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Slashdot Asks: What Will You (Or Your Kids) Learn This Summer?

Posted by timothy on from the shameless-plugs-are-welcome dept.

For those in the northern hemisphere, summer is rapidly approaching, especially for those with kids. Camps, educational programs, and other activities are enrolling now, in advance of the long summer vacation. (Particularly long for Americans!) Aside from conventional sleepaway options for kids, there are science and technology courses, space camps, survival adventures, and more. Whatever your age, and whether on your own or as part of a formal group, do you have any specific learning activities planned for the summer, whether as participant or parent? Are there summer education opportunities you'd like to recommend to others, or ones you'd rate as not worth the price? (Naming details helps, in this context -- which space camp? How much does it cost?)

81 comments

  1. Slashdot articles by El_Muerte_TDS · · Score: 0

    I'm going to learn writing Slashdot articles. How hard can it be.

    1. Re:Slashdot articles by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      I'm going to learn writing Slashdot articles. How hard can it be.

      You're aiming too high. The editors at /. have it much easier than the writers. By the way, does /. have writers?

    2. Re: Slashdot articles by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Yes /. Has writers. Like Bennett hassleton and Jon Katz who has been awol for a while

  2. Not code.org's programs - he's a boy :-( by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

    I'd get my son on a code.org program, but I can't because they pay teachers to exclude boys :-(

    http://developers.slashdot.org/story/13/11/24/187255/codeorg-more-money-for-cs-instructors-who-teach-more-girls

    1. Re:Not code.org's programs - he's a boy :-( by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      fuck code.org

    2. Re:Not code.org's programs - he's a boy :-( by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      fuck code.org

      Indeed, and non-sexists should also boycott their backers.

    3. Re:Not code.org's programs - he's a boy :-( by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

      I'm a kid ( 18 yrs), but I was "taught" by my dad to code by reading "Introduction to Visual Basic 5.0" off of his work-at-home shelf. Don't know about other /.ers out there, but it seems to me to be all about devotion (Do you want to write code?). My dad never forced me to learn.

  3. country by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Interesting

    We live in the city so I'm going to dump our kids at my parents over the summer, country style. The kids will get to roam around freely in fields, forests, lakes, watch the stars in the night and all of it.

    1. Re:country by ShanghaiBill · · Score: 3, Interesting

      We live in the city so I'm going to dump our kids at my parents over the summer, country style.

      Same here. My kids will be staying with their grandparents on my wife's side, who live in Zhejiang, and speak zero English. In addition to tending to the chickens, and learning how to plant rice, I expect that they will considerably improve their Mandarin vocabulary.

    2. Re:country by bbelt16ag · · Score: 1

      so basically they will be in front of what ever panel they can find in the vicinity? I bet they hot rod the car to escape..

      --
      NEVER NEVER NEVER NEVER NEVER NEVER NEVER NEVER GIVE UP! "No limitations, no boundaries, there is no reason for them."
    3. Re:country by tehcyder · · Score: 1

      We live in the city so I'm going to dump our kids at my parents over the summer, country style. The kids will get to roam around freely in fields, forests, lakes, watch the stars in the night and all of it.

      You missed out being forced to wake up at 4am and milk the cows, then getting killed by wolves as they trudge home from their work in the fields in the evening.

      --
      To have a right to do a thing is not at all the same as to be right in doing it
  4. Kite Hyrdofoiling by gurps_npc · · Score: 2

    I have always wanted to learn how to kite surf. I decided to do this this summer. The thing that kicked me over the edge was hearing about how some people have added a hydrofoil to the surf board, so I want to try that.

    --
    excitingthingstodo.blogspot.com
  5. "Especially for those with kids" by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Funny

    > For those in the northern hemisphere, summer is rapidly approaching, especially for those with kids

    Summer is approaching for me, a single guy, at the same rate as it does for my next door neighbors, who do. Why the fuck even make that distinction?

    1. Re:"Especially for those with kids" by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      ... Why the fuck even make that distinction?

      Because time is relative, in particular, when a nagging wife and whining children are the relatives consuming your available time.

  6. Kids? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    I've been coming here nearly daily since I first heard about /. at the Atlanta Linux Expo in the fall of 1998, and I don't know any /. ers with kids. Also, I can't ever remember reading a single post where someone here mentioned having kids. This post is really not meaningful here.

    1. Re:Kids? by dotancohen · · Score: 1

      You've been here since '98 (beat me by a year) and you don't remember goatse? A kid is a goat offspring.

      --
      It is dangerous to be right when the government is wrong.
    2. Re:Kids? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      I started reading about 5 years after you did. I've seen plenty of people mention their kids on Slashdot. It's just relatively rare because talking about our family lives would usually be off-topic.

      My son is 2 months old. He's the reason that I'm up at nearly 4AM posting on Slashdot. Happy? There's a post with a /.er mentioning his kid. I have a wife too, you know. Her name isn't Incontinentia Buttocks, either.

    3. Re: Kids? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Perhaps it would be more prudent to ask whether you know any /.ers full stop?

    4. Re:Kids? by dcw3 · · Score: 1

      Seriously? I've been here longer, and have read multiple comments about peoples children. Sorry, but the whole site isn't all about you, and maybe that gives some insight into why you don't have kids.

      --
      Just another day in Paradise
  7. college... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

    $2500 for two classes this summer... operating systems and global technologies (I'm done with my major and minor all I need is any old crap filler classes to hit my 124 credits... )

    My brother-in-law (13 years old) normally does camps camps camps during the summer... this year the only one I know for sure is band camp, he plays trumpet. Now they live in lansing so they might have more opportunities than some cities. On the other hand, a year or two ago he went to a university camp several states away for a week.

    So my suggestion is contact universities near you and see if they have any summer camps. These tend to be science related as far as I can tell.

  8. This by Etherwalk · · Score: 2

    We live in the city so I'm going to dump our kids at my parents over the summer, country style. The kids will get to roam around freely in fields, forests, lakes, watch the stars in the night and all of it.

    This is absolutely the right thing to do for younger kids. Do that plus take away most internet access and game consoles and make sure they're surrounded by books. They will play and read all summer long without much direction and learn more from it than we can remember not knowing.

    1. Re: This by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      I will never understand the fascination with books. Since I was 15, I have read maybe 3-5 books outside of required school reading and I seem to be more intelligent and more accomplished than most.

      The book readers tend to be the ones going nowhere because they're too busy reading about it, versus people like me who are actually doing things and may end up writing books about our experiences later - to profit off you book readers.

    2. Re:This by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      +10

      This push to get kids into more and more programs is making a generation of...something. I don't know what the result is for burning out kids before they even get to the workforce. The workplace is going to make similar demands since they'll be so large and overburdened looking for H1-Bs, failing projects and eternally trying new ideas that the place will 100% turnover every 6 months. Better keep learning for your next gig. Tech no longer knows what it wants. It's not building anything that sticks. We're all desperate to create another cellphone but the answer might just be that the problem is already solved. All these smartphones are just taking something that works and making it "not work", or "work intermittently", or "work, but for someone else". Take something, bolt IoT onto it, put it in the cloud and you're done. Madness, madness, madness, madness...

      The next big thing for the software industry is...the hardware industry. It's becoming so cheap to make hardware now that any shop can throw a PGA together and get it baked to silicon within a few months. That process is going to get faster until we have desktop chip manufacturing capability. When that happens we'll be iterating hardware faster than software developers can keep up. Your software guys will need to BE your hardware guys - and vice versa. As the iteration gets shorter our devs will have to become jacks of all trades. They'll need to know how to build the silicon, program it, assemble it, haul it to the launch pad, launch it, land on mars, build a colony, feed it, build an empire, form agreements with other intelligent lifeforms, build hyperdrives, go to the center of the galaxy and harness supermassive blackho...

      And then we put the book down (your kid is reading, right?). Jack of all trades, master of none. There's only so much time you can throw into finding better ways to work harder, or more, or get more done with your time. Collectively we're making the world more difficult for our kids than it ever was for ourselves, and we shouldn't expect they'll be able to find the time to go to prom, windsurf, hike up a mountain and paint some butterflies. We're removing the humanity from humans and this is just batshit insane. I knew a guy in Idaho with a couple of kids and his approach was to forbid video games and go fishing, or go hunting, or just go do something outside, in the sun, where LIFE happens.

    3. Re: This by Charcharodon · · Score: 1
      There is a bit of truth to that. Some people never move much past just reading. The books are supposed to inform or inspire. But then again you need a garage full of junk & tools or a bike and free range to put that information and inspiration to good use.

      Lot's of parent won't let their kid near a saw, supervised or not, nor allow them to ride more than 2 minutes way from the house, so they never make it out of the book.

    4. Re: This by tehcyder · · Score: 1

      . Since I was 15, I have read maybe 3-5 books outside of required school reading and I seem to be more intelligent and more accomplished than most.

      Hint: you're not.

      --
      To have a right to do a thing is not at all the same as to be right in doing it
    5. Re: This by tehcyder · · Score: 1

      There are many problems confronting Western civilization. That too many children are reading books is not one of them.

      --
      To have a right to do a thing is not at all the same as to be right in doing it
    6. Re: This by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Let me cite just one example where reading books written over a thousand years ago has value:

      In antiquity, early democracies learned to deal with problems such as corruption and the drafting of poor legislation in response to large, emotional events. They also learned ways that worked in dealing with them and ways that did not.

      Because we don't apply those bits of ancient knowledge today, we constantly struggle with these same issues. Because the general public does not understand these issues and why some solutions fail (already documented) and why some succeed (already documented as well), we continue to suffer from the effects of poorly written laws and corruption.

      In short, people in antiquity weren't idiots. They had some of the same problems and had great (and bad) ideas about fixing them, tried them out, then had the decency to write some commentaries on why they worked and where they worked and where they didn't work and why. We get those answer for free if we read.

      If we just attempt to 'do', we just end up going through the same process of mistake making they did.

      It's basically incredibly inefficient. And we might not ever think of the bright ideas they came up with which could save us time and expense.

      THIS is why reading matters. Because the sum total of human achievement isn't just being intelligent, but it is being wise. And wisdom is the acquisition of much knowledge so that it is ready to hand to deal with new situations.

      If you are not well read, you may be intelligent enough to figure out some brilliant answers to some problems (likely not all, nobody has all the answers) but you are missing out on the time and labour savings that come from knowing what those who have gone before have done. You have the intelligence and some wisdom, but not as much as someone who is widely read from people who themselves included a wide range of perspective and experience in their writings. You just can't possibly have that breadth of wisdom based only on your own more limited experience.

      Knowledge which tends to reside in written works is a force multiplier to intelligence. Intelligence is not a substitute for it except on the very small scale.

  9. I don't know, duh by wonkey_monkey · · Score: 3, Insightful

    What Will You (Or Your Kids) Learn This Summer?

    If I knew that already, I wouldn't be learning it this summer.

    --
    systemd is Roko's Basilisk.
  10. open european go tournament by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

    Two weeks of go-games, workshops, teaching games and more for my son and me ;-)

  11. Kids Today! by Etherwalk · · Score: 1

    I will never understand the fascination with books. Since I was 15, I have read maybe 3-5 books outside of required school reading and I seem to be more intelligent and more accomplished than most.

    The book readers tend to be the ones going nowhere because they're too busy reading about it, versus people like me who are actually doing things and may end up writing books about our experiences later - to profit off you book readers.

    15 is a little older (but not too old) as compared to the age range I'm thinking about. Books let kids build vocabulary, think about things much more complex than they see in movies, and use their creativity to subconsciously add hundreds of details not on the page. It helps them learn to think without everything being spoon-fed to them.

    Experiences "actually doing things," as you put it, is also incredibly important. I would go a step further and say that it's important that kids who grow up in one school or community get *out* of the community and maybe off their island for large chunks of the summer.

  12. This summer by Minupla · · Score: 2

    Winter was freestyle skiing - she just finished that this week. Summer will be French camp, a museum camp, and Defcon/r00tz this year.

    Min

    --
    On the whole, I find that I prefer Slashdot posts to twitter ones because I don't get limited to 140 chars before
    1. Re:This summer by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      the pretense is thick

  13. If i had kids by tomxor · · Score: 1

    They would be going outside, having fun or doing whatever they like... because they are kids and summer should be theirs.

    1. Re:If i had kids by tlhIngan · · Score: 1

      They would be going outside, having fun or doing whatever they like... because they are kids and summer should be theirs

      Doesn't mean you shouldn't avail yourself to non-traditional learning opportunities. Yes, outside is extremely important, but just as you exercise their muscles, so should you exercise their minds.

      Basically they can go outside to play, and learn at the same time - creativity (have them try to create a game while they play), sports (if they desire), engineering (try building a treehouse), and so on. Even basic skills like socializing, cooperation and sharing can be taught, learned and experienced. Hell, I'm sure you saw all the YouTube videos of "what happens if we do this...?" - that's a form of learning. You might want to supervise some of the more risky ones (like doing a vertical loop), or if the structural integrity is lacking, but experimentation is learning.

      Basically you don't want them to basically veg out in front of the TV the entire summer - whether it be watching TV or movies or Netflix, or playing video games 24/7.

      "Learning" is not an evil word. It doesn't have to be formalized into mere instruction. Learning can take place anywhere and anytime. Take your kids to the mall, it's a perfect place to learn basic arithmetic (how much is the stuff they want cost? How much is sales tax? How can you tell if you have enough money by estimating the total cost ans sales tax?) without it being a dull math lesson. A vacation to Europe can be turned into a fascinating history lesson.

      Heck, learning can be skills based too - taking up cooking, welding, metalworking, woodworking, etc.

      Hell, even building something with an Arduino, or playing around with a Raspberry Pi counts.

      It's so easy to learn, and there are plenty of activities (even simple "playing outside") where learning can happen. As a parent, all you need to do is encourage it. And also balance - it's completely normal to veg out and play video games as well - but only to end a day of exercising the body and the mind. And the lesson for that is balance - mindless entertainment is fine in balance with the many educational opportunities.

    2. Re:If i had kids by tomxor · · Score: 1

      It's so easy to learn, and there are plenty of activities (even simple "playing outside") where learning can happen. As a parent, all you need to do is encourage it. And also balance - it's completely normal to veg out and play video games as well - but only to end a day of exercising the body and the mind.

      My point is not that learning is bad, it's that excessive and forceful directed learning is bad. Summer should not be the time you use to try and force more learning on your child, it should be the time when you let them learn the most important type of learning in life... self learning. Play is just that, the beginning of self learning.

      Not to mention it's important for kids to actually have fun... Sure every kid is different and learn in different ways, however it's implicitly true that every kid will be happier and the learning will be more natural if it's through their own inquisitive nature and not because some horrible strict parent says you must be good at school or your'e in trouble.

      Kids need time to be kids, and when they want help understanding something or are interested in something, that's what you are there for. Of course the same goes for not letting them veg out on modern technology, letting them have fun doesn't mean be a shitty parent at the other end of the spectrum.

    3. Re:If i had kids by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Kids also grow up to have to operate in the adult world and preparing them for success there sometimes goes against their desire for all fun all the time.

      There's a balance and it always hard to assess. The kids who end up very successful find a passion and follow it at least partly willingly, but humans are by their nature somewhat lazy (or some of us are) so sometimes encouragement is required.

  14. Swimming by Mr.+Sketch · · Score: 2

    My son is 18 months and will be in a Swim-Float-Swim class where they teach them basic survival swimming.

    Of course he'll also be learning talking, walking/running, playground, etc and all those other things kids learn between 18 and 24 months.

    --
    Things you think are in the Constitution, but are not.
  15. School is Year Round and Life Long by pubwvj · · Score: 3, Interesting

    School is never out. We homeschool. We're always learning. It's not classroom sit down book learning much of the time but real world things to a large degree. Projects are multi-discipline.

    The latest project our family is almost finished with:
    Building a USDA / State inspected modern meat processing facility (a.k.a. butcher shop)

    History, government, regulations, economics, business, math, engineering, material sciences, architecture, construction, plumbing, electrical, water supply systems, heating, ventilation, refrigeration, meat cutting and so much more...

    1. Re:School is Year Round and Life Long by PolygamousRanchKid+ · · Score: 1

      Building a USDA / State inspected modern meat processing facility (a.k.a. butcher shop)

      History, government, regulations, economics, business, math, engineering, material sciences, architecture, construction, plumbing, electrical, water supply systems, heating, ventilation, refrigeration, meat cutting and so much more...

      Leatherface, chainsaw . . . ?

      --
      Schroedinger's Brexit: The UK is both in and out of the EU at the same time!
    2. Re:School is Year Round and Life Long by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      So you're using child labor to build a meat processing factory. AND acting all high and mighty about it

      *slow clap*

    3. Re:School is Year Round and Life Long by bill_mcgonigle · · Score: 1

      Nice. I have a deal with my kids that if they can learn the next grade's materials over the summer (with as much support as they need but relying on their own dedication) then they can homeschool next year. They're specifically interested in the homesteading kinds of opportunities they can't get at a government school or at home when government school dominates 9-10 hours of their day (for 2-3 hours of learning).

      --
      My God, it's Full of Source!
      OUTSIDE_IP=$(dig +short my.ip @outsideip.net)
    4. Re:School is Year Round and Life Long by serviscope_minor · · Score: 1

      they can't get at a government school or at home when government school dominates 9-10 hours of their day (for 2-3 hours of learning).

      If they're getting 2 to 3 hours of actual learning at that school per day, keep sending them there because it's the best school in the conutry by about 3 orders of magnitude.

      --
      SJW n. One who posts facts.
    5. Re:School is Year Round and Life Long by pubwvj · · Score: 1

      You miss the point. Our family owns, builds, operates and creates it. Same as we did for our house which we also built ourselves, our greenhouse that we also built for ourselves. While you wasted your time in school doing fake things we do real applications and get real benefits. It's a real world out there, kiddo.

    6. Re:School is Year Round and Life Long by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      The way that was worded, the gp could have meant 2-3 hours of learning over the lifetime of their education there.

    7. Re:School is Year Round and Life Long by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      I concede that big-box education is not well targeted and that homeschooling can allow children to follow their muse.

      On the other hand, sometimes being required to do certain less fun things is useful in teaching some lessons about life and some skills that, not immediately apparent in utility, end up being very useful.

      And by the way, I did a lot of non-fake things at school and learned a fair number of things that I likely wouldn't have at home. It takes a very good set of parents with some good teaching skills to match some of the teachers I had in school. I know mine wouldn't have managed the high school math curriculum.

      Mine is already using live steel in the kitchen and learning chef skills. She does jazz and hip-hop dancing, soccer, t-ball, and we're looking at a martial art. She does swimming. She's learning to knit and do papercrafts. We're introducing her to programming by way of boardgames. We're working on solar system studies - I'm lucky to have friends that work on MESSENGER and that worked on HUBBLE and NEAR (and I think Horizon is the next one). She's also allowed some time to have fun. In the long run, I expect to see shooting, archery, wilderness survival, first aid, geography, geology, more math, coding and robotics, and other things on her slate. She's also working on being bilingual (French/English) and I hope I convince her to take a third language a few years more into school (Spanish or a European language). I'm thinking soldering and electric circuits, power tools, and woodworking may also be on the slate.

      I'd love to let her build a butcher shop or farm. We don't have the resources for that at present. I'd also like to see sailing and fishing on her slate but I have to be able to afford a boat (aka hole into the water into which you shovel money).

  16. OpenSCAD by Nona+Slashdottir · · Score: 1

    Right now two of my kids (10 and 8 years old) are having fun this Easter Holiday learning programming in OpenSCAD (a CSG 3D CAD modelling language). Yes, even a girly girl can have lots of fun with this, designing a lamp, a cool name plate, and a funny 3D cartoon face (all with carefully chosen colors of course) - on the first day. And hardly notice how much they're learning along the way. OpenSCAD is not a toy at all but a great visual way to get started with some basic programming language concepts.

  17. Google? by robiso22 · · Score: 2

    My wife started taking my kids so a museum or a landmark every friday ("field trip Friday"). She just googled museums, planetariums, farms, anything that would be interesting to a 5 year old audience and gone. I like the results. It gets the kids thinking about other things and we avoid the pit of TV.

  18. Mandarin by Vinegar+Joe · · Score: 1

    My daughter will be spending the Summer in Taipei studying Mandarin.

    --
    "The average reporter we talk to is 27 years old......They literally know nothing." - Ben Rhodes
    1. Re:Mandarin by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Awesome.

      We live in a very multicultural town, so I'm hoping to learn some Arabic or Burmese (I'm already decent at Spanish, and Burmese and Arabic are the third and fourth most-represented languages in our town).

      That being said, I'll probably waste me free time with video games, instead of following through with my plans.

  19. Learn To Fly by Greyfox · · Score: 1

    6 minutes twice a week in an indoor skydiving facility for 6 weeks. It'll cost neighborhood of $1000, but that's still significantly less than a similar number of skydives. If you focus on flying on your belly, you'd be a pretty decent belly flyer at the end of that time. 'Course you might also have a new life-long habit as a wind tunnel rat.

    --

    I'm trying to teach myself to set people on fire with my mind... Is it hot in here?

    1. Re:Learn To Fly by tehcyder · · Score: 1

      Falling out of a plane isn't flying any more than falling off a cliff is.

      --
      To have a right to do a thing is not at all the same as to be right in doing it
    2. Re:Learn To Fly by Greyfox · · Score: 1

      They're both still REALLY fun. More so if you have a parachute on.

      --

      I'm trying to teach myself to set people on fire with my mind... Is it hot in here?

  20. Space Camp sucks by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    I went to NASA space camp like 25 years ago. It was a complete boondoggle.
    The most educational thing we did was build a $10 model rocket (that I'd already done myriad times before).

  21. We'll be living Phineas and Ferb by turp182 · · Score: 1

    Actually we'll go camping a lot, the kids are only five.

    --
    BlameBillCosby.com
  22. a message from the NSA by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    I know what you did last summer

    1. Re: a message from the NSA by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      A message from the One Percenters: we know what you'll be doing next summer, and the next one, and all the summers from now on. Nothing. You will be doing nothing at all because you simply won't be there anymore.

  23. Geography.... by Lumpy · · Score: 1

    I will learn what the roads look like and feel like as well as what the coastline of every Great Lake will look like from my motorcycle. I'm going to ride around every single one of them.

    Next year I get to learn what it feels like to ride from Chicago to Anchorage, Alaska and back. And I assume how to dodge bears and elk.

    --
    Do not look at laser with remaining good eye.
    1. Re:Geography.... by Skidborg · · Score: 1

      I recommend learning to dodge the moose as well.

      --
      Supporter of the +1 Over Dramatic mod option. In memory of apk.
    2. Re:Geography.... by Lumpy · · Score: 1

      I was told that moose were soft and cuddly....

      I knew I should not have trusted that guy in the red jacket and big hat.

      --
      Do not look at laser with remaining good eye.
  24. Man stuff by Charcharodon · · Score: 1
    Don't have kids, but the nephew is coming out for a chunk of the Summer. Last year list included:
    home repairs
    truck oil change/chassis lube/tire rotation rope climbing courses
    hot lunch meat w/melted, cheese sandwiches & scrambled eggs(how to make)
    how to do a fresh OS software install
    BF3
    a day at Busch Garden doing a little height de-sensitivity training on all the roller coasters
    shark fishing from a kayak.

    This summer will be:
    BF4
    SCUBA diving
    how to drive a stick shift truck(private roads for the win)
    vehicle corrosion prevention, (pull all the plastic off and clean up any rust we find underneath)
    how to apply do a plasti-dip and paint job
    some bolt on off road vehicle upgrades
    some electrical vehicle upgrades
    more home maintenance
    Busch Gardens again
    how to operate and field strip various firearms, he already knows how, but he needs speed and some problem solving skills
    how to grill
    hit all the basic kitchen tricks such as Mac-N-Cheese/Ramon so he can feed himself
    more ocean kayak fishing
    If he is really lucky and I can get his mom on board and we can squeeze it in, maybe this year we'll include how to ride a motorcycle or a flying lesson

    1. Re:Man stuff by Charcharodon · · Score: 1

      I say "Man Stuff" but when his little sister hits 11 next year she'll be coming out for pretty much all the same. Though we'll have to add in getting the hair and toes done (the girlfriend can handle that business) in addition to the shark fishing (something the girlfriend also will be handling).

    2. Re: Man stuff by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      I love it .... my gf can handle that stuff. Classic

    3. Re: Man stuff by Charcharodon · · Score: 1

      Girls like to do girl things, but mine also likes a lot of the things I do as well. I've spent more on her for fishing, SCUBA, and trips to the gun range than spa days, dinner, and jewelry. She does demand flowers, so I murder a bunch for her every week.

    4. Re:Man stuff by turp182 · · Score: 1

      This sounds quiet dangerous:

      truck oil change/chassis lube/tire rotation rope climbing courses

      But also quite exciting.

      --
      BlameBillCosby.com
  25. Answer: Hatred For Gov. Jerry E. Brown by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    We don't even live in California.

    Yet the evolving news of Gov. Brown's role in the ongoing water crisis in California gives me and my children a wish to see Gov. Jerry E. Brown, dead.

    No ha

  26. code.org by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    code.org++

  27. Bicycle repair and maintenance by blind+biker · · Score: 1

    This, I think, is one of the best ways to form a bond between me and my son: I teach him how to take care of bicycles, how to use tools and how some minor issues are fixed. This also increases his hand dexterity and other skills. We're both having fun doing this, and then riding our bikes.

    --
    "The agriculture ministry is not in charge of Gundam" - Japanese ministry official.
  28. Life skills by hambone142 · · Score: 1

    First, we'll start out by going camping in the coastal redwoods. He'll be the camp fire starter as he usually is. Making smores is important :-)

    Next, he'll work on improving his cooking. Let's face it. If one wants to eat, it's important to be able to prepare meals. Nothing like Costco crap in a box or mac and cheese. Our meals are from scratch and they have been since he was born (I made his baby food... not a "helpless male" here). Cooking (like playing music, etc.) tends to bring people together and it's just a good skill to have.

    Later, we'll work on our stand up paddle boarding and snorkeling in Maui.

    Some every day home maintenance stuff. Car and boat oil changes, fixing sprinklers, wood working among other stuff.

    All done without electronic crap.

    I will add that I'm a hardware E.E. by trade but balance is important.

    Yes, he'll spend time playing PC games and we'll likely mess around with the RasPi hardware/software and home brew projects.

    When I was brought up by my parents/grandparents, I was lucky enough to have them take me under their wings and show me a whole lot of unrelated skills (burping, telling jokes, farting were included which made for good "show and tells" at school). My dad made me my first boat (in our garage) at age 8. My grandfather taught me how to take care of a boat in dry dock and how to pilot it to Catalina when I was about 10. This is the perspective I teach my son.

    Life skills are important to have.

  29. I will learn everything there is to know by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    I haved hacked all of the codes. I am holding all of the keys. I am unlocking all the locks one by one in isolation and calculating the odds. Metahackathon.

  30. summer camp and homeschool by Augmento · · Score: 1

    kids want to do basketball camps so they will but I also ordered the next grade up of a state approved home school curriculum. I don't expect them to finish over the summer but it will definitely keep them learning and prepare them for the Fall.

  31. nothing by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Summer is less than three months long, at best. Work doesn't stop just because it's summer. I don't get more time in some magic way just because it's summer. So... nothing.

  32. Camping, soldering, "The Hatch" by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Camping: For the last few years I've taken my kids "cabin camping" twice a year, and historically I've done my share of "car camping", but somehow I got signed up for tent camping in the snow this coming weekend.

    Soldering: I got my ten year old hist first soldering iron, a small tool set, and a couple simple electronic kits. The first one was a bit of a bust that we still need to debug (and we missed show and tell while they were covering electronics in school), but he'll get better.

    "The Hatch": Watertown Public Library in Massachusetts opened a maker space in the Arsenal Mall. Electronics, 3d printing, sewing, woodworking, soldering, screen printing and more! Mostly drop-in and free except cost of materials for activities where you use something up or take your project with you.

  33. Farming-ish by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    We live in an Urban area, but joined a CSA (Community Supported Agriculture) that includes pick-your-own fields and for the kids to learn what it takes to grow stuff. My kids are probably too young to deal with raising "bacon", so we'll stick with the vegetable side of things.

  34. a new language! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    I'm going to Korea for two months during my three month summer vacation. First month I'll be getting my shit together, studying korean, and exercising. Then I'll be in Korea doing the whole immersion thing, seeing the sights, studying more, and having fun. Then I'm signed up for a 5 week intensive language course at a university where I'll be living on campus studying the whole time. At the end of it all, I'll be taking a language proficiency exam so I can document my abilities and put that on my resume.

    I'm sure I'd be better off if I did some research or an internship to better my job prospects in the future, but this has been my dream for so many years. I would rather quit school and say screw my career than miss out on this opportunity.

  35. Summer by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    It's fucking snowing right right now, try again later dude.

  36. something in the natural world by peter303 · · Score: 1

    Must take a vacation from screens now and then.

  37. Pretty standard, really by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Luge lessons in the morning, maybe meat-helmets in the afternoon. For my son, a Zoroastrian monk will shave his testes.

    A shorn scrotum is quite breathtaking.

    Look at what I have invented: is this a question?

  38. RailCamp by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Don't know the schedule, but there are a number of these now for young railfans. NRHS had one in Scranton, PA and Nevada, now has these: "RailCamp East (Wilmington, Del.): July 5 - 11, 2015 RailCamp Northwest (Tacoma, Wash.): August 2 - August 9, 2015", see http://www.nrhs.com/program/railcamp . There are others sponsored by local organizations scattered across the US, just Google "railcamp", etc.