School’s out for summer!
I can’t believe we made it to summer! I’m ready to lay by the pool and forget all my worries from this school year. My girl is ready for zero homework, late nights, and zero responsibilities!
But in the back of this teacher’s mind, I start to worry about all the kiddos I worked with all school year. Will they fall victim to the summer slide? Will my own child fall victim to the summer slide?
You might be asking yourself, what is this summer slide we hear teachers talk about? How can we help our kids not become part of these summer slide statistics?
The summer slide is a regression in academics due to summer break. This can hinder children’s progress when they return to school. Researchers and even teachers have noticed when our students return to school, they often have lost a significant amount of knowledge in math and reading.
So, how do we stop the summer slide? Here are 6 sure-fire ways to help beat that summer slide.
- Check out your public library. Most of our libraries will have a summer reading program. They should have all kinds of different ways for you and your children to get involved in learning over the summer. Check out your public library’s website for their summer calendar.
- Writing-Have your child keep a journal of their summer days. If you have a younger child, have them draw pictures and scribble. Just keep your child writing.
- Play board games and word games as a family. Board games will teach children all sorts of skills. Attention, focus, teamwork, identifying colors, letters, and numbers, learning to take turns, helping expand vocabulary, how to be a gracious loser or winner, problem-solving, and critical thinking are just a few of those skills that board games can help your child acquire.
- Read every day. Have your child read every day or read every day to your child. Let your child see you reading. This shows your child how important reading is to you. Taking a lot of trips this summer? Check out some audiobooks at your public library. One of our favorite things to do is to listen to audiobooks in the car.
- Work on some math skills. Do you have dice or even playing cards laying around the house? Use these tools to help with addition or subtraction practice. Take some sidewalk chalk outside and write math problems on the sidewalk for your child. Have a little one who’s just learning to count? Find things in your home for them to practice their counting. Let your child take a ruler and practice measuring things around the house. Let your child help you cook or bake by measuring out the ingredients.
- Go visit some of our local zoos, aquariums, and museums. These places are full of interactive and hands-on exhibits to keep your child’s mind sharp and engaged in the learning process.
The summer slide is real and it’s up to us moms to help our children beat it this summer. With just a little bit of time each day, our kids will be on the right track when they head back to school in the Fall.
What are some ideas you have to beat the summer slide?
