Tag Archives: Vacation

Gone Fishin'?

two people fishing off a boat dock at sunsetSummer is in full swing in our neck of the woods.  The weather has been great, not to hot, not too cold.  We have had trips to the beach, a trip to the water park, a trip to a state park for some camping and fishing.  And yet, even with all this wonderful weather going on, I find myself having to push my kids outdoors.  If I let them, I think they would sit in front of the TV or computer all day long, and luckily, for my own sanity, we have refused to buy a game system, because I am sure that would be on the list as well.

As my husband and I discussed what limits we needed to place on screen time for the summer, he made the comment that he did not remember ever being inside the house in the summer, except for meal time.  I don’t have that same shared memory, but I do remember doing a lot of activities outside of my house.  I do not remember a lot of time in front of the TV, except for a bowl of cereal while watching the Brady Bunch or Leave it To Beaver.  But, as we discussed the fact that our kids, and ourselves should be outside more, I told my husband to look outside.  We live in a subdivision with plenty of kids, yet at noon, on a summer day, we did not hear a single kid outside playing.  Now later in the day, closer to evening, there were kids and families all over the place, but where were all the kids earlier?

My husband and I are lucky enough, if you consider the relative paycheck, to have our summers off with our children.  I am sure that many parents are still working through the summer.  But, all these kids can’t be just sitting inside the house all day, can they?  Or is it a symptom of the times, that we as parents do not give our kids the freedoms that we once had to roam and explore.  We have lots of activities and trips planned this summer.  Our kids will be outside, a lot.  But, it just surprises me how hard it is to get them out, to get them moving and doing things, together, with friends, alone, whatever.

Today, I took charge and we picked up and went to the lakeshore.  Tomorrow we have a trip to the waterpark.  But, does it always have to be me making plans to get the kids moving?  I know with my youngest, who just turned three, it is my job to supervise and often organize, but my nine and thirteen year old should be more than able to direct their own fun.  Whatever happened to kids creating their own play?  Or is this just something that we like to memorialize and was never a reality?

What do you do to encourage your children to get outside and play?

by In The Fast Lane

Photo graciously provided by _Massimo_, through a Creative Commons license, some rights reserved

Summer Learning: You're Doing It Wrong

a path in the woods of the smoky mountainsMy husband and I took our children to the Smoky Mountains last week. It was a family vacation, our first one that was just the four of us, and I declared it a VEGETABLE-FREE, EDUCATION-FREE, FUN ONLY time. Of course, I didn’t actually say that to my children or my husband, I just whispered it to myself in my head to take the pressure off. And, of course, it wasn’t actually education-free like I had hoped. I taught us all quite a few things!

The first lesson I taught to my daughter. It goes like this: If you’re mother is smart enough to put the sunscreen in the car before heading out for a day of fun at an outdoor amusement park, but dumb enough to forget to actually put the sunscreen on you, you will spend the following day doing indoor activities. And also whining about the sunburn on your cheeks.

The second lesson I taught was to my son. I won’t go in to many details (trust me, you don’t want to know), but the basic lesson is this: If you have your very own bathroom during the duration of the vacation, you should still flush the toilet even if mom and dad will never know. Because they will eventually know. OH YES, THEY WILL.

The third lesson was for my husband. It was a pretty short lesson, but it involved quite a bit of screeching and shrieking. It goes like this: ARE YOU OUT OF YOUR MIND? That windy, twisty, narrow mountain road is UP THERE! We are no longer on THE ROAD! You have just driven your FAMILY off of a CLIFF! The moral of that little lesson is to always let your wife drive OR just drive a bit slower than normal. Those mountain roads are treacherous. (We were all fine, it was just a LITTLE cliff and we were able to drive right back up it. So maybe more of a hill? Feel free to hyperventilate at the memory with me, though.)

And the fourth and final lesson was for me. Just because I am a homeschooling mother who has taken her family on a vacation to the gorgeous Smoky Mountains and there are millions of educational opportunities available, just chill out. Really. Letting go and having fun is a lesson in and of itself. Also, pretend the vacation is a science experiment and see how long your little family of four can last without eating even ONE vegetable! Bet the answer is longer than you’d think!

Hope you all enjoy your summer vacations the same way I enjoyed mine.

by Karly Campbell

Photo graciously provided by Arkansas ShutterBug, through a Creative Commons license, some rights reserved

Summer's Comin' –Keep That Ol' Brain Box Lubed!

book with pages fanned and viewed from the bottomMy kids are taught in the public school system, which means that summer vacation is soon to arrive.

Now, most kids would want to use that time as a vacation from *all* learning. But just like a car that’s not being used, you need to start the engine every once in a while or it’ll lock up on you. So, with that in mind, I negotiate with the kids for some level of brain activity during the summer break.

I don’t ask for much, especially as my kids work hard during the rest of the year, but I do ask for some. And some, for this summer, means daily reading and weekday problem solving (either math or social studies or science, their choice). Also, they’ll be doing some SAT prep (we’re using the 3 Minutes A Day method from McCutcheon and Schaffer.

Is that too much to ask of a teenager? I don’t think so, and my wife doesn’t think so, and my kids don’t think so, but I’ll leave the floor open for debate. And, for the flip-side, I’d love to hear from those parents who are torturing nurturing their kids with education this summer. What are your plans?

by Stu Mark

Photo graciously provided by Shenghung Lin, through a Creative Commons license, some rights reserved

Do You Take Retreats?

Every 6-8 weeks, I try to go away by myself for a weekend. Even before we completed our adoption, Peter and I agreed that I would take time off once in a while as compensation for the weekends he’s on call at the hospital and seldom makes it home.

It’s easy to explain to K and M, age 5 and 4, that it’s Papa’s turn to take care of sick people all weekend. It’s hard to explain that Mama simply wants a little peace and quiet. However, since I usually go to the bed-and-breakfast owned by friends, I say, “I’m visiting Janet and Adam. Remember Janet and Adam?” We make a point of visiting for a weekend once in a while as a whole family, so they always remember—and approve.

Supporting our kids’ emotional responses to my absence takes work. After all, we adopted them from Russia only 17 months ago, and they’d been in orphanage care for 18 months before that. In their short lives, they’ve had two abrupt changes of parents. While it might seem cruel for M & K’s “forever Mommy” to up and leave every so often, we believe my vacations strengthen their faith in and attachment to us: after all, Papa gets to shine while I’m away; and I always, always come back.

I was away for three full nights this past weekend teaching at a writer’s conference, and here’s how we managed it.

First, the week prior to my departure, I did some of the kids’ favorite things with them. We went swimming, dined at their favorite restaurant, played outside, cuddled and tickled and chased a lot. My intention was to create happy and loving memories.

Second, 48 hours before my departure, I told them I was going away. I use this interval because they accept it best. When it’s so far ahead that we count down on a calendar, they worry. I did, however, use the calendar to show them which days I’d be gone. I also made a point of showing them all the birthday parties they’d attend during that time!

Third, we traded favors: M and K agreed to feed my fish if I “took care of” stuffed animals they’d send with me. Together, we made a chart on which they could cross off the feedings, to count down to my return.

Fourth, I made drawings of our family doing fun things together (evoking faith that we’d be together again), which I placed in separate envelopes to be opened one per night that I was away.

Then came the day of my departure. Because of my drive time, I had to “hand off” to Nancy, our beloved sitter, in the early afternoon. We overlapped by about thirty minutes, during which time I put the kids down for their nap and said goodbye. Since our morning routine always includes discussing plans for the day, K and M knew that this was going to happen. They said goodbye warmly but casually, knowing Nancy was in the house. Nancy is a grandmother many times over, and there is nothing we don’t trust her to do.

While I’m away, I usually ask someone to photograph me with the kids’ stuffed animals. I email the photo home for Peter to show the kids. I also call home at least once a day. Peter reports that even voice mail messages are a huge hit. I did both these things this past weekend.

After three nights away, I returned yesterday. As I’d hoped, there was no fanfare: life had gone on here as usual, and nobody was surprised to see me.

Do Peter and I need to make all this effort? We think so. The one time Peter slipped up and didn’t show K & M my drawings or pictures or play them my phone messages, K woke up crying at night and M frankly didn’t believe I had come home even two days afterwards. Do other parents need to make this effort? We have no idea.

What are your thoughts? Do any of you folks take time away from your children? How do you prepare?

by Deborah L. Blicher

Photo graciously provided by ennor, through a Creative Commons license, some rights reserved.

Summer Fun: Now With More Learning!

kid on swing with sky and clouds in backgroundShould summer vacation be a full on vacation from learning or should parents try to work some educational activities in there? What about actual school work, such as math workbooks or non-fiction reading? How do you handle summer vacation with your children?

I really believe that three months is too long to go without any structured learning. I know that if I allow my son to waste his entire vacation on video games and television and even playing outside with friends that he’ll forget half of what he’s learned this year. In most schools the teachers have to spend a few weeks reviewing material from the previous grade just to get the kids back up to speed. This year? I have a plan.

Eeyore is going to continue working on his second grade math workbook. The math program we have is for thirty-six weeks of school, but because we only did math four days a week for awhile we still have four weeks worth of lessons to go. This actually works out quite well, because math is Eeyore’s toughest subject. By continuing with math all through summer (maybe two or three days a week depending on our schedule) the math concepts will all stay fresh in his mind and he’ll be able to jump right in to third grade math with no problems and no need to review a lot of second grade concepts.

Another way I am planning to use the summer is to teach Eeyore cursive writing. He doesn’t enjoy writing very much, so I try to plan our day with lots of breaks in between writing assignments. For example, he does his math (writing) and then we read our history book (no writing) before going on to his phonics workbook (writing). Switching back and forth seems to keep him from being overwhelmed, but I know that as he gets older he is going to be writing a lot more and breaking it up won’t be an option. I’m going to try easing him into this by teaching him cursive over the summer so that he doesn’t have that extra time learning cursive during a regular school day that will already be filled with writing assignments. (How many times can I say writing and cursive in this paragraph? TOO MANY.)

We will probably join our library’s summer reading program, although Eeyore loves to read and that really isn’t an issue. He reads a few chapters of a book he chooses each night before bed anyway. I do think that the extra motivation of a summer reading program will be nice and hopefully inspire him to read a bit more during the day rather than turning to me and telling me he’s bored. A lot of the books he has are Magic Tree House books and I love to see him reading those.

Eeyore will also continue taking Spanish classes over the summer at a local learning center. He will also be taking a science class there once a week as well. Both classes are presented in a fun way and he loves to attend.

This sounds like quite a bit, but I estimate that we’ll spend about an hour three days a week on math, a total of an hour a week on cursive, and two hours each week at his Spanish and Science classes. All in all, six hours a week isn’t such a bad deal.

What plans do you have to keep your children’s minds working over summer break? Or do you believe that a break is a break and not worry about educational activities during summer break?

by Karly Campbell

Photo graciously provided by Guacamole Goalie, through a Creative Commons license, some rights reserved