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Use it or lose it. That's the name of the summer vacation game. The television may beckon weary students and the backyard pool may call day after day, but educators and parents say summer shouldn't be an excuse to slough off. Whether children are attending day camps, taking an hour each day to complete workbook pages, or heading out on educational day trips with parents and friends, they should be using the break to apply the knowledge they gained during the school year. It's a time to pack fun educational experiences into their brain. "The key component for parents is to make sure the neurons keep firing in the minds of their children during summer," says Pam Clute, executive director of the ALPHA Center at UC Riverside. "Everyone knows, and research seems to validate, that if you don't use the information you learn, it goes away and sometimes it has to be re-taught." Clute runs a variety of summer camps that draw students from around Southern California. Her goal is to exercise and enrich youngsters' minds and bodies. Clute's half-day math camps focus on geometry, a subject she says has increasingly gotten short shrift in classrooms as teachers focus on algebra, the gateway course to higher math. Students spend 90 minutes working on geometry exercises, then hit the gym for another hour and a half. Their workout is designed to complement the math lessons on approximation or estimation they learned earlier that day. The last 10 minutes is spent discussing positive mental attitudes and studying role models for inspiration. "It's just been a wonderful way for the kids not only to learn content, but also to change their attitude about math and see the connection between being fit mentally and physically," Clute says. She adds that hosting the program at UCR gives an added bonus: "The subtle message I want kids to have is, 'College is in my future, college is something that should be out there for me, even if I'm not a brainchild.'" Finding enrichment programs near you usually takes only a few minutes of research (the Summer Camp Guide in this issue provides several options, ranging from educational to general to a specific focus). Because of cuts to education funds, most local school districts are focusing on remediation during summer school. If your child is struggling in a subject, check with her teacher or counselor to find out what classes or tutoring programs are available during vacation time. Summer education doesn't have to take place in a classroom. Cheryl Ransone, a sixth-grade teacher in Anaheim, has long used summer vacation to help her two children get a leg up on the coming year and reinforce the concepts they learned the previous year. Now, as a teacher at a year-round school, she sends home review packets with her students to keep them sharp during off-track breaks. "The feedback I got from parents was they liked it," she says. "The kids had something to do and had something to reinforce their skills. I also give them a home reading record and they have to read 30 minutes a day. If they aren't reading as much as they should, I have found their level will fall back down." Ransone's focus with her own children is on previewing material they will cover in the next grade. She says that although her two children don't always look forward to working through three pages a day, four days a week in their summer workbooks, they notice they often pick up on concepts faster than classmates when they return to school in the fall. "They may not always understand all the concepts I try to teach them, but at least they have been introduced to it," Ransone says. "They didn't always want to do it. But, especially in math, they would find they could grasp all the ideas that were presented because they'd had it over summer. They felt really smart." Ransone has one tip for parents planning to use workbooks: Commit to correcting the child's work and showing them the correct way to complete problems they missed. "You really have to stick to your guns and you have to correct it and give them feedback on what they got wrong. You really have to be dedicated to it." Oh, and you may want to take the answers out of the back of the workbook to make sure they're thinking through the problems on their own. The key, says UCR's Clute, is to get your child engaged in learning. If your child's idea of summer education is watching the History Channel, turn off the television and get talking, reading, playing or going out the door to a museum. It will be good for you, too. "It is well-established that the more you use the brain in different ways, the more neuro-connections you develop," Clute says. "This is true throughout your entire lifetime. If you really want to stay mentally alert, you really have to look for things that are stimulating and engage the brain." Ready to make the most of the summer break? Once your child has finished with a summer camp or two, or wrapped up summer school or an in-house educational program, plan day trips, or additional classes. Here are several suggestions: Palm Springs Desert Museum (760) 325-0189 www.psmuseum.org The museum features hands-on art discoveries, classes and lectures on the desert tortoise, gallery talks and Family Days for children of all ages and their parents. The website features a detailed events calendar. Riverside Art Museum (909) 684-7111 www.riversideartmuseum.com "First Sundays" is a series of workshops, performances, films and special events designed for families and hosted by Riverside's four downtown museums, the City Library and the Riverside Arts Foundation. On the first Sunday of each month, the museum features a family film matinee, followed by an afternoon of events at six sites within a two-block area. All activities are free. The San Bernardino County Museum Redlands (909) 307-2669 www.co.san-bernardino.ca.us/museum A special summer exhibition, "Kid Stuff: Great Toys from Our Childhood," runs June 14 through Sept. 7. The museum also features a child-focused Exploration Station that reduces the focus on petting animals while concentrating on telling their stories along with tales of ecology, biology, and conservation. While various critters will still be available for face-to-face encounters, they will be the animals who can help you learn the most about your local environment. Special visiting hours apply. Aquarium of the Pacific Long Beach (562) 590-3100 www.aquariumofpacific.org The Aquarium offers a variety of classes for preschoolers through adolescents and teens. Make sure to check out the Job Shadow program, which is geared toward students (grades 5-12) interested in animal husbandry or marine biology careers. Learn what it takes to run a world-class aquarium and get a hands-on opportunity to participate in everyday activities that help maintain the Aquarium. Students will go behind the scenes and shadow education and husbandry staff. Check the website for details and schedules. San Diego Zoo and San Diego Wild Animal Park (619) 557-3969 or (760) 740-9383 www.sandiegozoo.org The Zoo offers a variety of classes and camps for children during the summer. Joe Nyiri, an award-winning artist and art teacher, will offer personalized instruction and show students how to evaluate their own work in full and half-day sessions. Safari Cadets at the San Diego Zoo's Wild Animal Park is for students ages 7-11. It includes visits to off-exhibit areas and lets students help with enrichment projects for the park's animals. For more information on programs, call either of the above numbers. SEAWORLD San Diego (800) 23-SHAMU www.seaworld.org/camp/swc/index.htm The marine wildlife park offers several summer programs. Among the offerings are resident camps, day camps and weekend fun adventure camps. Youths can discover the truth about sharks and other ocean animals with "dangerous" reputations; get to know bottlenose dolphins, beluga whales and polar bears; and more. Grades served range from preschool to high school. Natural History Museum of Los Angeles County (213) 763-DINO www.nhm.org The museum features story time, weekend crafts, interactive exhibits, overnight camp adventures for girls or boys as well as family camps. The website has schedules and details on all these child-friendly events. California Science Center Los Angeles (323) 724-3623 www.casciencectr.org Exciting explorations, delightful discoveries and wild wonders await your family at the California Science Center's Hands-On Science Camp. The center offers more than 25 courses, including parent-and-child classes that give families a chance to investigate science together. In addition, exciting family field trips bring you and your kids to where science lives, from Catalina Island to the open sea. UC Riverside (909) 787-5425 www.alphacenter.ucr.edu UCR's summer programs draw students from around the Southern California area. Interested families can ask to speak with Linda Rankin to request more information on summer programs for youths. n Jennifer Leuer of Yorba Linda is an education reporter. To reach her: leuer.ramus@sbcglobal.net. |
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