Summer Education Programs, Learning Activities

I know it's late, but can I still find some summer programs that are both fun and educational? -- Searching

Answer: You will definitely be able to still find some summer programs for your children. Not all will be filled up yet.

  • Start with you school to see what summer programs they are putting on. Many offer more than summer school. 
  • Local libraries almost always will offer programs.
  • Investigate if local colleges and universities have summer camp programs or courses.

One of the new kids on the block in summer programs is "Do-It-Yourself Summer Camp (DIY)." Just go online and start looking at all the possibilities under this heading. Many are quite educational. Their advantage is that they are generally free or quite inexpensive and can be done at your home. For example, Education.com offers 10 weeks of themed activities, both on- and offline. They offer themes like "Under the Sea," "Animal Adventures" and "Summer in Space." Then there are tons of suggestions from parents on how to have your own "Do-It-Yourself Summer Camp."

Beyond online "Do-It-Yourself Camps," many communities offer programs -- usually lasting a week -- that let children make all kinds of things, from go-karts to desserts to video games. 

If you decide to do your own family summer camp, we have loads of ideas on our Dear Teacher website (DearTeacher.com). Take a look at our "Learning Activities" section, where you will find things for children to do that really stress having fun while learning. There are activities for reading, language arts, science, social studies and mathematics. The science activities are all experiments your children can do. 
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