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GoodLifeFamilyMag.com MAY JUNE 2016 55 goodBALANCE MIDDLE SCHOOL KIDS As parents you can help bridge the gap between the end of one school year and the beginning of the next without imposing a summer school mentality. For starters look into summer programs day camps and enrichment opportunities that kids can explore advises Rob Lundien a spokesperson for the American School Counselor Association which supports school counselors efforts to help students focus on academic career and social emotional development. In addition to structured programs try some of these ideas to keep your middle schoolers engaged this summer Work on life skills. In just a few more years your kids will be heading off to college. Will they know how to cook a meal wash their clothes clean the toilet vacuum and budget their money These all take lots of practice so why not let your kids bone up on life skills this summer Teach them what they dont know how to do like a load of laundry then ask them to practice this skill regularly like changing and washing their bed sheets every weekend. Age-appropriate skills they can tackle now include babysitting menu planning cooking making minor household repairs doing the laundry gardening and saving money toward a short-term goal like purchasing a new app for their phone. Read. Take a trip to your local library and give your kids free reign to pick out books that pique their interest. Then ask them to read a set amount each day such as one chapter 10 pages or 15 minutes. If theyre reluctant you could make reading a prerequisite for earning screen time. But the key is to let them pick books they want to read. Foster a hobby. Do you have a budding photographer inventor computer programmer interior designer chef musician or woodworker Get the resources your kids need to pursue their passions. Borrow books from the library invest in some basic equipment sign them up for a specialty summer camp or watch YouTube tutorials together. Summer offers a perfect time to explore hobbies and pursue passions. Tackle a fun project. Maybe your kids have been begging to update the look of their bedrooms now that theyre almost teenagers. Let them say good-bye to their little-kid themed rooms and plan out a fresh update. They can pick out new paint colors help refurbish a piece of furniture learn how to recover a throw pillow or play around with digital photo-editing tools to create a poster-sized collage to print and hang. Besides getting a bedroom-makeover kids get hands-on opportunities to learn how to paint a room sew a fabric pillow cover sand down furniture or use photo-editing software. See Page 59 for GLFs Suggested Summer Reading. Let them say good-bye to their little-kid themed rooms and plan out a fresh update. Besides getting a bedroom- makeover kids get hands-on opportunities to learn how to paint a room sew a fabric pillow cover sand down furniture or use photo- editing software.