Just Learn.

Have you ever thought about asking your kids to do a little school work over the summer?  You either get this reaction:
I Love to Play School!  OR
But it's summer! 

Either way, there are many many important reasons to encourage summer learning with school age kiddos.  If you have a younger child, one that still wants to "play school"  encourage that, but make sure that you as the adult direct some of that play to certain activities of your choice.  Do not hesitate to encourage them to complete real workbook pages, read for so long, practice their math facts, spelling words or sight words.  Also encourage those more fun projects that they may not have time for during the school year.  This is much easier with a younger, more enthusiastic child. 
For little kids and daily practice check out these sites:
www.spellingcity.com
www.starfall.com
 http://www.abcya.com/
For an overall good site check out: www.ixl.com   This will require some parent support for our youngest kids who are still learning to read.

These are great resources for little ones, but some older students are ready for a real summer challenge.  Keeping their brain's fresh and even learning something new.  Have you heard about Khan Academy?  If you have not, you need to check it out.  Learn more about Khan Academy and their mission on their site.  Here is how I would structure their summer challenge (adapt for your kids needs, and it never hurts to do MORE):         
1. 20 minutes Math on Khan Academy
2. 20 minutes something ELSE on Khan Academy.  I let the kids pick what they like. I tell them what they pick today does not have to be what they pick tomorrow......but at the end of the 20-30 minutes they have to tell me about what they learned.  There is so much great content on this site from Science, Finance, Art, History, Computer Programing and Computer Science, Test Prep, Talks and Interviews and some of my favorite stuff is hiding in the Partner Content. There is a LOT to learn about on this site!
3. 30 minutes reading (preferably a book.  Searching for books to read?  Check out my first post.)
4. 10+ minutes trying to learn SOMETHING.  We have the Internet at our fingertips.  There is so much learning to be done.  Through sites like YouTube, Ted.com and Google itself kids have the ability to either decide on a specific or general topic they want to learn about and then through a little research, learning, reading or watching report back and show and tell what they have learned!

If you have limited computers and/or more than one kid this may take some juggling but it is worth it.  Khan Academy does also work on iPads and other tablets.   
Ready to sign up?  Check out their help page about getting started, including How Do I sign up as a Parent (coach, tutor, teacher, etc.)?  Once you have created your own account you can then create accounts for your own kids (you will be their coach), their site is VERY user friendly.  Here is a page specifically for parents and mentors about getting started.  If you have questions OR you just want to brag, please feel free to leave a comment on this post.

Also, check out your school's website and see if they offer students subscriptions to services like Study Island, iXL, Accelerated Reader, BrainPop, ExploreELearning, Discovery (Cosmeo.com),  or many others!

No matter what, take time each day to just learn.