Most schools these days are in session during the summer months for special programs (reading camps, special education year-round services, tutorial services, feeding programs, etc.). But summer still allows schools and families time to take a deep breath and renew their energy and enthusiasm for learning.

Growth and change for everyone. The time for renewal that summer offers is a good thing, given that our current school structures put significant demands on children, parents, and teachers. Each August, children enter a new classroom community with a new teacher and group of students. A brand-new learning community must be formed. Everyone is a year older chronologically than the previous August, and the developmental landscape has changed significantly. (Parents—this is a great time to check your children’s developmental milestones in a book like Yardsticks!)

New academic challenges. At each grade, children and their families take on the challenging adventure of meeting increasing academic demands . Each subject area in the curriculum has a new face. There are new standards and expectations for learning. In ten months of highly compressed activity, each new learning community will re-engage in familiar routines, but everything is, in fact, quite new every year.

Joyful paradox. This familiarity mixed with brand-new challenges is the joyful paradox of school. To make sure this paradox continues to play out in a joyful way, we can take steps each summer to ready ourselves and our children for the new school year.

“Getting Ready” ideas. Over the next several blog entries, I’ll offer some helpful summer hints gleaned from my experiences as a teacher, principal, and parent. Next up: “Cleaning Out the Classroom, Cleaning Up the Bedroom.”

Would you like to ask Chip a question or share your own thoughts on this topic? Click ”Comments” just below this entry.