Pre-college summer programs and camps are offered throughout the country, often through Universities to provide high school students with experiences in science, mathematics, technology, engineering, or healthcare. In addition be sure to check your local university to see what programs they may have planned for the summer.
Students and parents should find out many details about a camp before deciding to attend. Factors such as the size of the camp, number of weeks, amount of hands-on activities, housing, student/teacher ratio, available credit, and of course costs should enter into your decision.
The following link is a sampling of the hundreds of available programs. We are not recommending these programs, but offering a starting point for you to conduct your own research about whether a camp is right for you. If you know of a program not listed, please post in the comments" http://www.careercornerstone.org/pcsumcamps.htm
Students and parents should find out many details about a camp before deciding to attend. Factors such as the size of the camp, number of weeks, amount of hands-on activities, housing, student/teacher ratio, available credit, and of course costs should enter into your decision.
The following link is a sampling of the hundreds of available programs. We are not recommending these programs, but offering a starting point for you to conduct your own research about whether a camp is right for you. If you know of a program not listed, please post in the comments" http://www.careercornerstone.org/pcsumcamps.htm
Parents shouldn't wait until senior year either. Start now; there are plenty of progams available. Our children should not be spending 2-3 months off from any type of academic stimulation during the summer because when school start back up again, its going to take a while for the children to get back into the swings of things.
ReplyDeleteEven if your child is not in HS, even as young as elementary, keep your children engaged in summer activities. Check your local libraries for summer reading lists; get math/reading workbooks from B&N; enroll them in a one or two week camp; tutoring is always another great opeiont. Just do something. Don't have them sit idle.
This is so true. Good post. I know President Obama was talking about extending the school year since our archaic school system is still following the old farming schedule. Our HS student really need be market themselves to be competitive with their peers around the world.
ReplyDeleteI may not neccessarily agree with that. I think there should be some type of break. Let our children do something else for those two months. They have 10 long months of all these subjects coming out of their ears, assignments to be done, readings to be completed, projects to be worked on, presentations to present, homework each and every night, etc... Let's not forget the stress factor that we usually ignore that our children could have, it's very real. They need the two months of camping, volunteering, sports or whatever they want to do and when they go back to school in September, they are ready for what comes their way.
ReplyDeleteHi Anonymous,
ReplyDeleteThats true to some extent. I do believe that our children should be exposed to extra curricular activities such as camping, sports, volunteering, etc. They definitely need to be exposed to different types of learning environments. I agree with that. However, they need to have balance. If I know my child is weak in certain subjects, I'm not going to have them not engage in academics for 2-3 months then have them play catch up come the fall. I'm also not going to allow them in the school year to also have just academics either; they are exposed to music, tennis and dance lessons throughout the school year to strike that balance. I agree, school can be stressful but I think we also have to strike a healthy balance between academics and fun and I think sometimes they have too much fun. The Indians, Asians and Khazars surpasses Jacob in everything; even music and the arts they are attempting to show us up. Those children travel, they are exposed and they are at the top of their classes while our children have the highest HS dropout rates and as adults have the highest unemployment rates. I just think that yes, you are right, we have to expose them to camping and volunteer work but education has to always be at the forefront and 2-3 months of no academic stimulation is not an option.
For instance, this summer, my daughter in continuing her piano and tennis lessons and she's also enrolled in a two camp at the museum where they will be teaching movie making, art and photography. Also, because I know she dropped a few points in reading (from 90% to 86%)last semester, I've enrolled her in the book club at Barnes and Nobles as well as the local library that way she's not sitting idle all summer and that way she doesn't fall behind her peers come fall.
Anyway Anonymous, thats it from me. Keep posting your comments because I agree that volunteering should be apart of our children world and thats an idea you've given me to look into to!
Kai
This is a healthy debate. One thing we have to also realize is that we can't wait when the child is in high school to start these types of programs and/or mindset. We have to build this foundation early in the child's life cause sometimes HS might be too late.
ReplyDeleteTo confirm, the heading reads: "Every Israelite HS Student should be doing something meaningful for the Summer" The key word is MEANINGFUL.
ReplyDeleteThe point is that we need to make sure our children are not idle. The old adage is true, "an idle mind is the devil's workshop".
There are many ways to make good use of the summer time. For example, if your child is struggling in a subject this is a good time to get him/her the extra help they need. There are numerous summer programs created to help children in various subjects areas.
Also, if the child has a particular interest, you can find a program/camp geared to that interest. The same goes if they have career aspirations in a particular field, the summer is a good time to look for internships or programs to give them exposure to their field of interest.
Also, I like your suggestion of volunteerism, or community service. In addition, travel, and trying new and different things can also be beneficial.
Also, keep in mind when they apply for college, in addition to grades and SAT scores, the colleges want to know what they did for the summers while in HS. We want to make sure they have a full and impressive resume because college acceptance is very competitive.
Is this list only for HS students? What about those who are in their 1st of 2nd yr of college but still have no idea what they want to do with themselves? Do you have any summer recommendation?
ReplyDeleteI appreciate the comments and they are very true. I just want my children to be diversified and acquire knowledge from all walks of life. I have read where some University/College do test that have nothing to do with academics, but to find out the type of person they are taking on in their institution... They want to know how they think, what their social skills are like, do they do things outside of academics. They was well-rounded people, not just children that have their nose in a book 24/7. So I understand and agree with the comments before but I also believe that there is more.
ReplyDeleteIts true, University/Colleges are looking for good all-around students; Grades, SAT/ACT Scores, and community service/leadership activities.
ReplyDeleteBut, we can't stress enough how important it is for our students to take challenging classes and to keep a high GPA. Remember, college is a priviledge with limited slots and our children will be competeing against other highly qualified students for those slots (and scholarships).
In addition, we want to make sure that once our children make it into college that they can handle the work, and will be able to complete college.
Therefore, if we help our children work hard and learn how to study while in high school, they will have a wide variety of options for life after high school. But, students who ‘coast’ through high school will have very few options.
Yes, its true that Universties/colleges want to know more about a students beside academics. But in order for you to even get the opportunity to be interviewed, so that they can get to know you better, you have to show how great you are academically.
ReplyDeleteAnother way that Universities/Colleges get to know you better is by asking you to write essays. Essays are another way of them getting to know your personalities, your interest, and how well rounded you are. But you should know, that essays are judged very harshly. They are disected by every means, so our chidren still have to learn how to write an effective essay that will make someone cry, laugh, or feel whatever it is that they are relaying to the University/college admission board.