The First Sign of Summer…

…is signing up for our local library system’s summer reading program and our local park program! We signed up today, and Rapunzel was so excited!

If you have a local library who offers a summer program (many of them do), I’d strongly recommend signing your kids up.  Our library system rewards the children based on the number of minutes read.  I enjoy this method better than number of books read only because it’s more fair to children of different ages.  Either way, it’s a great way to keep the kids’ learning throughout the summer.  It’s a known fact that many children lose much of what they learned during the school year throughout the summer.  Reading throughout the summer will help keep them from losing this knowledge and give them a boost for the next school year.

Our summer park program is offered in collaboration with the library program.  Check with your local library or your community’s recreation commission.  Last year was the first year our family did this, and we enjoyed it immensely.  Unfortunately Tinkerbell was somewhat of a pain to walk with, but we all got our exercise and were able to check out our local parks in the process.

After receiving our booklets today, I mapped out our route for the summer.

Last year, Tinkerbell won a camping package for completing all of the rubbings at each of the parks.  She wasn’t so thrilled when she saw it, but when we got home she thought it was the best thing since chocolate milk!  I hope we win again this year!

We’ve already logged ten minutes today (it doesn’t sound like much, but we were at a party all evening), and our first day of the parks will be next Tuesday, when the kids are finally out of school.

Does your community offer a library and/or park program?  What does it offer and how do you like it?