Here are summer hints for kids
Dear Heloise: School is out, and many of the kiddos will be spending time at grandma’s house. Here are 1 0 suggestions that grandparents can do to keep themselves and the kids entertained while still learning.
1. Do jigsaw puzzles. Maybe try buying one of the United States map so that children can learn the states and their capitals. I taught sixth grade social studies one year, and the students were told to write in the state names on a blank map. Few could do it. One student wrote Canada for California, and another wrote South Amer- ica for Florida. (Hints: Ver- mont is shaped like a “v,” New Hampshire is shaped like a backward lowercase “h,” and Rhode Island is the smallest.)
2. Get a globe so kids can learn the countries of the world.
3. Learn to name the U.S. presidents in order.
4. Visit caves. There are lots of them around San Antonio.
5. Teach them cursive. Writing books can be pur- chased. On the first day of second grade, my grand- son wrote his name in cur- sive. His teacher made him erase it and print it.
6. Make a growth chart. Buy a 6-foot length of shelving and attach it to the wall a foot above the floor. Make a column for each child and measure the grandkids when they come to visit.
7. Practice basic math skills. Every child should know multiplication when they enter middle school.
8. Learn how to follow directions and work with fractions while making cookies.
9. Teach them to never start a sentence with the word “me,” as in “me and my friend ...”
10. Take photos all sum- mer and, at the end of the summer, let each child make a photo cube. Two-piece plastic cubes can be pur- chased at craft stores. Or you can create a summer scrapbook. — Doreene Barrett, San Antonio
Report bad business practices
Dear Heloise: Sorry for taking so long to write, but a reader — Peggy W., from Lima, Ohio — wrote in about unscrupulous auto repair places.
If anyone finds bad prac- tices at a business like Peggy did, it’s a good idea to let their state’s Department of Consumer Affairs know about it.
Here in California, we have the Bureau of Auto- motive Repair that han- dles the regulation of such repair places. They would very much want to know if a business is basically cheating customers. Prac- tices like that can get a busi- ness fined or shut down. Report it! Thank you. — Jan- ice French, Bakersfield, California
Send a money-saving or time- saving hint to Heloise, P.O.
Box 795001, San Antonio, TX 78279-5001, or you can fax it to 1-210-HELOISE or email it to Heloise@Heloise.com. I can’t answer your letter personally, but will use the best hints received in my column.