Enrichmentmaxxing and Other Summertime Myths
Feel like you have to do the absolute most this summer? This month we explore why slowing down and finding what works for you and your learner may be even more useful than a jampacked schedule.
Hello Gifted Guides!
We’re so glad you’re here.
How are you doing?
For many of our readers across the United States, Summer Break has started or is right around the corner.
What are you up to this summer? What is your learner up to?
It is not uncommon for Summer Break to be seen as a time for “enrichmentmaxxing” -- a time to literally max out on enrichment by participating in the maximum number of enrichment activities your learner possibly can, within the finite time of Summer Break.
The impulse to do all the things possible during Summer Break makes sense. This is especially true when many gifted and twice-exceptional (2e) learners may be eager to explore passion projects or special interests that they cannot always devote as much time as they’d like to during the school year.
Additionally, it’s important to acknowledge that parents and caregivers are often still working during the summer, even when school is not in session.
Students may also be looking to do multiple summer programs as they build their extracurricular profile for future school applications.
These factors, and many others, all lead to many of us finding ourselves overscheduled over the summer. But what is the alternative?
Learners should be able to explore new interests and projects that they can’t always work on during the school year. The opportunity for learners to meet new peers and friends through interest-based activities can be really wonderful and rewarding.
With school out of session, having a safe, engaging place for learners to go while parents or caregivers are at work is essential.
All these factors lead to the patchwork schedule of camps, workshops, playdates, classes, and family vacations that keep many families running from activity to activity all summer long.
This can work for some, and it can be overwhelming to others. In particular, it can create a lot of anxiety and stress, especially if you or your learner(s) find transitions to be challenging. A lot of time is given to discussing and planning for the back-to-school transition, but not as much is given to the start of summer transition.
In this issue of Guiding Gifted, we’ll explore alternatives to enrichmentmaxxing, and we’ll help you think through ways to make summer transitions a little smoother for you and your learner. (Summer transitions can be multifaceted and complicated, so this issue won’t be the last you’re hearing about them!)
Enrichment or Rest? Why Not Both?
“What are you doing this summer?” is a question many of us have asked and answered countless times. There is often a lot of implicit pressure to make summer fun and memorable. Many parents lament that they only have a set number of summers before their child goes off to college. That makes it seem like summer is a limited resource that we have to capture while we can.
In some ways, that’s true.
In other ways, it couldn’t be further from the truth. Summer is not a finite resource. It is simply a season.
Summer camps are finite experiences with specific start and end dates. Summer camps also have specific packing lists and limited capacity. Summer classes, workshops, and boot camps have similar limitations. The summer vacations that your family may enjoy are limited by start and end dates, banked PTO hours, flight times, hours you can stand to be in a car with your whole family, the operating hours of the attractions you’ll be visiting, the number of camping supplies you have room to pack, etc.
These specific experiences have parameters, details, and requirements that you need to be cognizant of when you plan to fit them into your summer schedule. However, these are limitations on the experience or activity—not limitations on you and your learner.
What do we mean by that?
Signing your learner up for a 3 week summer camp, followed by a family wedding, followed by a coding bootcamp, followed by diving into your local library’s reading challenge, followed by a 3 day family reunion at the lake, followed by the crunch of back-to-school planning and preparation, followed by remembering your promised your youngest you’d camp in the back yard and make smores, just to realize it’s now August and too hot to sleep outside, can leave you and your learner(s) feeling overscheduled and burnt out.
Did you even get a chance to rest and regroup this summer? Who can tell? Your summer flew by in the blink of an eye (rhyme unintended), and it hasn’t even started yet. Still, flipping through your calendar for the next few months has already left you anticipating overtired and cranky kids arguing about screen time, snacks, and summer bedtimes.
Some of the activities in the fever dream of an example above can’t be rearranged or reconfigured. A wedding or family reunion are not events that can be duplicated. However, the rest of the activities in that example have some flexibility.
Too hot where you live to sleep outside in August? Maybe you do your backyard campout earlier in the summer or in the early fall.
Does it feel like too much to go straight from summer camp to coding bootcamp? Maybe your learner can do a different coding class or workshop. Whether at a different time in the summer or during the school year, that coding bootcamp isn’t your learner’s only opportunity to work on their coding skills.
Did your learner have their heart set on a specific summer camp, but the registration date has passed, or it’s out of budget, or it just isn’t logistically feasible with everything else going on for your family? That’s ok!
What aspects of summer camp are they most looking forward to? Can you find those aspects in different settings?
For example, if your learner was eager to go to this camp because there was an academic component they were looking forward to, can you find a class or day camp that covers similar info? Can you and your learner set up a “Listen, Watch, Read” list, so they can explore this academic component throughout the summer, at a pace that works for your learner and your family?
Check with your local library. They may have ideas for alternatives to help keep your learner engaged and curious over the summer. Your local librarian can likely help you make a Listen, Watch, Read List (where you list resources to listen to, watch, and read about a specific topic).
If you’re feeling especially ambitious, your family might consider making several Listen, Watch, Read (LWR) Lists about topics you’re all interested in, and then, if summer doldrums start to sneak in, you can pull a random LWR list to explore—a type of LWR Roulette if you will.
This is just one way to dive into different topics or passion projects, even if a dream summer camp or class isn’t feasible this summer.
Check out our Online Comparison Charts (linked below) to help you find enrichment classes that might fit into your schedule.
Online Music, Theater, Visual Arts and Creative Writing Comparison
Social Engagement, General Enrichment, and Executive Function Support Program Comparison
Shouldn’t I Push to Make Things Happen Though?
Maybe you’re reading this and thinking that your jampacked summer schedule is worth it, and you don’t want to change it. Great. You know your learner best. You know what works for your family.
We are offering suggestions and perspectives based on our work with gifted and 2e families. However, as we have said time and time again: If you’ve met one gifted or 2e learner, you’ve met one gifted or 2e learner. What works for one will not work for all, and that’s ok.
We just want to make sure your summer is serving you and your learner by supporting what you all need to feel your best: engaged, rested, nourished.
If a busy summer, or a busy bit of a summer, helps you and your learner to feel energized, engaged, nourished, and fulfilled, we hope you have the very best time!
If a busy summer, or a busy bit of summer, are going to leave you or your learner feeling drained, dysregulated, overwhelmed, and stressed, please consider if there are other ways to approach the activities you’re interested in. There probably are. If you can find activities that better fit your routines, rhythms, preferences, and/or needs, feel empowered to do that, even if it’s not exactly what you had originally imagined for the summer.
Most folks will fit somewhere in between—needing a balance between the busy and the more lowkey summer schedules. Use the suggestions in this issue of Guiding Gifted to strike the balance that is right for your family. Don’t be afraid to adjust as you go. What seems like a good plan in May may not fit your needs in July. Don’t let your schedule keep you from making the changes that will better fit your needs.
Slow Summers Can be Just as Epic – We Promise!
While being the busiest is often glorified and encouraged because it means you’re “doing” and “accomplishing” and “experiencing,” taking opportunities to slow down, modify, reschedule, and adjust can be just as meaningful.
If a student takes an 8-week class, instead of the 4-week immersion class, they are still learning. The student will just reach the end point at a different time. However, when a student is in a class that better fits their learning needs, they're more likely to be engaged. So, in some cases, for some learners, a difference between an 8-week class and a 4-week intensive class can be huge. For others, they may be content in either class. This is why it’s important to take into consideration human needs in addition to logistical needs.
And if you’ve thinking your learner wouldn’t do well in any structured activities this summer, that’s ok too. Summer doesn’t have to have a goal. It is ok to take a break and rest and relax. It is ok to hang out at the library or the community pool or with neighborhood friends, with nary a registration date in sight.
Advocacy work is hard. Being a kid is hard. Being an adult is hard. No matter what you decide to do this summer, if you pay attention to the needs and rhythms of your learner, yourself, and your family, you’ll be better positioned to find the summer fun that works for you!
Conclusion
You made it to the end of the school year! Congratulations! We see how hard you’re working, and it’s an honor to be in community with you as we all work to support the gifted and 2e learners in our lives.
In June we’ll talk more about summer transitions—including travel and the often-overlooked school-to-summer-and-back-to-school transition. Then, in July and August, we’ll start looking at how what you’ve been doing over the summer can help inform your advocacy in the fall.
In the meantime, we hope you are taking some time to celebrate all you’ve done this school year and to look forward to all the summer fun ahead!
Remember, through the ups and downs of your advocacy work, you’re never alone. The Guiding Gifted and Davidson community are here to support you. That isn’t changing!
What’s New at the Davidson Institute?
Apply to Young Scholars! 2025 Application Open Now!
If you’re interested in joining the Young Scholars program, you can learn more and start your application today! Get started by visiting our How to Apply page!
Testing Opportunities – JOIN THE FALL WAITLIST
Through our partnership with Northwestern University’s Center for Talent Development, throughout the year, we are able to offer low cost, remote testing for students in grades 3-10.
This testing can be used to apply to the Davidson Institute’s Young Scholars program, along with the Davidson Academy, Reno and Davidson Academy Online.
Spring test dates are full and closed to registration, but to be the first to learn about Fall test dates, join the Fall 2025 waitlist. Fall test dates will be announced later this summer. Be sure to join the waitlist so you can be the first to know when new dates are available!
To learn more and join the Fall 2025 waitlist, check out our Eligibility Assessment page today!
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We’ll see you next month. Stay well, Gifted Guides!