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

[Anonymous]

Do you usually enroll them at the summer camps provided by the school, or do your children's classmates do other things (e.g., travel)? I'm mostly interested in lower school, but any information would be welcomed. Thank you!

[Anonymous]

Some of both. We do camps; plenty of other families travel (several kids spend the summer w/ Mom in Rehoboth) or just do a variety of smaller things.

[Anonymous]

Seal-clubbing in Canada.

[Anonymous]

We count our piles of money. We also go swimming on Mondays, and Saturdays.

[Anonymous]

Plenty of public and private kids just kick around a swim club all summer, join the swim team, etc. Happens at both neighborhood and private/country clubs.

[Anonymous]

Mine don't veg. I like to keep a certain structure and curiousity going over the summer. Local and sleepaway summer camps all summer long.

Our school also assigns summer homework with required reading and additional reading logs that are turned in at the beginning of the school year.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:We count our piles of money. We also go swimming on Mondays, and Saturdays.

Us too!!!!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Mine don't veg. I like to keep a certain structure and curiousity going over the summer. Local and sleepaway summer camps all summer long.

Our school also assigns summer homework with required reading and additional reading logs that are turned in at the beginning of the school year.

Wow, sounds like fun! God forbid the youngsters be bored.

[Anonymous]

EVERYone assigns summer reading, public and private.

[Anonymous]

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?

[Anonymous]

No teens cannot veg. They need to be doing something -- sports, volunteering, reading, traveling, working at cutting lawns or some other entrepreneurial venture. They'll never get into a good college with that "VEG" attitude.

[Anonymous]

The best summer I ever had was the one when I unplugged the TV for the duration. When they realize that it is really NOT negotiable, they will find something else to do.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Seal-clubbing in Canada.

I'm interested.

How many weeks is it offered? We usually sign up the kids for target shooting two weeks in July.

And then we, too, count our piles of money during our down time.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:No teens cannot veg. They need to be doing something -- sports, volunteering, reading, traveling, working at cutting lawns or some other entrepreneurial venture. They'll never get into a good college with that "VEG" attitude.

Your f-ing kidding us, right?

[Anonymous]

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.