By Erik Hare
Summer in Minnesota may be intense, but in one respect it’s the same as it is everywhere else: what do you do with the kids?
This is not a simple issue, because most jobs continue just the same as any other time of the year. Fortunately, we have a lot of adventurous and academic programs that are more than just a kind of day care. Kids continue to try new things all year long.
I’ve been fortunate to help out with one recently, writing a grant to the Department of Education. Some of these are funded with public money, regardless of the kind of program they have. The group I was working with was church based, but there are many other places that offer any number of other things
My own kids attend a number of different “camps” sponsored by different people. Most weeks, it’s one of the many offerings of the Saint Paul Parks Department at one of the parks, rec centers, or schools. These range from theatre camp to art camp to zoo camp, among many others. They also spent some time at “Gopher Camp” offered by the University of Minnesota, which teaches archery, art, writing, and an amazing number of other things. The Science Museum of Minnesota (Iggy is pictured above) offers a summer-long series of science-based adventures using all the wonderful resources they have there.
One of our mainstays for people with limited funds is the Salvation Army, which has some incredible programs open to all kids. They sponsor some of the most amazing basketball programs, specializing in both leagues and schools that teach basic skills. Alongside this, there are discussion groups that teach career development and the simple but essential process of thinking and talking out what your life’s goals are. Much of what they do is done in a peer education setting, meaning that the older kids learn how to teach and lead.
The only difficult thing about all the programs is that somehow parents have to hear about the array of options available to them, and with so much to choose from it’s not an easy task. From the University to the Parks Department, from the Science Museum to Churches and the Salvation Army, the choices are amazing. It’s something like school, but fun enough to still qualify as summer. That makes them more than just a place to merely watch the kids, but a place where the kids can learn how fun learning can be.
