Summer “Schooling”
So every
year as the school year comes to an end, many of us find ourselves counting
down until summer break, but have you ever caught yourself complaining? Now there are several things we might find
ourselves complaining about, for instance, “Why is it that as soon as summer
break hits my kids have no problem waking up at the crack of dawn?” Or, how
about your teacher friend saying, “I really am thankful the school year is
over, but I need routine!” As a teacher as I started my first day of summer
break, I decided that it was going to start with routine. And that this routine
was going to maximize my son waking at the “crack of dawn.” So I was bound and
determined to start of my summer break doing something that I longed to do, something
that I needed to do, and something my son would benefit from, and that was
starting our day with a walk in nature.
Now you
might ask why? Why was walking in nature
so important? Well for starters I wouldn’t
be writing this right now, my walk from this morning brought fresh ideas to my
head and I needed to pen them down. So here
I am sharing what I think is so vital to educators, teachers, and parents. Some may think this is just for parents, but
those are not the only ones that are affected by this. You see on my walk this morning, I quickly
realized as a teacher and a mother that summer is not a break for us to stop
learning. Believe it or not, my
six-year-old son shared with me his thoughts about the book, The Giving Tree. We were near the end of our walk at the
time this conversation started, but he said to me, “Mom, that story isn’t real,
that tree it doesn’t exist does it?” And I responded, “Well, it is a story, so
it is fake, it is to help teach us a lesson about nature and life”. He said, “Yes,
but mom it isn’t real, it didn’t happen”.
I explained to him, that it is fiction, and he said, “But fiction is
real, and it’s not.” And I replied, “Fiction is fake, non-fiction is real”. And it was at that moment that I realized
just how amazing this walk had been not only for me, but also for him. Here I am a 10th grade English
Language Arts teacher, who teaches the differences between fiction and
non-fiction all year long. And yet, here
my six-year-old son is having this philosophical conversation about these
differences with Shel Silverstein’s The
Giving Tree. Now, some of you might
be thinking, but you are an English teacher of course you will talk to your
child like this. And I must say that as
a teacher and parent, we long to be able to talk to our kids this way, but the
reality is that the opportunity has to arise.
How can such an opportunity arise if nothing is there to engage it? And hence, this is why we must rethink and
redefine our summer break to summer “schooling”. We must not let our children have a break
from learning.
You see it
came to me during this walk, that we must break the stigma that we have tied to
“summer school”. By creating this stigma
that “summer school” is a bad thing, we have also taught them that summer is a “break”
from learning. Now some of you are
saying, but they need the break and they still get socialized learning. And I would agree with you; however, children
must also see summer as “schooling”.
What I mean by this is that there is just as much for children to learn
in the summer as there is throughout the traditional school year. I decided months ago that my son was not
getting the summer off from school. And
I have taken some heat from others about it.
What do I say in my defense, “That he needs to continue to practice what
he has learned, so that he doesn’t revert at all”. However, I realized this morning, that it is
not simply maintaining the skills he has learned, but also continuing his
education.
Truthfully,
this discovery did not just occur out of the blue on this first morning walk of
the summer with my son. I had actually been
thinking about this for some time, I knew I needed to map out a routine for
summer. I remembered how helpful nature
walks were in the past, they allowed me time to clear my head, sort my
thoughts, and the most beneficial part to them was how much inspiration they
gave me. Ah-ha! Yes, you see the reason
I am writing this now, is because it was all inspired by my walk this
morning. As several teachers gathered
together on the last day to celebrate another year in the books, some of us
talked about going on hikes a few times a week.
And I thought to myself, why wait to do it just a few times, this needs
to be a daily routine. And I know some
of you are already thinking, but it is so hot in the summer and I hate being
hot. Okay, but remember you must be the
example to your student and that means even as a parent, your child is also
your student!
The walk we
took this morning was 2 miles or two loops. Throughout the walk I explained to
my son that we would walk the two loops and afterwards he could play in the
playground at the park. I kept reminding
him that in order to “Play hard” we must “work hard”. So if we were able to make our two laps then
he could play in the playground. Now,
here is the teacher as parent part, when you promise your child something, be
sure to remind him of the limits. So, as
we finished the last loop, I said, “Okay, now we can go to the playground, but before
we enter, remember that you only have 15 minutes, so when we enter the
playground I will check the time and count down from there”. So as my son played and played, I kept
checking in with him reminding him you have ten minutes, 7 minutes, 3 minutes. And some of you may ask, why is she sharing
this, well it is always important to establish rules and keep to them. It is also critical to check in with children
and give them reminders. You might be really surprised to discover you will
have less meltdown.
So I hope you enjoy
your summer and all the discoveries you will encounter along the way!
