What do P/I school children do over the summer?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Seal-clubbing in Canada.

I'm interested.

It is offered for 6 weeks, but two or three is usually sufficient. One tires of the cold and looking down at their wretched, trusting little faces. It is therefore best to combine it with something in a warmer climate, like water-boarding in the Caribbean.

[Anonymous]

My child will do a combo of camps - Calleva, Sidwell's camp, 2 weeks of sleep away... we have a 2 week family vacation and lots of long weekends in Rehoboth - end the summer with reading and math packet camp (Sidwell's KISS) - nice warm thoughts as we get even more snow!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:5:51 here. Meant to indicate that my kids have down time but they are not allowed to have days of undirected vegging. As the articles about NutureShock indicate, it is important that they have some quiet time in order to be creative and to think. Kids are way too overscheduled so we take great effort to ensure there is a balance between activities and home time.

Mine have camp daily - sports or academic-type topics of their interest. Weekends are relaxed. We severely limit computer and tv time. Daily reading time required - and btw, not all schools have required reading. Our former school didn't.

What happened to the innate ability to parent? Must we all rely on research articles to direct us?

I hope you allow your children to "veg" the full day when they're sick.

[Anonymous]

I'm the pp to whom you refer. You're making assumptions here - best not to be snide unless you are certain about what the pp meant.

I have followed my own mother's parenting advice which seemed to have worked really well for 3 kids and works well for mine. I don't read these articles but mentioned it as many of the posters here do and there was a recent thread about it.

[Anonymous]

After paying tuition for three kids, don't have much money left for camp or much in the way of vacations. We tried a low cost county camp last summer, but it wasn't great. I'm really wondering how to fill up the whole summer. We'll do a week or two of camp, but don't want them to veg all summer. Also, we both work so there's the cost of after care and the issue of being "home alone".

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:What to do if they WANT to veg? My young teens aren't old enough to work, but they don't want to go to sleep away camps or hang out at the club pool. I am already dreading the thought of fighting with them over the tv and computer, but I don't want to spend money on sports or arts camps they don't want to attend. Should I just make them pick something, or should I let them stay home with a no electronics policy and figure out how to entertain themselves?

If you want kids to find a way to entertain themselves, a no electronics policy (or severely limited electronics) does seem the way to go.

[Anonymous]

Totally agree, pp. Our children have to earn electronic time. When they don't have it, it's amazing how creative they get. It's the only way for kids to really develop some worthwhile hobbies. Electronics are such an easy, passive way to kill time.

[Anonymous]

I have my kids going to congressional camp at Congressional school in Falls Church, VA. A friend told me about it and looked it up online and enrolled. Check it out if you are looking for a wide variety of activities. Myt son so excited to do the fishing camp.