SUMMER IDEAS FOR TEENS
from the Homeschooler's Notebook
Encouragement and Advice for Homeschool Families

From Beth: I don't have a young teen, but I know a few. At our church we have Vacation Bible School (one week) for kids 3yrs-5th grade and Summer Camp (four weeks) same age group. They always use teen helpers with the teachers/leaders. I know the young teens love to play with the little ones and it gives them a feeling of importance as they become the "teacher" as well.

From Marilyn: In response to the person looking for summer ideas, here are some things we have done. I usually try to do a "fun" unit with my two sons. A few years ago, they were really interested in bugs! They had a large bin outside and for months they'd been collecting bugs in it and observing them....so when summer came around, we did a unit on bugs. They enjoyed this because they already knew more about bugs than I did - so they got to teach me! We read books, identified the bugs they had in their collection and watched some videos on bugs. The next summer, we did a unit on the ocean. We are fortunate to live on an island with ocean all around. I made up a sort of survey sheet, and then we went to a number of different beaches in our area (the kids LOVED this!) and we filled out the sheet, and spent lots of time observing, scavenging on the beaches, and having fun. We also read about the various oceans, located them on maps, and used a unit study book to learn more about them. Last summer I was working quite a bit and had to have my youngest son in daycare (as they were too young to both stay home alone). My older son (who was turning 11 at the time) was "hired" by the daycare to be a helper! He was thrilled with his "first" job. You mentioned that you have a young teen. What about a summer job? Look for interests and try to capitalize on them. You might also try limiting computer/game time. I know if I didn't plan something for my sons, they'd play on the computer ALL day!

From Cindy: I would ask "What IS my child interested in?" Is he or she interested in animals? Maybe your teen could volunteer at a zoo, vet's office, walk dogs for people on vacation or working families. In addition to these ideas, he might could bathe dogs and give them a quick blow-dry. We have often used neighborhood kids to feed the fish, cats and dog as we traveled. The pets got to stay in familiar surroundings and eat familiar food. Plus, it was a whole lot cheaper to pay the neighbor than the kennel!

Is your teen interested in container plants or gardening, flowering or vegetable? Maybe he could tend neighbor's and friends gardens. Sometimes people have more money than time. They want the look of a garden but don't have the time to invest. If they are appreciative of his work, he might get to take home some of the "harvest" as payment or he might actually get paid in cash! Our church has a volunteer gardener program each summer. It only takes 2-4 hours per week to weed, feed, & water and usually the work is done in teams of two. He could pair up with a sibling, youth group member or a homeschooler in your area.

Is your teen interested in small children? Maybe he or she could volunteer at a local day care or mother's day out as a story teller, lunch time or nap time relief worker, or greeter in the mornings as the kids and parents arrive. He could help tote in the diaper bags or help with extra belongings such as swimming gear. Sometimes mothers at home need a "mother's helper" when a newborn has been added on top of several small children. A friend's teen helped as a mother's helper by doing things like washing dishes, sweeping, changing diapers, and playing with the toddlers under foot while mom got needed rest and was able to care for the newborn.

From Tara: I'm new at this, but I had an idea for my kiddos. We're going to do "career" studies. My oldest doesn't know what she wants to do when she's older. My 6yo wants to be a missionary doctor. She's finished with her regular studies, so we're learning about the human body. I was surprised by how she's not upset with all the gross stuff. We are going to visit the homeless shelter and are learning about missionaries. Maybe your child could explore a career that interests him.

From Lynn: This is my first year home schooling my 14 year-old daughter. I'm fortunate to have a neighbor that teaches an art course at the community college. She has agreed to take
my daughter on as an aide before and after class; prep and clean up. Plus
she will learn stain glass with the rest of the group. This will give us about
60 hours. Which is a half a credit here. My daughter will also be going away for a week with our church youth group as part of "Habitat for Humanity": with this we have some community service hours. And finally, neither one of us knows sign language so I thought I would try a little role reversal and have her teach me through out the summer. (I know that I have relearned a lot by teaching her.)Then at the end of the course I will access her and grade accordingly. Hope this helps.

From Holly: I am a homeschool mom and also a part time nursing assistant. My children are not yet teens, but we are doing this now, and it is a benefit to them and the nursing home residents.

They have "adopted grandparents at the facility where I work. We visit them on a regular basis (whatever suits your schedule). Here are some of the things we do on our visits:

• Have the kids read aloud to a resident.(Many love a good book, but can no longer see well enough to read and cannot afford books on tape.)


• During arts and craft time, I ask them if they would like to make something for "grandma". It makes it more meaningful for them and it brightens her day also.
  
• Lots of times the kids just sit and listen to grandma's stories of the past!!!! It is a great learning experience for them, to relive history!! They have became very close , and it gives their "grandma" a new sense of being needed!!!!
  
• My kids have blossomed through these visits and have learned a lot of lessons that can only be learned from our senior citizens! Plus, they are learning to give to their community.


• If you are not sure where to start, call your local nursing home and ask for the director of resident services. Tell her what you would like to do and schedule a tour of the facility. When you are there, talk to the aides! They can lead you to residents that would be a good match to your child's personality!!!


• My daughter has taken up knitting because it is one of her "grandma's" prior interests. She can no longer do it because of arthritis, but she is teaching my daughter! This is something I don't even know how to do!

I hope this will help all of you out there. It is very beneficial to our children and our forgotten seniors!!

From Daniel: Years ago when my children were young, I instituted a chore/allowance program for summer time only. Usually before the end of school, we decide together what chores they will be responsible for and for how many times per week. They cannot begin their chores until school ends, and thus cannot begin to earn allowance. Daily chores might include: bed making, brushing the dog, sweeping the floor, writing in a journal, reading for 15-30 minutes, writing a letter to a friend/family member, etc. Weekly chores include: cleaning their room, dusting or vacuuming a room, cleaning the playroom. We pay allowance by computing the daily amount for each chore completed plus the amount for each weekly chore. Our children know that Playstation and computer games do not happen until chores are done. We also use a timer to limit their time. The best thing that can happen to a child, when you limit their favorite activities, is to become bored. Boredom eventually leads to imagination, which often leads to digging through their a closet or playroom to revisit something not used for a long time. We also make sure that we have family activities that we do together during the summer, such as: going to the lake, miniature golf, bike rides, walks in the woods, lunch with dad at work, etc. My children do camps, but they constitute a minimal amount of time in the summer. Good luck and enjoy the summer.

From Jennifer: I have several suggestions.... I usually require my young teen to volunteer at least once a week. My favorite charity is a local one where handicapped children from all over the area, are taught to ride horses as part of their therapy and for fun! This puts the young teens world in perspective. This could lead to a summer unit study of horses, horse riding & training, and even a medical study on different types of disabilities. Even though the teen is volunteering with out pay, you could either pay them yourself or issue practice money. Then you could enter a economics unit study, teaching management skills, checkbook responsibility and maybe even a study of the stock market, charting what gains and losses there are on a particular company.

From Ronee: This is the time when we "unschool". I cheat and teach my kids and they don't even know it! This is the perfect time to hone all those life skills that are so necessary for their survival when they move out. They are responsible for most all the domestic tasks around the house (laundry, meal planning, food budgeting, checkbook balancing, etc). We do a lot of maintenance: window cleaning, wall wiping, painting, gardening, and repairs (car included). My husband and I pre-plan the goals and make a schedule so as not to overwork everyone.

Now the FUN part. I (since I care for the kids during the day) schedule many activities during the week. Bowling - they keep score (math). Park/Picnic Day (once a week) - the teens roller blade while I supervise the younger ones at the playground. After lunch they all Nature Journal for half an hour. They must observe and write about things they have learned during the past year in science and relate it to their observations. Blank pages are not authorized! Drawings are encouraged. (science, art, and language). One day a week is Travel Day - I pick a museum, local event, factory, or work related place that fits my children's gifts (history). Even if we've been to the museum a hundred times, we still go every summer. Either they change the exhibits or my children notice new things due to their constant growing maturity levels. We encourage photo taking, journaling, and scrap booking to supplement these memories and to give them another task that keeps them busy. I have to honestly say that we do not consider whether our children are interested in these tasks or not. Children are rarely interested in anything!! If you ask them what they want to do, they will just shrug their shoulders. We believe it is our job to expose our children to what WE believe to be important and when they are on their own then they will have enough knowledge to truly decide whether they want to continue to pursue these activities or find (and finance!) their own. Of course, suggestions are always encouraged and welcomed. (Less planning for us!!)

From Suzanne:

TIP: Have your CHILD look through the list of activities and choose. Have them do the research it takes...when, where, how much, etc to participate in the activity. If they are interested they'll check it out!

P.S. I didn't come up with everything on this list, I got most of it from SIMPLE TIMES Ezine... You can subscribe easily to Simple Times by sending an e-mail containing ANY message to:

subscribe-simple-times@hub.thedollarstretcher.com.

• Attend outdoor concerts in local parks. Take a blanket or lawn chairs. Pack a lunch or dinner.


• Check the What's Happening section of local newspapers for inexpensive or free family fun activities.


• Take a stay-at-home vacations (write for local tourist brochures---plan each day like you would a vacation that you went away on----get up early, pack a lunch, take in as many sites as you can).


• Perform a family service project (pick up litter, volunteer at a soup kitchen, plant trees).


• Volunteer at a zoo or nature center.


• Do a casual unit study (let the child pick a subject -- i.e., ducks -- learn about it at library, take field trips, draw pictures, take photos, watch movies related to the subject, do crafts, write creative stories).


• Call local manufacturing plants. Many will give your family or small group a free tour, plus any complimentary samples make great souvenirs.


• Summer reading programs at local libraries offer great motivation for reading, and sometimes fun incentives such as coupons for local attractions, etc.


• Buying an annual family pass to a local tourist or educational attraction (zoo, aquarium, whatever) pays for itself quickly---you can go back to the same place whenever you want a family outing (and then you don't feel rushed to "see it all" in one day when you know you'll be back again soon). Many have reciprocating privileges at zoos and/or museums all over the country. Buy a pass to a different park or attraction next year.


• Discover the joy of Nature Walks. Take along handheld magnifying glasses and/or binoculars


• Bird watching, camping, beach combing, bike riding, fishing, hiking, blowing bubbles.


• Organize some group activities: Family Olympics (with several other families), Kids' Backyard Sleep Over, Progressive Dinner, Stargazing Night, Recycled Craft Party.


• Pack a lunch and some balls, etc.---take to park, play games.


• Have a "meet the neighbors" picnic. Invite everyone to bring a potluck dish to share, and drinks and utensils for themselves.


• Let the kids write/perform a circus or play, or put on an art exhibit of their handicrafts and art work from the school year. Invite grandparents, aunts, uncles. Serve popcorn and lemonade.


• On hot days, play board games outside on a blanket in the shade of a tree.


• Learn a new game, sport, or craft.


• Give your little ones a bucket of plain water and a large clean paint brush. Let them "paint" the house, fence or sidewalk with water.


• Play whiffle ball instead of baseball. Even the little ones can join in.


• Sleep under the stars in your backyard and identify the constellations.


• Have your children attend a Vacation Bible School at a local church.


• Take your kids out for an appetizer and pop instead of a full meal. Or just go out for dessert.


• Go fly a kite.... literally!


• Have a family music festival, concert or recital.


• Play old card games (the games are new to your children!).


• If you're stuck in the car for a long time, try this: look for something odd and out of place lying along the road (maybe an old boot beside the highway), and then take turns making up stories about how it came to be there (everything from an alien attack to a flood disaster scenario is possible).


• Have a Scavenger Hunt.


• Have theme nights. Example: for "Spy Night" watch Harriet the Spy, make up Spy Kits, and play a spy game like flashlight tag. Or have Sci-Fi night... watch an old science-fiction movie like War of the Worlds and then a modern one like Independence Day (very similar basic plot---possible end of the world due to alien invasion). Talk about how sci-fi has changed in the past few decades.


• Give your kids their own small section of the garden to plant whatever they want: flowers, vegetables. Make gardening a family event.


• Go berry picking. Make something yummy out of the berries you pick (jam, cobbler, smoothies). You can also flash-freeze berries for a yummy hot weather snack.


• Think back on things you that you have fond memories of from your own childhood that you can recreate with your own children: catching fireflies, fishing, hay rides, swinging on rope swings, building tree houses, picking wildflowers, making ice cream, playing checkers.


• Think about what our ancestors did for entertainment. They knew how to have fun without spending a lot of money.


• Start a collection: rocks, pressed flowers, leaves, feathers.


• Go to a Farmer's Market.


• Have a water fight or run through the sprinkler (or just spray your kids with a hose while they run through the yard).


• Many museums and local attractions have free days regularly (i.e.: first Thursday of the month). Call and ask.


• Some parks set up big movie screens after dark for Moonlight Movies. Bring your own lawn chairs, blankets, popcorn and drinks.


• Things to make: bubbles, tie-dye (socks are fun and relatively inexpensive), paper mache, sand clay, homemade paper, sidewalk chalk, kites, pinwheels, pressed flowers, pressed flower crafts (cards, pictures, candles), daisy chains, butter, frozen treat.

Have fun!

From Barb: 1) Try your public library. When my daughter was around 12 or so, she volunteered at our library. Once or twice a week, she cut out things for their bulletin boards, helped with story hour and did other things that needed to be done. She enjoyed working there and getting to know all the librarians.

2) A paper route might help. When my son was that age, he delivered a weekly shopper in our neighborhood. He enjoyed the job and the money he made, too.

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