My wife taught a summer tutoring program and for these summer jobs, she selected math tutors who were not doing very well themselves. Young children 10 to 12 learned, one-on-one, from 13- and 14-year-olds almost as young as they were. The tutors were paid, by the hour, at a rate according to the number of Saturday workshops they attended—one workshop $4 per hour; two workshops, $5 per hour; all three workshops, $6 an hour. They faced the same panic I did when I first started teaching but I found I learned best when I knew that next week I had to teach.

The program had triple bang for the buck. In addition to their pay, the tutors learned and so did the students they mentored. Tutors continued their training on work days. As their teaching skills improved, their name tags indicated their level—“Quality Tutor, Master Tutor, Expert Tutor.”

Usually 5 to 10 tutors were available on Tuesdays and Thursdays to meet 10 to 20 students. The cost was about $90 for a three-hour morning. Two thousand PTA dollars allowed 30 students to learn math and social skills and practice both for 10 summer weeks.

My wife roamed the room advising the tutor-student pairs, “Mark, He didn’t hear your encouragement, don’t mumble, be sure he hears you. Maryanne, talk slowly, use your hints, don’t be stingy with your praise.”

Who got the most benefit? The tutors I suspect. Many tutors who had been C-students became ‘A’ students the next year. If you have older children, this project can even begin with your own family.

Another excellent summer activity is visiting a college campus with your teen. Even high school freshmen can benefit from a first-hand look at the future and the visit can whet your teen’s appetite for that new challenge. The fall will be too busy. To get enthusiastic about college, your high schooler needs this first-hand experience. Take a couple of afternoons to tour nearby colleges and universities.

If your son or daughter is in the last half of high school, have your budding college student call ahead to the college admissions office to set up a visit with an admissions person and to ask about events coming up that might give both of you a special reason to make an effort to go on a particular date.

Tutoring builds good learning skills and visiting colleges encourages plans to use those skills.

If there is still time in the summer schedule, how about suggesting some specific reading? Blink by Malcom Gladwell explores those subtle cues we all use to evaluate friends, family and potential boyfriends and girlfriends, Shadow Divers by Robert Kurson tells the true story of discovering a German U-Boat. Two favorites are Ship of Gold in the Deep Blue Sea by Gary Kinder about diving for treasure and Into Thin Air by Jon Krakauer about climbing Mt. Everest. All are in hardcover, paperback, CD and on audio cassette. They make much better companions on a summer trip than mindless electronic games.