If the kids is doing orchestra, a sports team and a martial art, that seems like plenty of structure? Kids are so over scheduled these days |
| Troll |
"These days"?? I was a kid in the 80's and 90's and went to full day camp for eight weeks a summer. As did literally everyone I knew. I didn't know ANYONE who didn't go to camp until I was in 9th grade. I'd get home from camp at 4 or 5pm and have 4 or 5 hours to hang out and play before bed. That's PLENTY of unstructured time. |
I had more a free range 90s childhood. No camps, just biking and roller skating with friends around the neighborhood. We'd get into little projects like building a treehouse or a dam across the creek but no timeline or schedule of where to go. |
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No sleep-away camps or full day camps. They hated that. My parents or ILs stayed with us for summer months so that my kids could chill at home if needed. For my ES kids - - Couple short but interesting classes at our local community college or county rec dept classes - pottery, mad science, robotics, painting, cooking, baking etc. - Couple Play dates - chilling with friends in our swimming pool, biking, sports, going on trails. Movie nights and semi-sleepover (ie party went on till 10 pm) - Fieldtrips -Fieldtrips to museums, historical sites, zoo, aquarium, antique markets, parks etc - and we took pictures, did research and made digital journals. - One vacation in the US national parks (my kids were junior rangers), + 10-15 day vacation internationally with the grandparents. - Reading list. I used to collect books for them to read based on what other schools or libraries were recommending. Made sure that they had read the Newberry, Caldecott awarded books - as well as the usual Harry Potter type of books. My kids were also into Tintin, Asterix and many picture books (some great and some meh). We have around 400 children books in our personal library. Older ES and MS kids - - My kids always had 1 week of intense 6 hour Math camp at the beginning or end of summer - Foreign Language tutor for a couple long intense weekend sessions to cover 1st quarter curriculum for next year. (starting as rising 6th graders) - EC focussed coaching + All the usual ES schedule too. Summer was the busiest time for me. I used to start prepping and organizing from Jan for it. I made sure that several of my kid's friends also signed up for the same things. |
Who calls it teleworking when they run their own business? You do whatever you want when it's your own business. It's just called work. |
Most kids I know weren’t in camp but that’s because my social group couldn’t really afford camps. I am really surprised that so many people are against this idea! OP, perhaps you could ask him for a loose plan for the day / week for how he will spend his time. Like will he read a couple of books a week, do something creative, cook something , learn or practice something? If he fights this, he probably isn’t ready for it. I don’t think every hour needs to be scheduled but a loose plan might help you feel more comfortable with it and it might help him feel more purposeful. |
This sounds great and all the rest of the kids were doing the same thing in the 80s and 90s. There are not a lot of kids doing this anymore so not a lot of options to free range with. |
| How long does Karate, rock climbing, and piano take per week? If he goes to karate 2-3x per week for an hour, for example, rock climbing for 2 hours, piano lesson once a week plus practicing 30 minutes a day, that is much less veg time than people may be thinking if you are also able to do daytime pool trips once or twice a week, or similar. You could also buy a workbook and have him do a page of math a day or something in the morning to lend some structure. |
Yep. I made this mistake a year or two ago. Went very light on camp and summer activities... turns out all the other kids were busy doing camp and summer activities. Playing only really happened when people happened to be in town on the weekends or else if playdates were scheduled. |
| its being versatile that counts |
I had a very strict and paranoid mother, so was only allowed to ride my bike for 15 minutes at a time, with a specific four blocks. Plus I don’t think she wanted to deal with us all day every day. So off to camp we went. |
This is why summer swim is the best thing ever! We can show up at the pool and play with whoever is there. Lots of parents work from the pool as well (especially true before the RTO situation). It's not the same as playing with kids in the neighborhood, but it's close |
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I would do some camps to break up the summer if its not too late. Aren't most camps full?
He is 10. He doesnt get to choose this |
I'm usually in the office when during the school year. But when I'm working from home, it's teleworking. Not sure what else to call it. Bossmaxxing? |