1afnZ3c.

• Play is more than fun: bit.ly/1bHTvFb.

• Let’s raise kids to be entrepreneurs: bit.ly/11PSw4c.

Adam W. Mokelke is principal at Burchell High School.