I am a huge advocate of summer vacation! I'm not talking about the obigatory family trek to grandmother's house or Disney World; but plain old summer vacation at home. A time without alarm clocks and long division and schedules. Children need a time to be kids. This doesn't mean that I condon a summer full of video games though. The rule in our house always was no TV, video games, or computers before 5:00 p.m. If the weather was nice...it also meant no hanging about in the house as well! My children became very adept at being children. They acquired hobbies, explored, played with friends...and, without realizing it and with a little direction from me, actually maintained skills they'd learned during the year and painlessly cultivated new interests and knowledge. Think about what your child enjoys doing and expand from there.

Follow up:

Observation is an invaluable skill for every child and one that during the school year, is often hard to encourage. It is also easy to encourage by allowing your child to start a collection, since by definition collecting implies that you are trying to find many items that are similar but also different.

• Fill your child's old school backpack with a variety of crayons, colored pencils, and paint; a nice sized sketchbook; a disposable camera; and a book or two on identifying plants and bugs native to your area and turn them loose in the backyard! They can "collect" all the different bugs  and plants they find there. If your child is really into flowers you can also include a small flower press. Encourage them to write down everything they notice...just like a scientist or detective. Encourage them to learn more by making lots of library trips or taking "field" trips to parks or meadows and be effusive with your praise and encouragement when they have something to share.
• Stamp collecting is fun for many children. If you don't have your own collection stashed somewhere at grandma's house you can get your child started by purchasing an inexpensive album and a mixed bag of US stamps from a hobby shop. Pick up a book for them on identifying stamps, a small magnifying glass, some mounts, and set them off on a treasure hunt for a really rare one that's worth about a "bizillion" dollars. Be aware though that a quick flea market stop could turn into an extended visit if they happen to find a box of old letters or postcards with stamps still affixed.
• Children also like to "help" out around the house...especially when it involves getting paid! Turn your child loose on the back porch with dad's coffee can(s) full of mismatched nuts, bolts and screws and a snap case with lots of openings. Have them sort through the entire can and match all the fasteners that are the same. If there are too many different types then they can be sorted by shape or size. Give them a small ruler to measure lengths or a guide to measure threads and treat them to ice cream when they're done. This also works for buttons if you have a jar full...or even that big bottle filled with coins if you have them count out and roll them as they go.

Discipline and Responsibility are skills that every child needs to learn and which can only be learned through practice.

• If you have an agreeable dog in the house, encourage your child to train them. This activity is fun for your child and your pet and will impress on your child the importance of being consistent in their training and to learn how to responsibly and respectfully work with another living creature. Get your child a great book and video on dog training, a clicker, and a big bag of treats. They can work on basic obedience, agility, or other fun sports for dogs like treibball! This is an activity that you will want to supervise carefully though until you are confident of how your child and your dog will behave.
• Conditioning and nutrition are important for all children but it's often difficult to get them up off the couch. Encourage your child to be active by helping them to "get ready" for the fall if sports are important to them. Make sure though that this is an activity that they want to participate in and not one that you want for them! Get them a book on good nutrition and how it helps them perform atheletically and a book or video on conditioning exdercises for the sport that they want to participate in; help them set up a place in the backyard to "work out"; and be prepared to help them whenever they ask for it. They will appreciate participating even more when they know that they worked to be successful.

Academic Skill Retention and Practice is very important for children over the summer but it's one activity that you don't necessarily want them to realize that they're working on. The last thing they'll want to do is more schoolwork! These activities all require hands on assistance from mom and dad but they also have the additional benefit of providing some great togetherness time and opportunities to offer praise.

• Cooking is one of the best activities to help children reinforce their math skills; especially when it's coupled with nutrition and meal planning, and budgeting. Purchase your child a good children's cookbook and help them to construct a food pyramid poster. Allow them to plan, shop for and prepare dinner once a week. Make sure to give them a budget and to be the chef supervisor. Think up reasons why they would want to increase or decrease the amount of servings they need so that they can practice manipulating fractions. You'll obviously need to help them shop but do help them create a small conversion chart for liquid to dry measurements and to remind them of the number of ounces in a cup or a pound that they can carry to the store. You can also give them the coupon flyer each week to use in their planning and even offer a "reward" of keeping the change when they come in below budget.
• Woodworking is a fun activity for children and their parents. Most of us have a pile of leftover wood in the backyard. Give your child a tape measure, book on woodworking projects, and let them figure out what they have enough wood to build. All that measuring and calculating will very useful come fall! Warning though...this is definitely a parent/child project. Unsupervised woodworking can lead to accidents.
• If your child is old enough to use a sewing machine, turn them loose with a bag of cotton scraps and a quilting pattern book. Like woodworking, all the calculating, measuring and figuring will be useful in mathematics class.