Have Gifted 13 Year Old Daughter Who Becomes Vegetable Over Summer

[CoffeeBreath]

I have no disposable income but need to keep gifted daughter mentally and physically stimulated over the summer.  She refuses to read over the summer (it's one of her personal rules) but does like to do artwork drawings.  She's an only child, making it even easier for her to vegetate.  I would bet that someone has some good ideas to avoid summer lethargy (??)

[drfink]

Volunteer.

I have a rule at my house ...attend camp or volunteer or work not full time but enough.Depending on her age our city has Children's Museum that has summer teen docents ,my church has a full time summer program...it is not religion heavy but crafts ,sports etc.They LOVE teen volunteers.My oldest volunteered at our library 2 mornings a week ,it expanded because he was treated so well and with such respect he stayed to eat lunch with them.

Volunteering is great...they learn to give of themselves ,the organization they volunteer for usually returns much appreciation...win-win. 

[sabrtooth1]

HER personal rules? Who's running the asylum? Assign books and have her write reports. In addition, have her take babysitting. and basic lifesaving classes, and get to work. At 13, mine were sitting all day in the summer.

[dandylynes]

Join a FIRST Robotics team, many of them are having rookie build seasons over the summer.

My daughter joined, it was totally out of comfort zone, now she loves it and it has opened up so many opportunities for her.

[bellasmom32510]

My 13 year old SD volunteers at the local public library. This will be her second summer and she loved it last year.

[GleekingOut]

Can't help you - My DD doesn't do anything either. It's gotten to the point (she's unemployed right now) that I've told her that she's got 60 days to get a job or she has to leave. All the houses she's looked at requires a full time job, so i've been a bit more leniant on her.

[fantasticfour]

 She can do plenty of things, but I would encourage her to hang out with friends, have sleep overs, etc.  It's summer vacation, gifted or not, she should be doing something relaxing and something she enjoys.  Otherwise she will burn out.

[lakerfan420]

I agree with this. I still encourage reading and we go to the library quite a bit, but lots of fun and time with friends is encouraged over the summer as well. Multiple sleepovers, biking to grams to go swimming, mini vacays to amusement parks, hitting the trails as a family, boating on the many lakes out here and some random lazy days are normal for summertime. The kids usually pick a camp or two to go to, but they're generally in the sports they already play and for only a few hours a day over the given week they attend. I'm so ready for the fun to begin, I think I look forward to summer as much as they do!

Quoting fantasticfour:

 She can do plenty of things, but I would encourage her to hang out with friends, have sleep overs, etc.  It's summer vacation, gifted or not, she should be doing something relaxing and something she enjoys.  Otherwise she will burn out.

[leighp1]

I think she works all school year and the summer is a time to relax.  My daughter is "gifted" too, but I do not want her to burn out on "learning".  Every day is a learning experience, you just have to find what she would enjoy doing. You can encourage her to do other things such as volunteering. Do you have an art museum around you?  What about a library that does art classes?  She could volunteer doing something SHE likes.  I believe if you force her to do things, she will stop enjoying it. 

She deserves a little time off too.  Our public schools require them to read a book or two over the summer so they don't always get the entire summer to themselves.  hard to believe they have homework over the summer.

[PurpleHazey]

Teens need breaks, if she is ding so well then why are you pushing her harder....she is doing good on her own and it looks like she is doing a great job at it!

 

[wickedstepjenn]

How is reading going to burn someone out? I and my kids read all year.maybe find fun books?