Summer Goals

It’s officially summer break for us and I’m hoping we can find ways to the kids to keep learning even if they aren’t in a classroom. Jordan has grown into a great reader in the last year but for some reason, it hasn’t translated into her becoming an excellent speller. For some reason, when she spells phonetically, she doesn’t spell things well. To work on that skill, I’ve found a few ways to get her excited about writing:

1) A diary with a lock so she can feel complete ownership of her words. This will be an spell-check free space.

2) A daily Q&A book I discovered on Amazon. It’s a simple idea: Answer one interesting question a day for THREE YEARS. No really, it’s true. I can’t wait to see how long Jordan participates in the book. Cameron liked it so much, I ordered one for him as well.

3) Keep writing to her penpal. Jordan has a friend in Chicago who they’ve had a chance to back and forth with drawings and short letters. They didn’t do much letter writing during the school year, so I’m looking forward to most letters again this summer. They’ve already exchanged letters in the last week. I tried helping set up penpal friendships last year and I think a few of those letter exchanges are underway.

I’d love to hear other ideas on ways that are fun, but keep the brain going in low-tech ways.