Summertime Loss

I'm a little off topic with this one, but this thought crossed my mind as I was enjoying nature this evening. As I walked my around my neighborhood this evening, I noticed that things were unusually quiet. It was beautiful outside, but I saw none of the neighborhood children outside enjoying the fresh air. As we know, many children are spending less time outside and more time watching television and playing video games. As teachers, we also know that all this time spent on "mind-numbing" activities causes the average student to lose quite a bit of knowledge over the summer. Many schools are attempting to stop this lose by requiring students to read, finish math packets, or complete other educational activities. Students at my school (from kindergarten to fifth grade) are required to read two books selected by the teachers and then prepare a project, such as a book report or diorama, to turn in within the first week of school. However, this rarely happens. As sad as it is, parents in our community cannot always afford to buy the books and expecting the public library to supply the same book to 100 students is not feasible either. How can I expect students to read and complete a project when their parents truly cannot put the money aside to buy the books for them? At the same time, I know that these students are the ones that usually get the least help at home and REALLY need to have something they are expected to do over summer to stop the usual knowledge loss. I would really LOVE any ideas about how my coworkers and I could stop this loss without expecting parents to take on the financial burden, which in turn actually hinders the children.