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From the Desk of Bill Cirone...
July 21, 1999
More Help For A Good Summer
Teaching good citizenship, understanding history, and getting close to nature are all ways you can help your child have a good summer.
In terms of good citizenship, check the newspaper for volunteer activities. Make a weekly visit, for instance, to an elderly person in a nursing home. Visit the animal shelter, the fire station, or a hospital to show children what goes on at these institutions.
When it comes to understanding history, your own family is a good place to start. If possible, collect photos of all grandparents and great-grandparents. Have children write their names and birth dates on the back of the photos. Tell stories about the family.
Discuss the meaning of holidays with children. Most newspapers print background material. Try to celebrate in the old-fashioned way÷parades on the Fourth of July, resting on Labor Day, etc. If you take a trip, visit the historical sites along the way. Save the information brochures as you go. Check out library books or videos to reinforce new learning from the trip.
Visit a cemetery. Find the oldest stone. Read the inscriptions and talk about the past with your children.
Summertime is also the perfect time to get close to nature. It can be fun and educational to give children a garden plot in the yard or a window box or planter on a balcony. Be sure the child has full responsibility for the plants.
Read the daily newspapers' weather map. Let children figure out what the weather is where friends and relatives live.
Camp out for a night on the balcony, your yard, or at the state campgrounds. These experiences all add to children's sense of perspective, self-worth, and their place in relation to the environment and to other people. Every experience can be a learning experience and summertime is the perfect time to explore some of the alternatives that are not always available at other times of year.
© Santa Barbara County Education Office
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