You see, my daughter has a love-hate relationship with school. She LOVES all social aspects of formal education, but struggles with, well, formal education itself. She just doesn't like to learn if it means sitting down at a desk, writing, being quiet, and focusing. She thinks homework is punishment (her words), and because somewhere along the way she equated the word "school" with "playtime," she was disheartened when kindergarten included actual schoolwork.
This attitude towards learning is foreign territory for me. I loved (and still love) school. Which likely explains why I've chosen a profession in higher education. As a child, I never had a problem with concentration or focus. I breezed through any and all assignments, and could sit for hours at a time reading or writing creatively. But as opposites often attract, I married a man who clearly passed along his genetic distain for all things formal-school-related to our daughter.
When school dismissed for the summer, I gladly welcomed the respite from "formal" school and nightly homework fights. My daughter started a series of weekly-themed summer camps, which were perfect for her approach to learning: experiential, hands-on, creative, and fun. She truly enjoys learning about different topics (animals, cooking, drama, gardening, etc.), and soaks up every new fact with intensity and concentration. But, (there's always a "but"), the fun of summer camp has done little to reinforce her writing, reading, and math skills. In other words, we've fallen victim to The Summer Slide.
Luckily we've got three weeks to transition our out-of-the-box learner back into a more formal learning routine. We're tackling the Summer Slide with this responsibility chart. We are primarily focusing on the top three goals: (1) Do Homework, (2) Stop Whining, and (3) Show Respect. For the next three weeks our daughter has the opportunity to earn one Smiley Face a day if she has done these three things. Each day we'll spend 30 minutes to 1 hour focusing on blending, site words, math, writing, reading, etc. The catch: She must be a willing, engaged participant (hence the "Stop Whining" and "Show Respect" goals). At the end of the three weeks, her reward is a Back-to-School Celebration. She's chosen a family trip to the Marbles Kids Museum as her prize.
Thought for today: Has your child fallen victim to The Summer Slide too? If so, what are you doing to prepare your child for the upcoming school year? Together with your child, create a responsibility chart. You can use a store-bought one like ours, or better yet, make one with craft supplies that you've already got at home. Stickers or simple checkmarks serve as nice tokens. Also, allow your child to set a goal to work towards (that's parent-approved). Great suggestions are rewards that also foster family togetherness: parks, museums, picnics, movie theaters, plays, libraries, etc., or something that reinforces learning like a new book or fun school supplies.
Practicing What I Preach: We've just started our three-week Summer Slide mission. And each day hasn't been smooth sailing. Take yesterday, for example. While my daughter did her homework, she ended the day with a colossal meltdown (and did not earn her token for the day). But, as I assured her while tucking her in: Tomorrow is a new day. You have the chance to start over. A key to the Responsibility Chart being successful is allowing a child to truly earn his/her reward (this is the concept of Operant Conditioning from PSYC 101). It teaches kids to take responsibility for their actions and engages them in social and cognitive learning processes. Hopefully by the end of our three weeks, our kiddo will be more prepared for 1st grade, and we'll get to celebrate her efforts as a family.
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