Two pieces of orange construction paper taped to the wall in my home office pretty much says it all. Each is decorated with hearts, flowers and rainbows. The marker-drawn squares are filled with numbers in reverse order, creating a countdown to that most special of times: Summer.

The excitement has been building like a volcano and my daughters can’t wait, hence the homemade calendars.

Both love their schools but have now reached the ages — five and seven — where they look forward to staying up a little later, sleeping in an extra hour or so, playing outside from sun up to sun down, day trips and other fun things that can only happen during that magical time called summer break.

I can relate. Summer sort of loses some luster as an adult because the real world of jobs and commitments doesn’t take a sabbatical. As a kid my summer was all about bikes and skateboards, building forts in the woods, getting to the pool and anything adolescents could possibly get into.

What I don’t remember is working on the “Three Rs” that are the fundamentals of education — Reading, ‘Riting and ‘Rithmatic — from June to September.

I like to think I turned out OK but this is something my wife and I plan to correct with our girls.

Everyone has their own opinion on raising children and how to approach things like this — I’m still waiting for the instruction manual that they must have forgotten at the hospital.

Like many other parents we believe that learning can be fun too and are trying to plan summer activities to help maintain that cycle of education.

From having them participate in a book club for children to ensuring that one excursion a week focus on education to learning practical math by counting money earned from chores, we truly want the summer break to enrich our daughters’ education rather than erode it.

There will still be plenty of time for bike rides, sitting by the pool or just having a good time because, in many ways, these are part of their development as well.

I’d love to hear ideas from others about how you try to keep learning at the forefront so summer is fun and educational at the same time.

 

Michael Caldwell is the publisher of Leader Publications LLC. He can be reached at (269) 687-7700 or by email at mike.caldwell@leaderpub.com.