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- Hi everybody and welcome.
My name is Dr. Nicole Assisi,
and I'm joined here by my friend and colleague Shelli Kurth
with our next installment of how to stay sane
in these times of unprecedented parenting.
- You might have heard by now
that Nicole and I have many years of experience
working in education as teachers, as leaders.
Most importantly, we're both working parents
and we are homeschooling our kiddos right now.
Our goals for these weekly sessions
are to provide you with tools
and resources to keep your learner thriving,
and hopefully to keep you sane.
- Let's start today's show with a celebration.
Congratulations, you have made it to summer.
Somehow with all the madness and everything going on
summer is upon us.
But not without some worries and concerns.
Shelli and I this week were actually looking at some data
by Ed Trust West that says nine out of 10 parents
are actually worried about their kids academic performance
and the impact that COVID has had on them.
And eight out of 10 parents
are really worried about their kids' stress levels.
So today's episode is going to talk about
kind of how you could structure your summer
and what are some things that you can do
to support your learner and your child
to not feel so stressed and have some summer fun.
So Shelli has a disclaimer though, before we hop in.
Shelli, what do you want our viewers to know?
- Yeah, it's important for you to know
that Nicole and I have a very different approach to summer.
I'm a little loosey goosey maybe a little too loose
and Nicole likes to keep a little more structure in her day.
We both deeply believe that kids need to keep reading
and keep thinking through summer.
But Nicole really puts that academic learning
at the forefront,
and I kind of sneak it in in between adventures.
- But I'm also fun Shelli.
I am also a fun haver.
- She is a fun haver.
We will talk a little bit about how we do this
in different ways.
But also just knowing that whatever your style is,
to embrace that style during summer,
and to keep them reading and to keep them thinking.
And why reading?
Well, reading every day,
whether it's bedtime ritual or written on a schedule,
or maybe you have a bookworm
and they are reading all the time at random moments,
your kiddos should be reading
probably about 20 minutes a day.
It helps with language development.
It makes connections between the written and spoken word
building vocabulary in the process.
It grows your brain.
Reading to children at any age
actually activates areas of the brain
that involve understanding and memory, which is awesome.
And it helps kids understand the world around them.
I mean, otherwise, we just see the little world we live in.
And there's a whole world out there.
Reading opens up those doors to them.
Starting in kindergarten,
if your child reads 20 minutes a day at home,
they will hear 1.8 million words per year,
they will read for 851 hours by the sixth grade.
And on those standardized tests
that we all take in California,
they will likely score
better than 90% of their friends and their peers.
So we should read.
Nicole, talk to us a little bit more
about your approach to summer.
- Well, yeah, and so based on this data
and other data out there,
I have a more scheduled approach to summer
that, don't worry, my son has found a way
to keep my more academic mindset in check.
And he actually has created
what he calls a five star summer day.
He's a clever little guy.
So today on our list is riding our bikes,
playing soccer in the alley,
playing with his little brother,
which I'm glad is on his five star list,
doing some water play, and Pokemon.
So those are his five things.
But I also have my list
and that is where my more structured day comes in,
because I call it my B4 schedule.
So there are four things and we have to do them
before we do his five star fun day activities.
And my four things are, we have to read,
we are going to do some sort of reading together.
He can read to me or I can read to him,
again, remember, he's in kindergarten.
So because he's in kindergarten,
we also work on our sight words.
We have a ring with different sight words
anywhere between 10 to 20 that we practice every day.
Then we do some math because he absolutely loves math.
That can range from counting money, doing some money math,
but he actually has this strange love for math worksheets.
As much as I don't like them, he is so thrilled about them.
So we found some free sources for free math worksheets.
I'll drop them in the comments on YouTube
so that you can find them as well.
And then the last thing on my B4 list is that
he has to do some sort of exercise,
keep his body moving, because we're gonna grow our brain
and we're gonna grow the rest of the muscles in our body.
And that is part of our day.
Now, as summer progresses, we've talked about maybe engaging
in some camp like activities.
Today he actually told me that
tomorrow he wants it to be a science day.
Well, I don't have a lot of great science activities.
So I've started to look at some free virtual camps
that we can engage in
where my son can take part in some of these activities.
I get some extra ideas on what we could do.
So while these are different camp activities
than what we partook in last year
where I sent him away and he was on his own,
this is more something that I need to supervise.
It's some really fun and great ideas
that we wanted to share with you.
So the camps that we found are Camp Wonderopolis,
Happy Camper,
Google has a camp that you need to sign up for by June 24th,
there's Varsity Tutors, and there is Camp Kinda.
And all of those will be linked again in the comments.
But those were some of the free camps.
Now, we know that there are some in-person camps out there,
there are swim camps that are running,
we know that budgets are a concern
and Shelli,
I know you had some other points that you brought up
that were really great about why camp might not be,
or in-person camp might not be for everyone.
- Yeah, well, actually, I am hopeful.
You know, things are changing day by day.
We're getting different information from the CDC,
different information from camps frankly,
but a lot of the times
the in-person camps are really small now
because of our physical distancing rules,
and a little more pricey than they were before
and hard to get into.
So, you know, I'm so hopeful,
I know we all are that we, you know,
we remember those camp experiences for our kids.
And a lot of us may need some daycare
while we try to get back to work,
but I think it's gonna be really hard for
either to get into it,
for a lot of us to get into it, to afford it.
And frankly, I know many of us
are still worried about the safety of our kids.
So whether your child goes to camp,
camp camp or virtual camp,
or if they stay at home for summer fun with you
just remember, we can keep them thinking,
keep them reading, keep them thinking.
I say, you know, when I say keep them thinking
my husband always rolls his eyes
'cause he's like, "We're always thinking."
But I think you can be strategic
in the way you set up kids to think.
The first and foremost
Nicole has little guys, and of course I have teenagers,
which probably
is why we have some different perspective on our days,
but let them play.
I've said this before,
let them figure out how to play things on their own.
It doesn't always have to be so structured.
That's the way kids explore cause and effect.
It's the way they figure things out.
They draw hypotheses.
And this is so good for growing their brain.
You know, I think about kids who are building towers
and they have to think about
how am I gonna get this one to balance on the tippy top?
Or race cars on tracks, which one's gonna go faster?
These are the ways in which they figure out the world,
this is spurring their critical thinking.
One of the other things.
It's so hard, and I have to practice it still,
maybe even more with my teenager,
is to give them think time.
Let them productively struggle to figure out an answer
to get something that,
you know, is a challenge done for them.
Let them try to figure it out for themselves.
My daughter was building some garden boxes recently
for the end year project.
And I had to really bite my tongue to tell her how to do it,
and let her instead try to figure out
the how's of the building process on her own.
I count my head silently,
I don't let her know I'm doing it, I count to 60.
So think about that, every time you wanna help
or you wanna fill your, you know, do the answer for your kid
or help them with the words,
pause, let them have that productive struggle.
Ask open ended questions.
Get them talking more than you're talking.
Don't rush to answer.
You might wanna say like, "What ideas do you have?
"Or what do you think is happening here?"
Listen to the response.
And believe me, I know,
sometimes their response isn't right.
But instead of jumping right into that response
and giving them the right answer,
instead ask, maybe say something like,
"Wow, that's interesting.
"Tell me how come you feel that way?
"Or tell me why you think about that,
"think about it that way."
Again, an open ended question
that gets them thinking and talking.
And my favorite is to play games,
all kinds of games, whether it's board games or card games,
even video games,
there is so much critical thinking that's happening
and oftentimes kids love it.
Outside games, those old school recess games,
think Capture the Flag.
If you have lots of kids at home,
let them, encourage them to play those outside games,
those team games.
Again, this is critical thinking strategy.
This is good for kids.
So keep them reading.
Keep them thinking.
- I have a confession to make
right here with all of you and that is,
I broke down, like I did not know what to do with my kids.
So I am embarrassed to say,
I bought a jumper, like a jumpy house,
like an actual full size jumpy house for my kids,
which was so great to like finally get some work done.
And that's not gonna be a realistic plan
for every week of summer to buy some crazy outrageous toys
that my kids can use.
So I actually sat down and did some reflecting
to really think about like,
what are some other ways to have fun?
What are some fun summer ideas
that one don't cost a lot of money,
and two are actually fun for kids,
that are, you know, the kind of things
that I enjoyed as a kid,
the kind of things that I have memories about
from when I was five or 10 or 15.
So, I came up with a few
that I wanted to share with all of you.
And the first one is probably an obvious one.
You're already thinking about this,
it's just the water fun.
How can you create water fun?
And while we all wanna be environmentally conscientious
and not waste water,
it's fun to play with water,
get some buckets and some sponges,
do the overhead sponge pass.
Get some water balloons, some water guns,
or just get some big buckets, throw some mud in there
and like make mud pies,
if you have a backyard even better
turn on the hose and play with the sprinklers.
But having some water fun and making a list ahead of time
of some ways that you can use water in creative ways
can help keep your kids entertained over the summer.
The other thing are ball games.
Think about different ball games that you could do.
So my neighbors across the alley,
actually got a like miniature tennis court,
it's called pickleball.
And they play every day in the evening,
I hear them just, pop, pop.
There go the tennis balls.
Fun way, my son loves kicking around a soccer ball,
playing catch,
think about all those ball things that you can do,
and with very minimal funding investments,
you can have some ball fun outside
and even, you know, kick the ball across to the neighbor
through the alley.
Another way to have fun, I know everybody loves camp.
And you might be thinking, gosh, we can't go camping
or that doesn't feel safe
or maybe we can even get away from everybody
but so many materials that we need is too much work.
Well, my friend the other day
actually sent me a picture of her whole family
camping outside,
no sleeping bag, no tent,
they just took some blankets outside
and slept in their backyard.
If you don't have a backyard,
think about camping in your living room.
Mix it up, have some fun.
My son just last night
actually decided that he wanted to sleep on the floor.
He was done with this bed
and it was more adventurous to sleep on the floor.
Give a little, create some adventure.
You know, if you have an outside firepit make s'mores
or you can, you know, make them in the oven.
You can even just get even the marshmallow paste
and get some chocolates
and make your own sort of fake s'mores,
but have some fun,
embrace the camping summer spirit
and think about ways to infuse like the adventure
and going on mystery hikes into your days
in a way that is fun and safe for your family.
And then really just get creative.
Get some streamers and strings.
Decorate your bikes, decorate your scooter
or get, you know, some old tin cans or some soda cans,
tie them behind a car,
paint your car with some of the either shoe paste
or with car paint
and be a little goofy,
have some fun, do dress up, do dress up dinners,
but infuse your summer with some fun.
And if you have other comments and other ideas
again, we love crowdsourcing,
we love when all of you come up with even better ideas.
So find us on the YouTube channel.
Drop some ideas in the comments
and share with other viewers fun ways
that you are making the most of your summer.
I know I will be looking for your ideas
to bring to my child.
But I'm actually not sure
what teenagers are doing these days.
Shelli I feel like your job is even harder.
What are you doing with a teenager?
- Ah, you know, teenagers really have a mind of their own
about what fun looks like.
So my whole strategy is to stock the house
with things that might be fun
and not mandate it
and not really point them in that direction
because if mom says it, it's usually they don't think it's,
it's not cool enough and it's not fun.
Our sponge water fun
looks more like a sponge war these days.
They create, they cut the sponges up
and like huck the met each other.
Their idea of camp is like challenges with the fishing poles
to try to get them in the exact outside target.
So,
again, having things around the kids or teenagers
will find fun to do.
I always have baking things around.
Lots of cakes,
I know this is a theme during this COVID time,
but lots of things to bake
and lots of teenager food like, make your own pizzas
that get them going
and can help with the boredom that they might find.
Again cards and games.
But, you know, something I wanted to bring up,
and I think this is such a beautiful moment for it.
It's not time, you know, that we might have had
with our teenagers in the past.
This moment where we're all spending more time together
has given me a chance to lean into some conversations
about career paths with my,
my daughter is a senior,
and we have this pause,
and we've been able to do
some really deep dive talking and thinking
about career paths.
And we've done personality tests together
and then talked about them.
I'm linking a few of those free ones right here
in the notes of the presentation
because it gets us talking about who we are, what we love,
what some possible careers might be.
California has something really cool.
It's called California CareerZone.
I have a link to that here too.
And it really allows us to discuss the end results
like how much does a career make?
What kind of school do you need to have for it?
Is it a technical college or a full college?
Or is it an internship or apprenticeship?
It's hard to figure out what they wanna be when they grow up
when they're just 17.
This has given us some time to lean into that conversation
and talk about it in a serious but light hearted way,
gets the conversation moving about possible futures.
Take the time to do that if you have the time,
what a gift this is to have this time
among all the other stresses,
at least we get to have some time with our teens
that we might not have had before.
- Exactly.
And most of all, just remember to have some fun.
Hopefully these lists will help you have
what my son would call a five star kind of summer day.
And again, if you have more ideas,
leave them in the comments.
Let us know how else we can support you and your child
to be as sane, safe and have some fun
in these unprecedented times.
So until next time, have a great day.
Bye.
- Thank you.
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