The Summer Slide

Now that the school year is officially over, and summer has started, I've become determined not to let Gracie fall victim to what the school apparently calls "The Summer Slide" (its basically when students don't do any sort of educational engagement over the summer).  I don't want to be the killjoy and suck all the fun out of summer, but also refuse to let Gracie fall behind.  I used to hate, I mean HAAATE when my parents made me do school work over the summer but in hindsight they were right, and thus I've fallen victim to another way I'm turning into my mother.  BUT with that said, there were times where I felt dumb in school - like when I didn't understand math (actually, I'm still not good at stupid math) and I don't want Gracie to have that same feeling.

The teacher was great and sent home tons of resources for us to tap into over the summer, and gave us great lists of things to do. Additionally, there are things that Gracie needs to really strengthen before first grade starts - so I'm taking this on as part of my challenge this summer.  I've renamed this summer to be "The most FUUUNN and education summer ever" (changed from "The most fun summer ever!!").

I've decided to tackle this challenge by creating a learning board for the kitchen.  Much like a chore chart, our learning chart has a different subject to work on every day. If Gracie works on that subject with me for 30 minutes that day she will earn a purple star - if she gets a full week of purple stars she will have earned a prize for the week.  I'm still working on the prizes but so far I've come up with the following:
     - Ice Cream Date with Daddy
     - Visit to the Glazer Children's museum or MOSI (does this really count as a prize if its still    
        educational?)
     - Activity of your choice from the bucket
     - 1 toy (within reason) at Toys R Us

Looking back at the chart I made, it seems a little intense. But none the less, we are going to try it.  Wish us luck!