What To Work On This Summer: Creating Habits of Intelligence

It’s that time of year again. With June approaching, parents are beginning to ask how to make the most of the approaching summer vacation. Here are my tips toward helping your child continue to make academic gains all summer long.

1. Keep your child immersed in good literature. Trips to the library are vital to helping your child continue to discover new and exciting books and authors all summer.

2. Maximize real-world learning opportunities when they arise.  Your child should be making change whenever he wants to buy something.  Follow a recipe together!  Play board games involving strategy or, better yet, try chess. 

3.  Find great educational websites that can replace other forms of “screen time.”  From Multiflyer to Funbrain, there are lots of great free sites out there for your child to try.  If you’re willing to pay some cash, $99 will get you an amazing one-year subscription to BrainPop’s learning videos.  Beginning in June, my own Online Math League site will be unveiling a $39-per-year subscription that will give your child access to a library of online math problems (complete with instant, detailed feedback after each problem) while also giving him access to a series of fun competitions throughout the 2008-2009 school year.  (I’ll write more about all of that once it goes live.)

4.  Form skill-building habits and rituals.  I give my son an allowance of 25 cents each night (as opposed to a larger weekly allowance).  On a busy night, I toss him a quarter, but when there’s time, I try testing him with groups of lesser coins that may or may not sum to 25 cents.  Then he makes trades for larger coins and bills.  My son and I both view this as just a normal part of his bedtime routine, and THAT is the key to raising smart children.  You must work to create “Habits of Intelligence” that you’ll frequently do with your child without even thinking about it.  Make the car ride automatically a place where your child reads a good book, or get in the habit of having your child keep a running estimate of the total cost of the groceries every week as you fill up your cart.  Finally, whatever you do, when speaking to your child, use an expansive vocabulary!

I think it’s important to note what is NOT on that list.  Please don’t spend all summer drilling your child on the basic math facts.  Don’t force your child to slog through books that he doesn’t really want to read.  Don’t print out a bunch of math worksheets for your child to slog through.  Suffice it to say that summer is a time for your child to be a child, so let the learning take place through more fun and natural means.