Years ago, when I seemed to be more on the ball in this motherhood gig, I always planned academic goals for my kids every summer. I would buy summer workbooks according to their grade and set out with strategies to enforce daily brain work, with the intention of keeping all that knowledge they learned through the school year fresh and ready for fall. I always worried they would forget it all and start the new school year off with the ruins of a deteriorated brain.
That wasn’t going to happen on my watch. No sir.
My kids were going to stay freshly educated all summer long, and that’s how every summer began and ended. This goal was a huge part of our plans.
My kids were expected to do at least five pages a day, and the enticing reward would motivate them to complete their daily goal to ensure they would have the glorious event we planned for them each year.
Then somehow, this educational mission began to diminish in its importance. I remember the last time I bought those workbooks, as I recently found my daughter’s old fourth grade summer workbook under piles of junk in her room. There were four pages completed. I believe that was the beginning of the end.
It seems we were off to a wonderful start that first day, but somehow the significance of it all tapered off rather abruptly that summer…and I can’t for the life of me remember how or why.
Perhaps it was the long days at the pool, or the day camps that exhausted them to the point of falling asleep mere minutes after returning home. Maybe I just got lazy. Yeah, that could have happened. Lazy or busy, depending on the day. I think that’s a good combination for summer anyway.
My daughter is in eighth grade now, and I haven’t bought another workbook since that almost brand new 4th grade summer workbook I found. Now my kids read whatever books they want at their leisure. In fact, on this rainy day they have chosen to snuggle on the couch and dive deep into their books now. Reading what they want is the best way to inspire the love of books.
Work-books on the other hand? That’s an entirely different story…
Interestingly, what I learned through this drop in academic investment came just as elusively as how I dropped it all in the first place.
Much to my delightful surprise, every year my kids did great in school! Each fall, they would jump back onto the academic horse and gallop off into the sunset of great grades and conscious efforts. After that first year of dreading the idea of my kids suffering because of my own slacking efforts, I realized that they did just fine. They dove right in and never struggled to keep up with the onslaught of material poured out on them each year.
Now, I’m not trying to encourage you to drop whatever educational intentions you may have for your kids. I certainly understand the need to address those children with learning difficulties, school issues or any educational needs that may arise. I also believe every child is completely unique and moms surely know best for their kids.
What I am trying to say is that if you find yourself at the end of the summer, and those workbooks have only four pages done…your kid just might be all right too.
Don’t sweat it, moms. Apparently, our kids’ brains don’t deteriorate all that much over a few months. And it’s really amazing how the fresh break of summer—and all the good stuff that summer brings—may even feed their brains with the vital juice to make them work that much harder and be that much smarter during the school year.
Maybe taking the break is actually the best thing to do after all.
I’m going with that.
Instead of looking down at their workbooks on a long road trip, my kids looked out their windows at the new landscape they had never seen before. Instead of staying stuck in their rooms to finish those pages, they spent hours at the pool playing games with new friends. Summer experiences can be more valuable than any worksheet offered. Instead of numbers and words, kids can learn that spending hours outside building forts in a tree or wading in a creek looking for hidden Indian tools can actually fill places in their brains that summer workbooks cannot.
There’s a whole lot of learning going on in the summer, more than math facts and vocabulary and spelling. I believe it’s called Life Lessons.
It’s worked so far.
*The original version of this post was first published on Scary Mommy.
I’m not a big fan of summer workbooks. Our school system used to assign summer packets for the kids, and I hated those too. It was always a mad rush to get them done at the end of the summer because they had to turn them in for some kind of credit. Summer reading I’m fine with, but our summers here are so short anyway, I just feel like it would be nice to have a break. I know that they say with the extended break, it sets the kids back in terms of what they remember, but my kids have always done just fine in school and they work hard during the school year. I guess I feel like they should get some time to pursue something else for the couple of months that they have off.
I am SO with you on everything you shared Michelle! I would have hated to scurry with those summer assignments! I’m so thankful our schools don’t do that. Ugh.
Kids deserve a BREAK and they need to pursue other activities that grow their brain in different ways OUTSIDE of the classroom.
Love, love, love this and yes I have succumbed to the summer workbook in the past here with my older girl. But have since seen the error of my ways with this one and just letting my girls for the most part enjoy the summer and the time off for what it is worth now. Thanks for the reminder here and hugs!! 😉
It’s just too hard to get them to sit down and focus on that kind of work! And I have since learned, UNNECESSARY. They need and deserve a BREAK. 🙂
Now my kids adore reading when they find a really good book, so at least they do that- 🙂
Love this! Although the thought that I might get LESS on the ball with mothering is scary.. ha.
Scarlet’s kindergarten teacher is famous for saying, “Take her to Disney World! Take her to see moose! She’ll learn much more out there than here.”
Workbooks are probably awesome, but so is exploration and reading books for pleasure and and.. ice cream.
YES!! I was SO intent for those first grade school years to stay ‘on track’ and keep my kids learning and reviewing their academics! I was nervous they would forget.
I’m SO relieved to prove myself wrong. 🙂
Remember that when summer hits in a few years! Your kindergarten teacher is SO RIGHT.
Yes, I’m with you, Chris. Summer is for growing and learning in the memories department. I remember buying two math books for my darlings (then 5 and 6) to enjoy as we drove 13 hours to get to my brother’s house. In July. The scenery was spectacular. Through the mountains and beyond. I also borrowed a “Charlie and the Chocolate Factory” audio tape from the library which was read by Roald Dahl himself. As my mathemeticians worked feverishly on the first pages of the books, I popped in the tape. Brilliant story and reading. We all loved it and talk about it to this day. Those workbooks? Found ’em 10 years later … two pages completed in both …
Ha! LOVE that Kelly!! And what a brilliant idea to get an audio tape- much less a BRILLIANT one too!
We just drove to GA and we listened to two audio tapes. It was SUCH a great way to pass the time and LEARN a little bit too. One was “Shack” – I”ve always wanted to read it. And the other was a neurosurgeon’s near death experience and his testimony on Heaven. BOTH were fascinating books for our entire family to *hear*. 🙂
I always buy them, but I never do them. How pathetic is that?!?!
You’re so cute, Allie. Always so conscientious and invest in your kiddos!! I love that about you! Perhaps, you can save some money and not buy them next summer? Spend it on a fair or full gas tank for your next trip! 🙂
Heyyyy Chris!! I’ve missed you so my friend! Hahaha, this post brings back sooo many memories! Funny, because our 25 year old son was just saying how he remembered me making them do book reports on the books they read during the summer. To my surprise, he thanked me for it. I guess it would have been a different story had it not been for the fact they were books “they” chose and “wanted” to read, lol. But it did make me smile that he didn’t think I was some crazed overbearing mother. So I guess the moral to my story…even though we think we go overboard, they may not say it now, but eventually they will appreciate that we cared.
Aw!! I just love that your son was so appreciative of you, Michelle!! That surely says a lot! And HEYYYYYY GIRL!!! I’ve missed you and cannot WAIT to read your book!! <3
I’ve always been torn on this topic. Every summer I planned to get one of those workbooks for my son and it never happened. He works so hard and stresses about homework the whole school year so I just let him have a complete break in the summer. I totally agree with you that it can be different for everyone, but I haven’t noticed my son struggling when he starts back to school each year. Except for trying to wake up ;). That’s always a nightmare for us both. I hope you and your precious babies are having an awesome summer, Chris! Life lessons are truly the best.
I’m thinking you are totally doing the right thing, Candace! It sure sounds like your son needs and deserves the BREAK from academics!!
And oh yeah… I’m not looking forward to those early morning starts. It’s coming SOON!
I am a firm believer that summer time is when you let LIFE be the teacher. Get out into the big wide world and soak up all the beauty and awe that is there.
When I was young, summer is when I learned to milk cows, gather eggs, ride horses, and yes — shovel @#*! LOL So good old fashioned labour was healthy too. I climbed trees and played in haylofts with kittens, and drove the tractor during hay season. I had to bait my own hook if I was going fishing with grandpa, and pick berries without eating them with grandma. Bread dough should NOT be poked while it’s rising, and if you sneak a jar of pickles from the cellar, you’re totally getting caught…. and it will be worth it. Don’t stand too close to a Clydesdale because if they step on your foot, that’s REALLY gonna hurt. And a slice of homemade blueberry pie makes all hurts better. Instantly.
The dirtier you are at the end of the day; the more you learned. You can’t learn that in books.
Now see? THAT IS LEARNING AND LIVING AT ITS FINEST!! I want a summer like that for MY KIDS!