Staying Sharp During The Summer

During summer vacation kids seem to turn off their brains and forget everything they learned during the school year. They are too busy scoping out boys at the pool or the mall or playing video games and watching television. There is often very little reading or writing or arithmetic. When they are little it’s easier to slip in a lesson without them knowing. When they are little they still want to curl up and have you read a book to them. When they get to be teenagers they start to pull away and start to groan the second you suggest they pick up a book to read. So what can we do to keep them sharp during the summer?

• Have her start a blog where she can post about her summer activities and get comments from her friend.
• Encourage her to keep a travel journal or scrapbook while she’s at camp or while you’re on your family vacation.
• Get him to write letters or emails to his grandparents. Guilt him in to it if you have to. “Grandma would be so happy to get an email from you. She doesn’t get to hear from you very often.”
• Have your teen plan your vacation from start to finish. Have her research hotels and restaurants. Let her pick what attractions she wants to go to.
• Let your teen map out the trip…on a map, not MapQuest. Have him highlight the fastest route. Ask him to find both the quickest route and the route that avoids tolls. If he’s old enough, let him drive part of the trip. If he isn’t old enough have him navigate for you.
• Ask your teen to “help” you by reading to her younger brothers or sisters. Tell her the younger kids are required to read so many pages during the summer and your just too busy to do it all yourself.
• Ask your teen to babysit for you (you will probably have to pay him) and tell him there should be no television. Make him use his imagination to come up with something to entertain his siblings.
• Have your teen make dinner once a week. Let her choose the menu and be responsible for the whole meal.
• Give your teen the chore of grocery shopping. Give him $50 and a grocery list and see if he can find the deals to come in under budget.
• Shop together to buy new school clothes. Set a budget. Make it clear. And let your teen figure out how to get what she needs within that budget. Don’t give in.
• Buy some puzzle books; Suduko or crossword puzzles.
• Get them a subscription to Games or Mental Floss magazines. Games has a lot of brain teasers and puzzles using pop culture. Mental Floss has a lot of interesting facts.
• What interests your teen? There is a magazine for everything. If he’s a gamer get a gaming magazine. If she’s in to fashion get her teen vogue. Magazines are easier for a teen to digest (especially in the summer) with the short articles.

What other ideas do you have to keep teens using their brains during the summer?