We are now close enough to the start of school that we have to face down the summer homework that has hung over us for these few months like a black cloud on a humid day. I am, in fact, writing about summer homework while sitting next to my son, who is writing his summer homework. We have scrambled to acquire books that need to be read (and that have so long a list of holds at the library, they could become NEXT summer's summer homework). The whole thing brings back (not very good) memories from my own childhood--the biggest difference being that when I was a kid, I seem to remember it all happened just days before the start of school. At least we have been talking about it for two months and still have two weeks!
I have always appreciated the homework assignments my kids brought home that either reinforced what they'd done at school that day, or kept me informed about their curriculum, or both. So, where does summer homework fall on that spectrum? Having had no "day at school" or "curriculum" per se in our summer, we are on our own--reading a book while not necessarily knowing why it was chosen, researching a topic while not necessarily knowing if the topic or research methods are right. It occurs to me that summer homework is not so different from starting a new job. New things dropped in the middle of a known and comfortable summer, and a reminder that we always have something new to learn.
So, how do you navigate the new when it comes right in the middle of what feels like a pretty nice comfort zone (like summer)? It's a question that many of us ask when we're exploring job possibilities, and a question that kids are forced to ask every year, when they automatically face a new teacher, new classroom, and new grade. For them, newness and change are just a given, and they adjust quickly. For them, while homework might be an inconvenience in their carefree summer, it is just a step toward their unavoidable new "job." So, it gets done because, well, it has to.
I have always appreciated the homework assignments my kids brought home that either reinforced what they'd done at school that day, or kept me informed about their curriculum, or both. So, where does summer homework fall on that spectrum? Having had no "day at school" or "curriculum" per se in our summer, we are on our own--reading a book while not necessarily knowing why it was chosen, researching a topic while not necessarily knowing if the topic or research methods are right. It occurs to me that summer homework is not so different from starting a new job. New things dropped in the middle of a known and comfortable summer, and a reminder that we always have something new to learn.
So, how do you navigate the new when it comes right in the middle of what feels like a pretty nice comfort zone (like summer)? It's a question that many of us ask when we're exploring job possibilities, and a question that kids are forced to ask every year, when they automatically face a new teacher, new classroom, and new grade. For them, newness and change are just a given, and they adjust quickly. For them, while homework might be an inconvenience in their carefree summer, it is just a step toward their unavoidable new "job." So, it gets done because, well, it has to.
And thanks to a willingness to keep learning--and to summer homework--I think we will all be ready.
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