I think the whole premise of the article was very simple and focused on low, hanging fruit rather than these grandiose ideas that typically would never come to fruition. I love the idea of making a list which can teach a person to learn how to establish daily and short term goals, as well as collaborating with others, which in my opinion, develops a strong, interdependence and sense of community my fifth grade summer I saved money from cutting grass and purchased a Minolta X 700 camera from the local pawn shop and probably took 20 rolls of film in two months. From that point until probably five years ago I took pictures constantly, my nickname in middle school was flash not because I ran fast because I was taking pictures all the time. Summer fun projects and hobbies can be life-changing and I think this is a wonderful idea.
Caveat: My kids are hyper intellectual perfectionists. I have no idea where they get this from at all. So, they over think everything. My third kid wrote a response longer than your article. My oldest, gave bulleted insights. The others ignored me until I asked directly, and I have answers from three of the five, the youngest is not yet a teen.
1- Love the idea of having a plan for the summer. A great suggestion and loved the personal stories.
2- The article does assume that maybe the kids are in traditional education systems, our home education never really had a "summer" so we did what we wanted year round on top of academics.
3- What about kids that don't have a strong support system or ones that are depressed or dealing with emotions? What could they do?
4- What are the budgets for projects and from where does the income originate?
5- Is there a sense in where a project could be ongoing, summer to summer, or does it have to be small?
6- An idea would be to also have a collaboration with other youth to work together on something that gives back to the community.
7- Could there be a project that helped parents learn to be less 'nagging' in an indirect way? Sounds like these kids need some space. :)
8- "You want to be aligned with everyone’s realistic expectations" - I'm not sure that this idea would be overall healthy. (A list of ways and suggestions)
9- "what constitutes meaningful or productive" and "Do you expect us to be productive to a certain level and how to we quantify that expectation." - exact quote...
So, there's the summary of the collective minds of three home educated students. HAHA... I asked, so what about the simple instruction? Yes, it was amazing! Great ideas and very simple and focused. :) (What have I created?)
Now we are talking about expectations and plans... and how to find value and identity outside of these things. :) Kelly, you never know where the young mind will carry things.
Thanks for the project. It's helped my summer and given me a few essay ideas of my own!
Kelly I loved the angle you took with this piece. I'm 20 years old, and I found this really empowering. I feel like every teenager should be reading this.
Also loved what you did with this phrase - "Are your parents wondering :nagging: about what you are planning to do during your summer break?"
Thanks, Ishan! I definintely thought of you with your incredible work I would love to feature your 100 faces project in a future post about project ideas to inspire teens, too.
The real life stories really explained everything that needed saying here.
Try excerpts from this wonderful essay if you are looking for other reasons to advocate for "productive free time". (If that is not already an industry term, I would be looking to trademark it!)
Loved how you brought real life examples!
Great and feasible ideas
Great advice! Shared with all my kids.
Thanks, James! So glad to hear it is helpful... and would love to know what they think, too!
I think the whole premise of the article was very simple and focused on low, hanging fruit rather than these grandiose ideas that typically would never come to fruition. I love the idea of making a list which can teach a person to learn how to establish daily and short term goals, as well as collaborating with others, which in my opinion, develops a strong, interdependence and sense of community my fifth grade summer I saved money from cutting grass and purchased a Minolta X 700 camera from the local pawn shop and probably took 20 rolls of film in two months. From that point until probably five years ago I took pictures constantly, my nickname in middle school was flash not because I ran fast because I was taking pictures all the time. Summer fun projects and hobbies can be life-changing and I think this is a wonderful idea.
Kelly, My kids responded. Here is the summary:
Caveat: My kids are hyper intellectual perfectionists. I have no idea where they get this from at all. So, they over think everything. My third kid wrote a response longer than your article. My oldest, gave bulleted insights. The others ignored me until I asked directly, and I have answers from three of the five, the youngest is not yet a teen.
1- Love the idea of having a plan for the summer. A great suggestion and loved the personal stories.
2- The article does assume that maybe the kids are in traditional education systems, our home education never really had a "summer" so we did what we wanted year round on top of academics.
3- What about kids that don't have a strong support system or ones that are depressed or dealing with emotions? What could they do?
4- What are the budgets for projects and from where does the income originate?
5- Is there a sense in where a project could be ongoing, summer to summer, or does it have to be small?
6- An idea would be to also have a collaboration with other youth to work together on something that gives back to the community.
7- Could there be a project that helped parents learn to be less 'nagging' in an indirect way? Sounds like these kids need some space. :)
8- "You want to be aligned with everyone’s realistic expectations" - I'm not sure that this idea would be overall healthy. (A list of ways and suggestions)
9- "what constitutes meaningful or productive" and "Do you expect us to be productive to a certain level and how to we quantify that expectation." - exact quote...
So, there's the summary of the collective minds of three home educated students. HAHA... I asked, so what about the simple instruction? Yes, it was amazing! Great ideas and very simple and focused. :) (What have I created?)
Now we are talking about expectations and plans... and how to find value and identity outside of these things. :) Kelly, you never know where the young mind will carry things.
Thanks for the project. It's helped my summer and given me a few essay ideas of my own!
Kelly I loved the angle you took with this piece. I'm 20 years old, and I found this really empowering. I feel like every teenager should be reading this.
Also loved what you did with this phrase - "Are your parents wondering :nagging: about what you are planning to do during your summer break?"
Thanks, Ishan! I definintely thought of you with your incredible work I would love to feature your 100 faces project in a future post about project ideas to inspire teens, too.
Wow Kelly, I'm quite flattered! You're really doing some amazing work helping teens out!
The real life stories really explained everything that needed saying here.
Try excerpts from this wonderful essay if you are looking for other reasons to advocate for "productive free time". (If that is not already an industry term, I would be looking to trademark it!)
http://paulgraham.com/greatwork.html
Great work needs space to germinate