Kid-Led Summer Learning Projects
What are my kids working on this summer?
My girls (10 and 13) chose last summer to create a cooking show for their first summer learning project. In previous summers, they’d gone to theatre camps and things, but last summer was the first time I took care of them on my own for the whole summer.
For their cooking show, they wrote the scripts, shot the footage, edited everything, and all I did was make some suggestions, drive them around, and do the more dangerous kitchen stuff like the knives and stove. This year, they’re creating a documentary about cathedrals, even though we’re Protestant.
First: What We’re Reading
My 13-year-old is reading the Narnia series, the Percy Jackson series, and she’s started reading the Screwtape Letters. My 10-year-old is reading the Narnia series and the Junie B. Jones series (which she’s read several times before). I have mixed feelings about Junie B. Jones. For older kids, I think they’re fine, but we had to ban them in the house when our girls were in the lower grades, because Junie B. Jones sets a bad example. I’m reading the Dune prequel series, and I’m about to read Don Quixote.
My Experiences with Summer Projects
Project Criteria
I wanted the project to include a little bit of each subject area. So, I insisted that it include some history, reading/writing, science, technology, etc. We pretty quickly figured out that a documentary video of some kind would be a fun way to include multiple subject areas, and it’s something that’s REALLY FUN!
How did we decide on a project topic?
We live in Texas, but starting last summer, we’re now spending our summers in Spain with my wife’s family. She’s from central Spain. We’ve visited her family in Spain many times, but last summer was the first time I’d taken the girls for the whole summer and on my own!
Last summer was quite an adventure, and we’re in Spain again this year too. Spain is famous for its food, art, and rich history dating back to the Roman Empire and even further back to caveman times. Spain also has a long Christian tradition with amazing churches on practically every corner.
Before we left last summer, I asked the girls, what are you looking forward to the most in Spain? The first thing they said was, “The Food.” We have fantastic food in Texas (and even better food in New Orleans, which is not that far from where I grew up), but Spain has a unique food culture based on long Mediterranean traditions.
How did we turn the topic into a project?
To narrow things down, we picked several foods that are special to Spain: olive oil, cheese, Spanish ham (jamon serrano), and smoked paprika. Our plan was to learn how each one of these foods was produced, visit farms and factories, film them, and then bring that back into the kitchen to make a dish.
My wife and I spent a bit of time talking with people and looking for tours. Not everything worked out. Someone close to her family owns a small Spanish ham factory, but due to health regulations we couldn’t tour it. We did find an olive oil factory where we could see the trees and the factory. We found a wonderful cheese factory in my mother-in-law’s hometown that gave us a wonderful tour. We also visited the Spanish Paprika Museum in Jaraiz de la Vera.
How did we bring it together?
It turned out that one documentary was enough for one summer. The tours were certainly worth the time, but making a documentary and cooking show is more work than we thought. In the end, the kids made only one episode of their cooking show, which they called Cooking with Espana. They cooked Gambas al Ajillo (shrimp in garlicky olive oil). It was delicious! And they talked about how olive oil is made using footage from their tour. It turns out, there’s actually quite a bit of physics in how extra virgin olive oil is made. Who knew?
What are we doing this year?
This year, my girls decided to do a documentary about cathedrals. We see a lot of churches whenever we’re here in Spain. My wife was baptized in a church built around 600AD by the Visigoths who were a Germanic tribe that invaded Spain after the fall of the Roman Empire.
Even as preschoolers, my girls have loved walking around cathedrals, looking at the art, seeing the golden treasures, and learning about the history. This year, we’re touring three cathedrals. This summer, we’ve already seen the Mosque Cathedral in Cordoba Spain, which was originally built as a Mosque by the Moors after they invaded Spain, but it’s been a Catholic Cathedral for almost 1,000 years now. We saw the Cathedral in Toledo Spain last week, and this week, we’re seeing the Cathedral in Segovia.
Weekly Free Printable
Jump into summer with this printable to practice reading some summer words with 7 different phonics, reading, and writing activities. 35 pages of activities!
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