With apologies to Alice Cooper, school may be out for summer, but it’s not out forever. While kids should allow their brains to take a well-deserved rest for the next couple of months, there’s no need to let everything they learned all year seep out of their heads -- not when parents have five tips for stopping summer brain drain.
When the boys of summer are playing in the ballparks or hitting home runs on television, kids can watch and learn math at the same time without even realizing it.
Baseball is a game steeped in numbers. They govern nearly every facet of the sport, from the batting order to the innings, the number of bases and the scorecard. To love baseball is to appreciate its mathematical elements.
"Stats are just a normal part of the game,” said Sean Holtz, webmaster for Baseball Almanac, Inc. “Batting average. Runs scored. Runs batted in. All of these become normal speak after just a few visits to the park, and sooner or later they will want to learn more about how each is determined.
"I've seen countless young kids, who don't realize they know multiplication skills but can divide courtesy of learning how to calculate a batting average.”
If you are looking to build your home library for summer reading, here is a sampling of titles from the Association for Library Service to Children, a division of the American Library Association:
Readers 0 to 3 years old:
• "Goodnight Moon" by Margaret Wise Brown
• "Five Little Monkeys Jumping on the Bed" by Eileen Christelow
• "In the Tall, Tall Grass" by Denise Fleming
Readers 4 to 7 years old:
• "Dinosaurumpus!" by Tony Mitton
• "If You Give a Mouse a Cookie" by Laura Joffe Numeroff and Felicia Bond
• "Where the Wild Things Are" by Maurice Sendak
Readers 8 to 11 years old:
• "Number the Stars" by Lois Lowry
• "Because of Winn-Dixie" by Kate DiCamillo
• "The Chronicles of Prydain" series by Lloyd Alexander
Readers 12 to 14 years old:
• "Miracle’s Boys" by Jacqueline Woodson
• "Feed" by M.T. Anderson
• "The Wee Free Men" by Terry Pratchett
Summer adventures are moments to be savored and captured. One way that children can relive their summer days and promote their creativity is through art journaling. A child doesn't need to be a talented artist or prolific writer to participate in this activity; he just has to doodle and jot down some thoughts.
“Art journaling can work however you want it to. It's a personal activity," said Dawn DeVries Sokol, book designer and author of "Doodle Diary: Art Journaling for Girls." According to Sokol, "You can use it to experiment with creative techniques, document your life, jot down ideas, gather pieces of inspiration or all of the above.”
Local libraries hold summer reading programs with built-in structures, incentives and books. Get your child a library card and give her the world to explore. If your child is less than excited about reading, the library is a rich resource for parents who want to offer a myriad of tempting choices.
“You have to make it something they are interested in, and want to do, and not something that is boring to them,” said Mary Skeen, mother and former media specialist for Larry C. Kennedy School in Phoenix. “Comic books and Manga [Japanese comics] are all too often considered a simple read since there are pictures, but you must use your brain more since there are limited words and you have to make sense between the words and the pictures.”
She also recommended audio books for struggling readers because they allow children to read more challenging books and hear correct pronunciation of new vocabulary.
“Audio books are awesome. Technology has come a long way since I turned the page of the book when the record chimed,” Skeen said. Audio books are easy to find online and can be downloaded to iPods.
To create a summer reading program in your home, Skeen recommended that parents read the same books that their children are reading. “Parents will be amazed at the differences between what their child takes from a book and what they take from it,” she said.
Make reading into a memorable family project with book discussions and a fun project when everyone has finished. Ideas include creating an adapted comic book, making a meal from the book or visiting a place related to the book.
Budding scientists do not need a lab in which to perform their experiments, and exploring the environment shouldn't be complicated.
Science fair project books and websites offer a wealth of ideas for fun family projects such as learning the chemistry of homemade ice cream, making a backyard volcano, creating the goopy substance “gak” or finding fractal patterns in butterflies or leaves on a nature hike, said Martha Levine, science teacher for Animo Locke 4 Charter High School in Los Angeles.
"Most kids learn by seeing and doing," Levine said. "For example, if you tell a kid that gak is a polymer, it doesn't mean much to them. But if they see a liquid turn into a stringy polymer, the word and concept make more sense."
Finding something to collect and identify, such as rocks, butterflies or leaves, is also an educational summertime project.
"If you collect rocks they are pretty, but a kid will also notice differences that bring up questions and learning," Levine said. "That's what science is -- learning about the world around you."
An engaging way to learn history is to research a new place before visiting it.
Children and adults will enjoy visiting tourist spots more readily if they know something of the history of the place ahead of time. Books, such as the "Magic Tree House" stories, offer kids a “good overview of the history of a place and a gripping story, too,” said Jamie Pearson, publisher of the Travel Savvy Mom website.
While traveling, seize an educational opportunity along the way by stopping at historical markers as well as famous landmarks. If you know the route ahead of time, map out the various historical markers using the website for the Historical Marker Society of America, said Beth Blair, co-founder of The Vacation Gals website.
Studying history is also a smart way to kick off a "staycation," Blair said. A staycation lets families get into the vacation mindset without ever getting into the car or onto a plane.
“I suggest families start with ethnic festivals, restaurants and museums. The summer is a great time for all of the above," Blair said. "The best part is that not only do the children learn something, but usually the parents do, too.”