Summer Education

[Bunny]

When my ggs comes over we read the bible story book he loves it and is very insterated in all the stories so no problem there but he just hates math so I make a game and tell him I need his help as he is in school and im not so he can help me with the math problems and it works every time.

[ellenmelon]

Grandmothers have a way don't they! My mom in law uses a similar tactic and it is gentle and sweet.

Math games on the computer were good for my kids too especially at that age.

[Joy]

My kids always participated in the local library reading program every summer. As for any other subject --learning was kept very informal and often they didn't even realize that they were doing things that helped keep their math, science, etc. skills sharp. The kitchen is a great place to put everyday math skills to practice. I also involved my kids in gardening, another good place to learn and use skills they already have. I always felt like summer should be a break from traditional learning and more of time to put into practice what they had learned.

[marjekas]

i remember having a huge list of books for the summer since 6th grade. and all those books were discussed and tested during the schoolyear. if you left the reading for fall or winter, on probably did not have enough time to finish it. in highschool the list was about 15 books. sometimes we got to choose between one author's books.

as for my son, we will take a lots of fieldtrips and have hands on learning. he will take some of his worksheet books to the country with him and lots of books for me to read him. and solve math as part of the everyday life problems.

[cau]

My dgd is doing the BArnes & Noble book club. She is a good reader so we will work on things like analogies and writing skills. In Math I usually have her do things like figureing out time schedules and such. I try for more thinking projects. She loves animals so computer games like Vet Emergencies are good as she has to "cure the animal "and think her way through. She also has a game where she must run a horse farm and make all the decisions.
I have her work in the kitchen when we cook & clean up so she is exposed to measuring. When cleaning up we estimate how many cups in the container needed for the leftovers.
I also have her help when shoping I give her the pen & pad and have here round off the stuff we buy to figure how much we are spending. It sounds like a lot but most is done together or as a game so it doesnot seem like work.

[brehartsell]

What kinds of things would be recommended for an eighth grade boy to do so he won't be behind when school starts

[barbszy]

I can't speak to the math end of things, but I would just keep him reading and writing. Have him write a fiction story, letter, journal....have him organize and annotate your photos. And of course encourage reading as much as possible. If he's not into fiction, get him reading about a hobby he might have.

[cau]

Wow so much time has passed since I posted last but we will be working again this summer. I tend to read Books like Anne Frank so we can get into history also. It is something we both love, in Math I tend to let her test out of areas she knows well and then zero in on troubled areas.