How to have a Perfect Summer....or a Really Good School Year

My friend and colleague (and parent of gifted children) Anne Marie passed this link on to me and even though it is now mid-summer, I think it is still worth including here...in part because some parents out there may be entering the mid-summer "I'm bored" blahs, but also because essentially, for homeschoolers, her "Perfect Summer" recipe is also my "How to have a Really Good School Year" recipe. (I try to avoid the word perfect around gifted folk - pushes too many buttons...grin).

A Prescription for the Perfect Summer

Dr. MacEachron (co-founder of the CT Center for Exceptional Learners) writes:

In our practice of meeting the needs of gifted and twice-exceptional learners, our “prescription” for the perfect summer is “Take two genuine interests, explore them thoroughly, and call us in September.”

Tips for Parents

Summer is almost upon us. How can parents go about designing an enrichment-focused summer program for their children?

Begin with a careful assessment of their genuine interests.  In a non-judgmental way, directly ask what they want to learn more about, from anthropology to zoology, archery to yoga, animation to video film making. Making a list of various hobbies and fields of interest and discussing them with children can be helpful. Parents can reflect on how their children choose to spend free time, the books that absorb their interest, the kinds of exhibits that engage them in museums, and any other clues to what intrigues them. Even interests that on the surface don’t appear to lend themselves to productive enrichment can provide valuable clues. For example, if your daughter spends most of her free time on the phone with friends in meaningful conversations, recognize that this suggests she may be good at and interested in helping her friends solve problems, and consider exposing her to psychology.

Once parents have a better understanding of their children’s interests, what should they do with these insights?

• Embrace them. Don’t try to re-channel your child into something you consider to be more impressive or marketable, or something that you wish you might have done but didn’t. Remember that it’s your child’s life, not yours.

• Start searching for opportunities for your child to delve deeply into exploring his or her interests. Discourage your child from following friends to a camp that may interest the friends but might not be a good fit for your child.

• Don’t limit yourself to organized camp programs (although there are many terrific and specialized ones), and don’t feel limited to the menu of activities offered in formal programs in your area. Often the best opportunities for your child are the ones that the two of you initiate together. 

• Don’t be shy about asking experts in a field for their advice. Most people who have a consuming interest in something are flattered when they are approached by a parent with a child who is intrigued by learning more. Professional musicians might be able to recommend teachers, competitions, and schools. A scientist or professor might be able to recommend a colleague your child can intern with. We know children who have co-published articles in journals by the time they were out of middle school – all of which started when their parents asked if their children could help out in a lab.

• Check local high schools and colleges for courses your child (or you and your child) can audit.

• Plan family vacations around your child’s interests. Paleontology fits well with a trip to the Southwest to volunteer on a dinosaur dig. Engineering fits well with outings to science museums and factory tours.

• Enlist the help of your local children’s librarian. Find books and do internet searches about your child’s interest areas. Discover magazines about particular fields, from National Geographic to MIT’s Technology Review. Find out about conferences and special events.

• Learn about local special interest clubs and organizations. Most communities have star watching groups, book groups, birding clubs, and other such groups that offer events and information.

• Be involved. Don’t just sign your child up or dump resources on your child. Accompany him or her to events. Help him practice. Read the books he is reading and discuss them over dinner. Be an active partner in exploring your child’s interests and how he or she might pursue them in the summer. Studies repeatedly show that parental involvement is essential if children are to fully develop their potential.

If you follow this “prescription” for the perfect summer, your gifted child will begin the school year with renewed energy, enthusiasm for learning, and one step closer to achieving the joy of true fulfillment. And you’ll have quite an interesting ride along the way!

Link to full article from SENG and Dr. Devon MacEachron