Get, Set, Ready for your Child’s Summer Vacation
Summer vacation is a much-awaited time not only for children but also for Parents. It is a time to learn new things, visit grandparents and most importantly to relax. However, all summer vacations are not pleasurable and educative. It requires careful planning to make the vacation fruitful.
In the Western world, schools worked throughout the year until the 19th century. Around the middle of the 19th century, the schools provided a vacation for children from rural areas involved in farming. However, in the present days, summer vacation doesn’t coincide with spring when the seeds were planted or fall when the crops were harvested.
During the Vedic times, students stayed in the Gurukulas for 18 or 36 years. During that period, all 365 days of the year, we’re working days. Later, when the school concept came into being, children came to school after their morning chores, went home for lunch, took care of their cattle and returned to school late afternoon. Whenever their families were involved in planting or harvesting the crop, they too became busy and never attended school. When the British ruled India, although they had no control over education, the education department followed the ways of Britain. Although the daily school timings took care of the needs of children from agricultural families, summer vacation was introduced not for the sake of agriculture but to combat the extreme summers.
In India, the summers are so harsh that the temperature crosses 45oC in some parts. Most schools in India do not have fans in their classrooms, especially government schools, and it is difficult for both the teachers and students to spend their time at school. Soaring temperatures might give rise to many infections and illnesses among children. In this condition, most people either like to stay at home or migrate to cooler places. Hence, the schools declare holidays for April and May months.
Ohio’s public radio and television home for news, Ideastream argues that one of the reasons for vacation is to give a break from year-round school to the children and prepare them for the next academic year (Ideastream, 2011). Some psychologists think that children need to break between their continuous learning, consolidating whatever they have learned so far and getting their minds ready for more learning. Thus, in India, there are Winter, Christmas and Summer vacations. Of these, Summer vacation is the longest and ranges from 1½ to 2 months.
Regardless of the reasons, Summer vacation negatively affects children’s learning. The research conducted in the past hundred years indicates that the summer vacation reduces the quality and quantity of education. Brueckner and Distad studied the effect of summer vacation on the reading ability of first-grade children. They found that children with low intelligence lost their scores when they returned after their holidays (1924). Winter’s research shows that the Grade three students scored low in Mathematics after the vacation, although there was no significant difference in the other groups (1986). In a 2011 study, a team of researchers headed by Mccombs compared the learnings of low-income and high-income students and demonstrated that low-income students had a dip in scores after vacation (2011). It was also noted that summer vacation increases the child’s body weight as the child keeps snacking on less nutritional food more often while at home (Brazendale et al., 2018). Overall, it is clear from the research that the subjects requiring memorisation like mathematical facts and spellings need constant practice through the summer vacation. In addition, the lack of proper nutrition in children from low-income families might also lead to memory problems.
Keeping in view the need to revise children’s learning, teachers provide enough homework and instruct them to learn at least a page every day. Mentally, children get prepared for summer vacation and seldom do they complete this homework. Some children travel to visit their grandparents during summer vacation, and others join different summer courses and clubs to learn new skills.
Earlier, Fine Arts institutions conducted summer camps during summer vacations. Schools and cultural clubs also offered short term courses coinciding with the holidays. Currently, hotels, resorts, and clubs with swimming pools in their vicinity provide swimming coaching and other classes like painting, chess, cricket, football, etc. In addition, individuals interested in fine arts or proficient in particular sports conduct summer camps in batches. Some individuals conduct the summer camps as facilitators, hiring specialists without any expertise in any art form. Apart from these, government organisations like General Thimayya Adventure Academy of Karnataka conduct summer adventure camps.
Summer courses are conducted on various subjects starting from teaching a variety of dance forms including Bollywood and contemporary dance styles; singing classical and contemporary music; playing various instruments like tabla, mridangam, violin, guitar, piano etc.; drawing, sketching, pottery, several craft works; cookery classes; sports like chess, basketball, volleyball, cricket, karate, swimming; academic-related activities like Vedic Mathematics, Abacus, Math Genius, handwriting, spell champ; camps related to personality development like English communication, leadership, interpersonal skills; classes related to acting and drama; classes about our culture like shloka chanting and classes regarding epics Ramayana and Mahabharata. Apart from these, adventure sports like rock climbing, rope walking, trekking, rappelling etc., are also popularly conducted.
Summer camps provide a platform to learn new skills and an opportunity to make new friendships if appropriately used. Before deciding on the summer camp, one needs to consider the points below:
- The theme of the camp: First thing to consider before enrolling any summer camp is its theme – what is it all about. A summer camp which is different from the child’s routine subjects and which provides more physical movement would be a better option as it contrasts the school work.
- The ability of the child: Another important thing to keep in mind while deciding the camp is the capability and interests of the child. For instance, when a child has an issue in understanding mathematics, enrolling him for Vedic Mathematics or Abacus would not be a good decision to make and so is enrolling a child to dance class who abhors dancing.
- Schedule of the camp: Further, it is essential to check the schedule of the camp and study whether activities are enjoyable and homogeneously distributed throughout the camp stay. The subjects offered in the camp are should alternate between physical and mental activities.
- Type of the camp: While some camps are overnight stays, others are day-boarding, and remaining only 2 – 3 hours a day. Decide on a suitable summer camp that suits you best. Overnight stay summer camps have to be scrutinized thoroughly beforehand for the kind of accommodation and food they intend to provide. The day boarding summer camps should not be longer than the school hours.
- Who the organizers are: Check the ethos of the organization i.e., who is conducting the camp and whether it is certified, how is it conducting the camp, whether its personnel are trained etc.. In case of an adventure camp, it is necessary to know the safety precautions followed and whether the staff is well trained and is an insufficient number. Availability of Group Insurance adds to the credibility of the organization.
- Outfit: Some classes like trekking, rock climbing, swimming, rappelling etc. need a special kind of clothing and shoes for a reason. These requirements should be given as much importance as the class itself. Loose-fitting, cotton clothing could be used for all other classes without a special requirement.
- Nutrition: It is essential to provide healthy food for children. As they stay at home children either tend to overeat or refuse to eat. They require their usual supply of protein, carbohydrates, minerals and vitamins. In addition, plenty of water is required to keep them hydrated throughout the summer day.
- Self-care: It is the last point but an important point. The child is going to be in a larger and newer place. The organizers of the summer camp to talk about what to do, when some mishap happens and instruct them the procedure to be followed. The parents’ responsibility will end by that. They also have to talk to the child and assure that no matter what happens he can get back to the parents and reach them on the mobile number with code words known only parent and him.
If the above points are carefully considered, the summer camp would be joyful for the child. If, for some reason, you cannot enrol your child on any summer camp, do not feel guilty about it. Spending your time with your child itself makes the vacation more resourceful and enjoyable. Involve the child in your cooking, planning, laundering, and shopping. Go on a long road trip with your child, which teaches him packing, reading the map, and surviving with minimum necessities.
Summer vacation is an excellent time for the children. If parents give a little thought and plan carefully, summer vacation could be a time for life-long learning and become a resource that schools cannot offer throughout.
Bibliography
Brazendale, K., Beets, M. W., Turner-McGrievy, G. M., Kacznski, A. T., Russell, Pate, & Weaver, R. G. (2018). Children’s obesogenic behaviours during summer versus school: a within-person comparison. Journal of School Health, 88(12), 164 -172.
Brueckner, L. J., & Distad, H. .. (1924). The effect of the summer vacation on the reading ability of First-Grade children. The Elementary School Journal, 24(9).
Ideastream. (2011). Six reasons students get summer off (and the Agrarian Calendar isn’t of them). Retrieved from Idiastream: https://staging.ideastream.org/ stateimpact/2011/08/10/six-reasons-students-get-summer-and-agrarian-calendar-isnt-one-them
Mccombs, J. S., Augustine, C. H., Schwartz, H. L., Bodilly, S. J., Mcinnis, B., Lichter, D. S., & Cross, A. B. (2011). Time, Learning, Learning Decay, and Summer Learning Loss. Making Summer Count: How Summer programs can boost children’s learning (pp. 18 – 25). Rand Corporation.
Wintre, M. G. (1986). Challenging the assumption of generalised academic losses over summer. The Journal of Educational Research, 79(5).
Tagged Hobby, Holiday, learning, Summer Camps, Summer Courses, Vacation