Help with ideas for 14 year old!!!!

**Sweetest Love** · 06-04-2010 02:38 PM

My 14 year old little brother is coming to stay with me for the summer. I want him to have an enriching summer and so if anyone has any ideas on maybe writing projects or "assignments" that I can give him, or books that may be good for a 14 year old. Any ideas would be greatly appreciated. I want him to have fun, but I want him to stay on track as well... thanks!

**Futureboy** · 06-04-2010 02:56 PM

14 yo boys are only interested in one thing :-) (I am sure I am still 14)

Dont make enriching make it fun. Kids want to grow up so fast let them enjoy their childhood.

When I was a dad I had three kids 13 to 8. I had an old camcorder I got them to make little movies there we funny.

Ask them what they want to do

Go to Maplin and buy some science projects not sure what they learn but it's fun

Build models. I used to love building R/C cars to race bit exensive but now I am an engineer and doing pretty well for myself

**LanaBear** · 06-04-2010 03:09 PM

Make it fun... Spending the summer reading books or having assignments, eek, not fun for a kid. Well, maybe for him, I guess, we don't know him. You don't want him to regret spending the summer with you because it was a drag. Let him enjoy his time there with you.

What is he in to? What interests him?

Fb brought up some good ideas.... Building RC things (my boys and hubby LOVE their RC cars/trucks), models, anything to build really. Take him to a hobby shop and ask him what he wants to do. Push his creativity limits a little because if you get something too easy, well, he'll finish fast and be bored.

**Sweetest Love** · 06-04-2010 03:10 PM

Well my little brother barely passed the 8th grade, and I want to be sure he is ready for 9th grade. I don't want him to get there and feel overwhelmed because he barely passed the 8th grade AND has forgotten 1/2 of what he learned. So I am trying to do somethings that could help him transistion onto the next level more smoothly...

**Sweetest Love** · 06-04-2010 03:16 PM

just to clarify... we won't be spending the entire summer reading books and doing assignments. I have tons of "FUN" things planned. We're going to the water park, we'll be going to the circus, and probably make some visits to the museum of fine arts and the zoo if he wants to go, plus he and my boyfriend always bond over video games, so he will be in heaven just from the video games alone...lol. But as I said previously, I want him to be ready for the 9th grade, I have told him already that we'll be going over some "educational" things while he is here this time (he has spent the last 2 summers with me and all we did was have "fun") and he understands that. I know he likes comic books, so I will be taking him to the bookstore to pick up some comic books to be apart of his reading. Don't get me wrong, I want him to enjoy his summer, but I also want him to succeed in the 9th grade.

**Futureboy** · 06-04-2010 03:24 PM

I suggest you work on confidence skills and believing in yourself, are worth more the all the certificates and letters after my name.

Give him love, support, encouragement and attention the rest is easy. Play with him you need to enjoy the experiance too.

Your anxiety will rub off on him so relax enjoy and it will all work out.

PS Lanabear is rarely wrong!

FBx

I may have letters after my name but I cant spell for toffee

**Sweetest Love** · 06-04-2010 04:04 PM

My little brother and I have a really good relationship. I give him plenty of love, support and encouragement. He KNOWS without a doubt that I believe in him, so that is not an issue. I just want some ideas/options for things we can do that would be fun, but also help him retain the things he has learned in the 8th grade, thats it. He and I talk about what he life all the time and I help him figure things out that he is having problems with in his 14 year old world, but unfortunately I am not at home with him to help w/ homework and such, so I just want to do what I can to help him in every area of his life, including school. And I am not going to lie... I don't want my little brother to be a statistic. He is a young black male, and so often people around him are focusing on the wrong things so I want his summer to be all about him being a kid, having fun AND retaining knowledge...

**LanaBear** · 06-04-2010 04:47 PM

What are his strengths and weaknesses?

One thing that is fun and a learning experience is Geocaching. You need a GPS, but it is so worth it.

Science ideas - task him with building a volcano, bridges out of balsa wood, buy a starter chemistry set.

Math ideas - buy a couple tangram sets (good for geometry), a couple of good/fun books are Entertaining Mathematical Puzzles and 50 Mathematical Puzzles & Problems. (I'm a math nerd!)

English ideas - I don't have any.

Social Studies ideas - Buy a globe or a world map, have him pick a couple of countries that interest him. Have him draw the countries (big, poster board size), map out their resources, points of interests, major cities, capitals, give statistics like population, GDP, democracy, agriculture, sports, lifestyle, language, etc.

Buy him some intro cd's for a foreign language that he wants to learn.

That's all I can think of right now.

**DennyJ** · 06-04-2010 06:14 PM

One thing that might be fun for him and at the same time educational, if he has a hero or some that he really admires, have him look up their life on the internet (with adult supervision, of course) and print out a little report or booklet that he can share with others.

**jns** · 06-04-2010 09:17 PM

Have him take Spanish lessons, with the reward being a trip to Mexico City at the end of summer for the two of you. While in Mexico City, be sure to go to the Museo Nacional de Antropología. Spend a lot of time eating at different restaurants and from street vendors. I found the food much better than any Mexican food I have ever had in the US. I think you and he will need passports.