It has been my daughter’s long-time dream to sell things on the side of the road. Just what every parent hopes their child will aspire to, right! Our own home does not face a street and it does not have a front yard so, alas, this has not been a simple dream to fulfill. Personally, I do not have the time or inclination to sit around on a street for hours on end with her.

Last summer she was able to sell some of her used toys on her cousin’s front lawn which is on a street. She made one sale. It was to her cousin. I heard the news before picking her up and although I knew she would be disappointed I was relieved that this would be the end to her latest career aspiration. So as we headed home, I asked her how she felt about her day. She told me that she thought things would have gone better if she’d had a commercial advertisement on television. Her dream was still alive. I decided then and there that my daughter was a budding entrepreneur and not an underachiever.

So this week, since I was already going to be spending hours street-side, due to the B.C. teachers’ strike, I thought why not kill two birds with one stone. My sister had offered my daughter some free herbs from her garden, for an herb sale. We had two other children with us and I figured it would be a great way for the kids to stay occupied and learn some business terms. A business meeting was called and we discussed what the signs might say, what the prices would be, and how the proceeds would be used. More specifically we determined what percentage of the proceeds would be used to pay back the interest free start up loan, what percentage would be used for reinvestment, and what percentage everyone would get to keep as her share of the profit.

On day one, the girls had two generous customers. They made a total of $9.  My daughter thought it was a shame that they didn’t have a debit machine since a number of potential customers had remarked that it was too bad that they didn’t have any money with them. We discussed who would be their ideal customer (people who like to cook with herbs) and where might be a better location to sell to that target market (outside a grocery store or at least an area with more foot traffic). On day two, my daughter had a different friend with her. This time they had a total of three customers and they made total of $4. Mind you, there were two more customers who would have liked to buy the homemade organic perfume. Fortunately my daughter realized that these customers/kids’ parents might be upset when they got home with bags of dirt water that they had spent money on. So those were given out for free instead.

Now my daughter is now richer by $3.50 and she has $4 to reinvest in a new product. Her friends are richer too. Since kids seem like a better “target market” we have discussed how much might be reasonable for a child to spend and what kind of product would their parents be okay with them spending their money on. Your advice and ideas are welcome!

Summer learning loss has been well documented for decades. Students who struggle with learning tend to be the most vulnerable. In fact we know that three different things happen for children in the summer. Some children regress in their learning skills. They can actually lose more than two months of learning in reading and math each summer. From grades 1 to 6 this would result in more than a year of learning lost! Some children hold fairly steady with their learning over the summer and return to school with the skills they basically left with. Other children actually gain learning ground and return to school with a learning advantage. What is the difference? Much of these differences can be attributed to the amount and quality of educational experiences a student has over the summer.

At a very minimum, if we want to prevent summer learning loss there are a number of educational experiences that we can provide our children that cost very little money. Children should read, write, compute, play, and connect. Joining a library reading program can be a great way to make sure children read throughout the summer. Children can keep a journal over the summer. Even if they don’t write it in every day, they could have a set day of the week that they write in their journal each week. A simple way to practise math skills is to play math games or solve a word problem each day. For math game ideas, click on the “learning games” tag for this blog under Categories. More and more research has been coming out over the past few decades to support the benefits of play. Large amounts of time spent watching movies, television, playing video games, texting, and surfing the web, take away time for play. Set limits on your child’s “screen time” either daily or weekly. Children make connections in so many ways. Connections help deepen and solidify learning. One of the best ways to help your children make connections between subject matter, themselves and others, or their personal lives and society at large is to talk with them. Family dinners can be a great time for discussions. Additionally, reading books together, watching movies together, and visiting museums and art galleries can help foster enriching conversations that help your children make connections. Teach Yourself’s book Help Your Child Succeed at School gives lots of solid information and advice on having enriching interactions with our children.

Recently, I heard that children with educational summer experiences tend to academically outperform their peers in high school. The best way to ensure that your child does not lose any ground this summer and returns to school in September with a learning gain is to make sure that they have an education plan for the summer. Especially for children who struggle with their learning in school, this gain can help bolster their confidence which in turn improves their learning capabilities. Below are two forms that you can use to help children stick to an educational plan. The “Make a Daily Schedule” form helps you and your child plan out their activities. This can be done 1-4 times a week or you can increase the time allotments and use it for the entire week. The “Student Report on Daily Work Schedule” is to be completed at the end of their learning sessions. Younger children will need more guidance. This reflection helps solidify and deepen their learning and is a great way to report to you.

Make a Daily Schedule
Student Report on Daily Work Schedule

I came across a great article on stepping back and letting our children learn through failure. It can be hard as a parent to watch our children be frustrated but if we step in to help them, we rob them of valuable learning experiences. I highly recommend this article, The Importance of Failure.

*We reviewed the adding strategy "making ten" and played the game Which Sum Wins, which is in the booklet that the kids will bring home with them at the end of the classes.

*This was our final day for reading the Goldilocks and the Three Bears play. They were so into reading with expression that they asked to read it a second time!