Sunday, July 4, 2010

Mom's Summer School Boot Camp




Ahhhhh...when your Mom is a teacher, school never ends. All three girls have summer assignments. Katie and Anna have to read "To Kill a Mockingbird" for their AP English class, they also have to research book banning.....and lets not forget:
THE SAT
They each have a huge study manual with eight practice tests, a website that focuses on explaining the answers behind the questions that will be on the test and they will be assisted throughout their junior year by their AP English teacher and Math teachers. Since the University of Florida is extremely competitive, the girls will be taking the exam multiple times, as they only take your highest scores. ( Please note: Katie has not made a college decision yet, but we are going by UF scores as it is the hardest school in the state to gain admission to.)

Jia was given a lot of remedial work from her teacher, plus she will be doing the "Learning Bridge" series with me. Both Katie and Anna did this all the way through 8th grade. It is a program that starts with the grade they just completed, In Jia's case, Kindergarten and then progresses through to help them with the next year--First Grade.

We have been given some sight words for Jia (thanks to Mrs.Castillo) that we will work with her this year. She is still delayed, but is very, very eager to learn.

One of the things I am most firm about as a teacher is that if you let a child just "hang out" on vacation all summer they lose some of the skills that they have spent time learning. If you keep their minds working with learning experiences (not just workbooks) they will keep their minds "fresh" when they enter their next grade.

This is the first year that Anna and Katie were assigned a book to read by their school. But they have read books every summer since they started school. Last year we read Of Mice and Men and then a book of their choice. When they were little we would read orally, as a family, (a good book for that was Because of Winn Dixie by Katie Di Camillo. It was fun, the whole family participated and the girls looked forward to it.

Ok, our kids do have fun too. They are all looking forward to their trip to Canada to see their Nona and Grandpa (Jia jumps on the bed and shouts NONA!). They swim almost every day, shopping is always an activity, Katie, Jia and Drew go to the gym everyday, and tomorrow we will celebrate the birthday of our great country by going to Ellen's home and watching the fireworks at the beach. Sparklers are at hand!

GOD BLESS AMERICA!

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