July 01, 2009 
by Rebekah Sanderlin
School has been out for just a few weeks and, if you’re like millions of mothers across the U.S., you are already completely out of ideas. Every morning your school-age kids stare at you expectantly, like hungry baby birds, waiting for you to fill their days. They’re used to having their minds “fed” at school by teachers with lesson plans. You are used to doing whatever you please during those hours. What’s a mom to do?
For many of us the options are to load up the car and head for the pool, park, library or fast food play place or just turn on the TV. It’s not that we don’t want to spend the days doing fun activities that are both entertaining and mind expanding, it’s that we don’t know where to start and don’t have the time to go searching. At least, that’s what Maria Murphy is counting on.
Murphy, a mother, psychotherapist, columnist and host for Army Wife Talk Radio, has developed Camp Curiosity http://www.campcuriosity.blogspot.com/ - an at-home, summer “camp” for kids ages five to 12 years old. For about $3 a week she will email you a series of lessons and activities covering the solar system, inventing and entrepreneurship, writing and producing a play, changing the world and the seven wonders of the world. Each topic has information, crafts, physical activities, and video, website and book recommendations. There is more than enough to fill every day for six weeks.
(The total cost of the program is $19.95 but Murphy will give a 30 percent discount to military family members who use the discount code AWTR. You can sign up using the above link.)
“Parents don’t have the time to research all these lessons,” Murphy said. “They don’t have the time to spend all afternoon looking for ideas.”
According to the National Center for Summer Learning at Johns Hopkins University, www.summerlearning.org, access to summer learning programs explains two-thirds of the achievement gap between children from lower- and higher-income backgrounds. The Center also found that most students lose about two months worth of math skills over the summer months. Low-income students also lose more than two months in reading skills thought their peers from middle income backgrounds actually make slight gains in reading during the summer months. By the end of fifth grade, lower income kids fall more than two and-a-half years behind wealthier students in academics. Finally, most children will gain weight more rapidly when they are out of school for summer. This is particularly true for children who are already at high risk for obesity.
Murphy is well-aware of this so-called “brain drain” that students experience during the summer and her other goal with Camp Curiosity is to slow the learning loss.
Each week enrolled families will get an email from Camp Curiosity that includes 12 to 15 pages of activities and lessons for the week. Murphy suggests that parents purchase a binder so that they can print out the materials and keep them handy. The emails include organizational checklists to help keep track of all the material that is available.
“I’m a big believer in active learning, Murphy said. “That’s what works best for all of us.”
Murphy’s other business is selling a line of organizers called Simply Put Together, www.simplyputtogether.com. Looking at the Camp Curiosity information, it is obvious that she is someone who knows how to stay on task.
She stresses, however, that Camp Curiosity should not be viewed as homework or a chore. It’s summer time and summer learning should be fun, she said. People can use as much or as little of the program as they want based on their schedules and interests.
Murphy also has included parenting strategies in each lesson that she developed during her work as a psychotherapist. She hopes that the strategies will help parents stay patient during the activities.
“We miss the point if we make a solar system with beads but everyone is fighting,”
she said.
Tips for Making the Most of Summer
from The National Center for Summer Learning
1. Locate a summer program. There are high-quality summer camps and programs in almost every price range.
2. Visit the library. Find out what interests your child and select books on that subject. Make time to read every day.
3. Take educational trips. These can be low-cost visits to parks, museums, zoos and nature centers.
4. Keep a schedule. Continue daily routines to provide structure and limits.
5. Prepare for fall. Find out what your child will be learning the next school year by talking with teachers. Preview concepts and materials over the summer.
6. Practice math daily. Measure items around the house or yard. Track daily temperatures. Add and subtract at the grocery store. Cooking is a chance to learn fractions.
7. Get outside and play. Limit TV and video game time, just as you do during the school year.
8. Do good deeds. Students learn better and “act out” less when they engage in activities that aid in their social-emotional development, such as community service.