School Family

I think we hit that point today when it’s finally OK to start talking about school again. We’re about 5 weeks into summer vacation in these parts (with 6 weeks to go), and—like the first robin of spring—today was the first day when the pool and baseball and bikes didn’t take up every waking thought. Books actually made an appearance, too.

Granted, it was a rainy day, so the pool and the baseball and the bikes were on a forced hiatus. But two weeks ago, rain meant some very depressed young boys; whereas today, I think they were actually ready for a break.

These last few weeks have been great. A family trip followed by days at the local pool and after-dinner outside time that often stretched way past what used to be an actual bedtime. Frankly, by mid-June even I was a bit worn out from homework checks and morning routines.

Now, though, I’m glad to see the transition starting. When I got home from the office today, the kids ran to show me all the check marks they had on their summer reading program tracking sheets. First time it happened all summer, but I suspect it will continue now right through back to school. The bikes and bathing suits and baseball mitts are far from packed away, but it’s good to see that our young vacationers’ brains haven’t gone completely to mush.

When do you know that school is on the horizon?

I’ve always loved going to camp, so when I was asked to spend last weekend supervising middle school campers, I jumped at the chance. The last time I’d worked at a camp was in college, when I spent a steaming
summer in a platform tent, a hike away from electricity and running water.

It wasn’t the first time I’d visited this camp, so I knew that some buildings had air conditioning (gasp!) and that WiFi service had been added for company retreats. Still, I was surprised by how much technology I found in the hands of the campers.

Each of the kids in my charge had an iPod and a cell phone, even though the camp is in a remote area with no service. One boy brought his prized bass guitar and was excited to find (to his counselor’s chagrin, I’m sure) that a cabinmate had an amplifier. More than once I heard campers discussing their MySpace friends, and I realized that for them, roughing it is going a week without going online.

Although I couldn’t believe all the technological toys the kids had brought to camp, I was in no position to criticize. I had packed my laptop, and whenever I had an opportunity, I was in the cabin checking my email!

For someone who makes a living with words, it’s a little embarrassing to admit that I wasn’t always a big reader. As a kid, I spent most of my free time with friends or toys, not books. Still, each summer I
looked forward to the children’s reading program at the library.

I can’t recall a single book I read, but I remember having fun with the other kids and thinking the teenage volunteers were way cool. Looking back now, I realize it was during those afternoons that the library transformed from a grown-up place where I got shushed to a place I still love to go.

If your child is a reluctant reader, too, she may be more motivated to dive into a book if she’s around other people who are doing it. In addition to the great summer reading programs offered by public libraries and bookstores, kids’ book clubs are sprouting up all over.

If you can’t find a kids’ book club in your area, consider forming one or joining an online club. Children read “real” books, then go online to talk about the stories. Here are just a few of the online book clubs I found with special activities for kids:

Al’s Book Club for Kids

After reading the selected book, children can watch Al Roker chat with book club members on the Today show or play video of the discussion on the website. They can also submit questions to authors and listen to audio excerpts.

In2Books

Parents help kids choose an adult reading mentor, such as a relative or family friend. Children correspond with their mentors about selected books, developing friendships and writing skills.

Scholastic’s Summer Reading Buzz

This site has videos of celebrities talking about favorite books, games and contests, and message boards. For every four books a child reads, Scholastic donates a book to

So, this is my first blog entry ever. I’ve never done this before and I’m a bit nervous.

Well, here goes. I have two kids. I’ve been volunteering in their schools since my oldest was in kindergarten, and I’ve been writing the She Said It column for PTO Today for about four years. My daughter will be a high school freshman in the fall, which just astounds me. Especially since I was a high school freshman, what? Like, two years ago? Maybe three? At least that’s what it feels like. My son is 9 and going into 4th grade. Funny, I don’t get chest pains when I say I have a 4th grader. Of course when he’s old enough for high school, I’ll probably need to be medicated.

With the last day of school approaching I’ve been waking up nights panicking about what to do with the kids this summer. I go through this every year. I want my kids to be happy and engaged in creative and stimulating activities, but they mostly want to sit around and watch TV. I’ve been collecting flyers and brochures from area day camps. Some of them sound great, like the space camp at the science museum, and the animal behavior camp at the zoo. There’s even a crime scene investigation camp within driving distance.

To my son, they’re all “boring,” and my daughter will have nothing to do with camp at her age. She has, however, already launched her summer campaign for a swimming pool. We live in a state where the average annual temperature is 47 degrees. If you factor in the rain, we could actually use the pool maybe 13 days this year. I’m no financial whiz, but my guess is that a pool wouldn’t be a sound investment. Maybe I’ll have my daughter work out the numbers—assign a dollar value to a summer without whining, then include that in her calculation. Who knows? Maybe a pool would be worth it, and anyway, she’d be getting some math practice in before school starts.

It’s never too early to start thinking about making next school year great for you and your kids.

And that’s why we’ve launched this new website. Welcome! Who the heck are we? You can check out our about us page, but basically we’re the folks from PTO Today—the magazine for school PTOs and PTAs—and we’re excited to be helping all parents get connected to their kids’ educations and their kids’ schools.

A few other bloggers and I will be back regularly with thoughts and links and highlights. In the meantime, I’ll be trying to make sure my own 4 little ones don’t forget everything they learned this year before heading off to school in August. (Summer Amnesia? You can avoid it.)

Take a look around. We’d love to hear what you think, ideas for more ways we can help, and—what the heck—even your own back-to-school tales of woe and wonder. You can use the comments section below to jump into the conversation. Enjoy!

Tim