Summer Camps

I was recently asked about my thoughts on summer camps.  I wrote a post in 2009 called Summer Camp Learning you can check out here.  It was about why I think regular school should be more like summer camp.  And I still think all the best schools and classrooms I've visited are great because of hands-on learning, student choice and a sense of community - some positives from many summer camps.

But, back to summer camps... Even though I'd love the world to be a place where kids have all kinds of time to explore their passions and do so for free with involved (but not hovering) caregivers, the reality of our world today is that kids' lives are SCHEDULED.  And summer camps are one of those things that parents schedule for their kids.  Many summer camp experiences are amazing for kids, it is true, and I'm not suggesting there is anything wrong with summer camps.  But I do want to point out that OVER SCHEDULING activities, especially in the summer, is not a good idea for kids.

Mike Lanza writes a blog called Playborhood and has written several posts on starting a summer camp in your own neighborhood. You can read one here, about a camp he started. And, another here, about a neighborhood summer camp in Palo Alto, CA.  Mike advocates for turning your neighborhood into the same kind of community many of us grew up in - a cell-phone free place where kids ran out the front door, biked around the neighborhood, played with friends who lived close by and didn't come home until dinner.  Ahhhh, the good old days...

If you have the luxury of spending time with your kids this summer, do so.  Ditch the expensive summer camps and instead do healthy, inexpensive activities with your kids or encourage them to play with others in the unstructured, unscheduled hours of the summer days ahead.  Some of my boys' (now ages 17 and 19) favorite summertime activities were riding bikes into town, going to the parks, street roller hockey, playing catch, kicking a soccer ball, going to the pool, building forts out of cushions, drawing, painting, setting up a tent in the back yard, playing legos, watching movies, having sleepovers, cooking, baking, walking the dog, catching crawdads in the local creek, taking the dog to a lake to swim, shooting hoops, building skateboard ramps, etc...

Enjoy thinking about your summer plans and don't stress about it.  Don't feel guilty if your kids aren't enrolled in a bunch of organized summertime camps or activities or if you aren't planning a super-cool family vacation.  You'll have this upcoming summer only once in their lifetimes...enjoy the quiet, unhurried, fun, creative moments you witness or experience with them.

Buy This Playborhood Book!

I've been a fan of Mike Lanza's ever since I stumbled upon his Playborhood Blog. As his website says, "he's worked hard to create a very rich neighborhood play life for his three boys - ages 7, 4, and 2 - in Menlo Park, California. He's also discovered and written about dozens of neighborhoods throughout North America that are doing innovative things to make a vibrant life for kids. Prior to his writing career, Mike was a five-time software and Internet entrepreneur in Silicon Valley."

So, in addition to playing with his boys, he has written a book:In Playborhood: Turn Your Neighborhood Into a Place for Play, you’ll find inspiring stories of innovative communities throughout the US and Canada that have successfully created vibrant neighborhood play lives for their children. You’ll also get a comprehensive set of step-by-step solutions to turn around your family and neighborhood cultures, so that your kids can spend less time in front of screens and in adult-supervised activities, and more time engaging in joyful neighborhood play.

I like what Joan Almon, Director, Alliance for Childhood, had to say about this book:

“When I was young my friends and I played all over our neighborhood. It was our world, and it gave us the security to go out later and explore the wider world around us. Life is different now. You can drive through the safest neighborhoods and they look like ghost towns. Not a single child is outside playing. I am so grateful to Mike Lanza for reminding us that play begins at home and in our neighborhoods. It takes so little to make it happen there – just awareness, passion, and commitment. This book helps to feed all of those.”
— Joan Almon, Director, Alliance for Childhood

I moved to California 14 years ago from the midwest. The first thing I noticed about the neighborhoods here in the East Bay were the fences. They were everywhere. Each yard has a high, privacy fence. We didn't have fences in the midwest. In the Chicago suburbs, all the backyards melted into one another and became one huge field for play or naughtiness or whatever.

The next thing I noticed was the deserted streets after school. After school, my boys and I lived outside on our street (luckily it's flat, with sidewalks and a cul de sac that dead ends into a park, that our community built, BTW). Our street became (and still is) the baseball diamond, the pitching mound, the soccer field, the roller hockey rink, the inline skate strip, the bicycle race track, the basketball court, the jogging trail, the skateboard park, the dog walking path, the football field...

My boys are now 18 and 16 and they still spend a good amount of time outside on the street. These days it's mostly used by them for skateboarding or roller hockey, but we have many kids on our block that use the street just as we did for these past 14 years. As I write this, however, I do wish all the kids on our block played outside even more than they do. Most are involved in after school activities and many a weekend goes by with no kiddos playing outside on our street. That makes me sad.

So, my advice to all the kids on my block and all the blocks in the East Bay, read this book and go out and play! Now.

Repost - The Audacity of Homework from Playborhood

The Audacity of Homework

Published on October 4, 2011 by Mike Lanza

Published in Playborhood.com

Shame on Oliver, a friend of my son, Marco.

He hasn’t been handing in part of his kindergarten homework, worksheets full of letters that require tracing over. However, he has handed in his book reading logs and book report.

He likes reading books that interest him, but he’s not keen on tracing letters.

So, his teacher told him he may not be able to have recess all next week.

He cried and cried. He doesn’t want to go to school tomorrow. What a baaaaaby!!!

On the other hand, his teacher is so audacious! She’s so noble! She’s ignored the vast mountains of research that show no academic benefit to homework, even for kids in later elementary school years. Good for her.

She’s managed to show Oliver in his first few weeks of kindergarten what the rest of his school career will be like: stressful and unhappy. Why “sugar-coat” kindergarten? Why leave him with any impression that he can control his own learning experience?

In addition, she’s fired a vital shot across the bow to Oliver’s parents. Now that he’s in school for part of each day, they’re not in total control of their family life anymore. No, they must serve her first. Their first duty when he gets home from school is to check his backpack and follow her instructions.

Yes, the party’s over. Oliver’s in kindergarten. How sad…

My Kid Wants This Crazy Life...

I'm linking to a blog called Playborhood. I've liked many things I've read in this blog and this article called My Kid Wants This Crazy Life, So What Can I Do? I particularly like. Please read it and leave a comment if you like.

In this blog there is also a great suggestion for a holiday gift for younger kids - a custom made map of your very own neighborhood. I thought this was brilliant. Instead of driving our kids all over the place to different activities, let's try to encourage play in our own neighborhood in the new year. This map may help kids want to stay close to home, play and explore.