Summer Camp & Congress - Your Voice Needed
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GoogleJuggling work, kids, and summer camps takes the skills of a Detective (What summer programs are good?), a Financial Analyst (Which camps can I afford?), and a coordinator from the Presidential Advance Team (How the heck do I get to the camp, anyway? And what supplies are needed?).
The fact that most parents work year-round, and school, well, isn't year-round, often leaves parents struggling to find safe, healthy, and affordable summer options for kids.
BUT THERE IS HOPE: Last year Senator Obama and Senator Mikulski co-sponsored the STEP UP Act, or the Summer Term Education Programs for Upward Performance Act of 2007, which authorizes resources to provide students with opportunities for summer learning. STEP UP was passed and authorized into law last summer as part of the larger America Competes Act. However, there is currently no funding for the program and summer learning advocates are urging Congress to provide $50 million in funds in the FY2009 federal budget right now.
*In order to get this bill funded, Senators Obama and Mikulski need your help building momentum in Congress.
- Tell your Congresspeople to fully fund the STEP UP Act now by clicking here: http://www.momsrising.org/STEP_UP
And, it's important that your Congress hears from you today because it's National Summer Learning Day and volunteers are visiting elected officials in Washington D.C. right now and we can support their efforts.
Summer learning is more important than many think--and it's not just about finding a fun way for kids to spend summer time while their parents are at work (though that's a good thing too!). Studies show that children lose academic ground if they don't exercise their academic muscles from mid-June to late August.
Children score lower on standardized tests at the end of summer than they do in the spring when schools close. According to extensive research compiled by the Center for Summer Learning, this "learning loss" is worst for low-income students, who often lag behind middle- and upper-income children to begin with.
Summer programs can boost academic achievement, motivate students to want to learn, and help them develop new skills and talents.
Yet too few children have access to quality summer programs and this is why we need to fully fund the STEP UP Act now.
Please forward this email to your friends and family so they can help too. The more voices involved, the faster it will be funded.
It's time to expand children's access to and resources for summer learning and afterschool programs in order to send young people back to school ready to learn, support working families, and to help keep kids safe and healthy when school is out.
Enjoy the sun! - Kristin, Joan, Katie, and the MomsRising Team
- - A big thank you to the Afterschool Alliance and the Center for Summer Learning for their help with this message and their amazing advocacy efforts on behalf of our nation's children.
Women shouldn't be discriminated against simply because they are mothers... but they are! Read about true experiences of American mothers, and learn how shared problems can be solved. Members can download the first chapter of the book today.
Can't find affordable summer camp or daycare
I have been forced to leave my 11 year old home all day this summer due to not being able to afford summer camp and not being eligible for state assisted programs. I am a single mother struggling and have cried many days and nights because my 11 year old is stuck in the house all day. I pay over $1000 a month in rent and am having a hard time making ends meet and keeping food on the table. I am really thinking about starting my own before/after school and summer programs for parents who cannot afford these ridiculous weekly prices for care that in most cases is not even worth it.
Step Up Act
it is very hopeful to pass this act but how I'd it going to be funded?
Summer activities
My kids had a very full academic year -- they learned a lot, they struggled a lot, they developed and they grew a lot. I'm glad that they're in camp now. They need the time off to be kids, to play and have fun. If we fill every moment of our kids' time with school or academics, we ignore all the other ways in which kids learn. In camp, they are exercising their bodies, their minds and learning new social skills. Why would we deprive them of that, just to sit behind a desk somewhere?
Most adults I know get burned out from work in the summer time. Why would we force our kids to stay in school at a time when we ourselves are craving a break?
Standardized tests are good for reporting academic progress statewide but otherwise mediocre methods of indicating intelligence.
The director of my kids' preschool told me that she only offers a 9-2:30 program for 4 year olds because parents had asked for it -- its easier on them to have the kids occupied for a longer day. But, she explained, they really only needed 9-12. Sounds like the same thing is happening here, on a larger scale.
summer learning and childcare
Yes, my husband and I have also struggled this summer to find reliable quality care for our son. And of course, care that we can afford. We have found it, partly by me taking a second job on the weekends to increase our income to cover this expense.
And we are concerned with his academic status during the summer, but rather than wait for someone else to "STEP UP", we feel it is our job as parents to take the initiative and take action. We keep our son actively learning all summer (OK, really it's most of the summer--he did get a break for a couple of weeks while we got organized) with workbooks and everyday living examples. The workbooks we have are available year-round at many stores for only a few dollars each. He practices many skills and has a reason to ask questions.
I feel that if you are too busy to spend some of your own time and effort on your own kid(s), nothing the government does (with programs or funding) will make any difference. You need to take some responsibility as a parent to make the life you want for your child. Government can help by providing high expectations and occassional boosts, but the parents raise the child.
expensive summer
It's been impossible finding quality summer childcare programs that are affordable and offer academics. I can't even take advantage of child care assistance because the programs they are accepted for don't offer the summer learning my son needs.
It is so true that kids need
It is so true that kids need to continue to read and write and figure and explore during the summer vacation months in order to maintain their level in those areas.
But the research that indicated children score lower on standardized tests in the fall than in the previous spring is affected by the fact that standardized tests are often based on memorization of facts that aren't retained by children anyway.
So naturally some of those facts have faded from the children's memories over the summer. The emphasis of the tests on memorized facts skews this kind of data, not to mention not really measuring useful stuff to begin with!
Summer Camp
FYI. I am a single working mother with a decent salary, and despite that advantage I am financially strapped and stressed out all summer due to lack of affordable day camps. The low end camps here in Chicago are $175 per week. The monthly total for that exceeds what I pay monthly for parochial school tuition. The quality ones are $300. The city park district offers low cost camps-hours at most are 10am to 3pm-nice for stay at home moms, but no help for me!
Thanks for your attention to this issue.
Test
Test
"Summer learning"
I think this is a croc and a waste of Government funds!
In my experience a very small portion of the population have had these "summer learning" experiences. If we could learn and progress without this "program" why is it so important that it be instituted now and paid for by all of us?
Were teachers allowed to require that the children learn at each step of the education process, children would learn and learn how to learn. More money will not correct passing a non - performing student on to the next grade! Were that to happen to non-performing students the vast majority would not experience that a second time.
Thank you for doing
Thank you for doing something progressive and proactive to help support students during their free time... As a school counselor, I found that it was during this "down" time that students tended to get into the most trouble if they did not have anything structured and purposeful to keep them active. The students I worked with actually craved participating in a program during their free time (i.e., during summer and after school) so they wouldn't get bored. Most of the children I worked with in the last 10 years had little supervision during the day hours (summer, right after school) since their parents had to work.
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