Summer plans with the kids

From an article by Linda Morgan: "Staying School Sharp in the Summer" [ParentMap Summer 2007]

Stowe Sprague, a Mercer Island mother of three children, ages 9, 7 and 4, likes setting "summer goals" for her kids. "It might be as simple as learning to tie shoes," she says.

Tuned into her kids' strengths and weaknesses, she knows which child needs extra help in math, which in writing. Summertime, she finds, is a chance to jump on those weak spots and build them up. Sprague also values her children's downtime. "We're talking about 15 to 20 minutes a day of reviewing," she says. "They have lots of time to play."

Sprague supplies the older kids with workbooks and texts -- and makes sure they study at the kitchen counter while she prepares dinner. "They protest, but get into the swing," says Sprague. "I think of it as another version of quiet time."

A busy mom with enough discipline to spend that kind of structured time with her kids probably sets goals for everyone in the family, including her husband.  Hopefully this summer she'll leave him "lots of time to play."

[also see: CNN ]