Great activities with the family [Guest Post]

Fun Activities that Promote Education and Family Bonding 
By: Heather Lewis 
 

We're headed into the final stretch of summer 2012. Before you know it, you'll see back-to-school sales at various retailers across the country. As a stay-at-home mother of three children and a former high school teacher, it is so incredibly important to me that my children get off to a great start during the upcoming school year. It can be so easy for students to remain in "summer mode" during the first month of a new school year, which can really set a bad tone for the entire academic year.

I want to share with you all a list of fun activities you may want to complete with your children during the final phase of summer 2012. Not only will these activities provide your children momentum to start off strong right off the bat, they really serve as excellent family bonding opportunities. Read on, curious mommy...

Build a Tree House

Building a tree house is an excellent family bonding activity that can help your children develop basic skills in design, planning and engineering. The most suitable trees for building tree houses are oak, beech, maple, fir and hemlock. My husband is a creative design engineer, which really helps here! You should involve your children in every phase of the process, from planning to actual building.

Ballpark Math

One of my favorite summertime activities is catching a ballgame with my family to watch our beloved San Francisco Giants at AT&T Park. Did you know that attending a ballgame opens up some excellent math lesson opportunities? You can ask your children how many runs the trailing team needs to score to surpass the team that's ahead. You could also ask your children how many innings are left in the game. For advanced and higher grade level students, you may ask what percentage of a pitcher's pitches have been strikes. There are lots of possibilities here.

Family Volunteering

You may want to consider completing some family volunteering activities during this final phase of summer 2012. This will really push your child to be accountable and responsible, traits that are necessary to succeed in school and in the real world.. By volunteering along with your children, you would really be setting a positive example for them.

Blogging

It should come as no surprise that your children will need to be skilled with computers to succeed in the classroom and in the real world. As a freelance writer and web content coordinator, I highly encourage that you create blogging profiles for your children. Allow them to update their blogs every day and write on any subjects of their choice. This will improve your children's writing and computer skills.

These are all fun activity ideas that promote education and family bonding time. These activities will ensure that your children have the momentum necessary to get off to a strong start during the upcoming school year.

Heather Lewis is a proud wife and mother of three, remote web content coordinator for Baby Changing Station.com. Heather is grateful to have the opportunity to complete these academically enriching activities with her children during the final phase of summer 2012.