Finally! Summer is here: report cards and test scores have all been received, there’s no homework, and the past school year lies behind you, with all its commitments, deadlines, achievements, struggles, and failures. Your child has been promoted to the next grade and does not have to attend a mandatory catch-up summer school. Now what?
The biggest question is what would your children do if they were completely free to make their own plans and choices for summer? Is there anything they would be happy to do all day long if left alone? How do you feel about their choices and plans? Answers to these questions may help you decide whether your child should or should not join an Enrichment Summer School Program.
There are two benefits to non-mandatory Summer School Programs:
- Struggling students receive help to catch up on the skills they are not as confident in.
- Strong students get the support they need to get ahead of the curriculum game.
The academic reasons for sending your child to a summer program are strong but these programs also offer some important opportunities that go way beyond curriculum and are often disregarded by parents:
- Summer programs offer a perfect opportunity to try something absolutely new or challenging in a brief, emotionally safe, non-evaluative session – like complex math problem solving, or higher-level experimental science, or a new sport, or a poetry class.
- It can also be a great opportunity to meet new people and make new friends.
- Working in a small group environment can help develop a child's social skills.
- A summer program is a great way to test interest in a subject that your child could eventually shift into a college and career path.
So, if the test scores are okay, but your child does not really know what to do with all the free time they now have – Summer School programs may be something to look into.
