Today is our last day of school up here in the north. I know that many of your are actually been on summer vacation for several weeks. Isn’t it glorious to think about routine in a different way! But one think that worries me is the summer education slide. That’s where kids lose some of the ground that they made during the previous school year due to the break.
When we met with Sunshine’s teacher for her spring conference, she commented on the fact that Sunshine had not experienced the summer slide in reading and she noted that it was likely because we read so much as a family. That got me wondering about what else we could do to insure that neither child experiences a summer education slide and how as an educator myself I could help you do the same for your children.
Here are five ideas to avoid the summer education slide:
Read!
Read to your children. Listen to them read to you. Even if your kids are not truly readers, you can have them follow along and stop at the words you know they know. Our son loves the word “the.” Often, when I am reading to him, I say, “OK, you’re going to help me read tonight.” Then, I point to the words as I read and stop on the ones I know he knows (especially “the”!). It reinforces those words and gives him confidence in his reading. For ideas on what to read, check out what we’re reading this summer.
Join your library’s summer program.
When I was in high school, I worked for the public library. (Can you say geek?) We had free summer programs that included a reading challenge and entertainment each week. The libraries in our area have a similar program. Sunshine has participated for the last two summers and last year, The Boy participated as well. There are crafts and prizes to reinforce the importance of reading. Both of my kids enjoyed both the craft programs and the prizes that they got to claim each week as they completed (or exceeded) the weekly goal. We signed up for this week’s program on Tuesday. It begins next Monday.
Visit history.
Our kids will each spend a week of day camp at the Genesee Country Village and Museum. Sunshine went last year and LOVED it. She got to dress like she was in the 1800s and went to school and did chores. She stepped back in time and learned so much about our local history and history in general. This year, she has selected farm camp, so her week will focus on farm chores and the like. The Boy will go to Neverland and be a Lost Boy for the week. Both are super excited. While the other is at camp, they will each get some quality Mom time while we explore the other aspects of the village. No matter where you live, there is history available and much of it is free or at a reduced cost.
Our cabin in the Adirondacks is near the French and Indian War Fort remains at Crown Point. This is a State Historic Site and the fort itself is free. (There is a fee for the museum.) Around the fort, there are historic markers that tell you about the history, and at no cost.
Cook!
What is cooking? Truthfully, it is math (and a life skill). Include your kids in cooking. It’s measuring, counting, addition and subtraction. Double a meal and you have basic multiplication. Cut it in half and you have division. Sometimes, I use smaller measuring cups than I actually need just because they have to count more. Did I mention that cooking is a life skill?
Visit a science museum.
We have a terrific science museum in our area: The Rochester Museum and Science Center. While our kids are there, they learn about local history, dinosaurs (a favorite of The Boy), practice engineering and physics skills with the current STEM challenge and they can go to the planetarium to learn about stars, the night sky or watch the IMAX documentary. In addition, we are members and our membership is reciprocal with literally hundreds of museums including the ECHO Center in Burlington, VT which is only an hour from our Adirondack cabin.
It’s your job:
So the moral of the story is there are so many opportunities to enrich your kids’ summers and keep them from experiencing the summer education slide. And, you can do many of these for free or for a nominal fee. There is learning everywhere.
In addition, I also purchased skill books for my children and they will have to spend a half hour each week day working on them. Not nearly as much fun, but still integral in the process. We have friends who do the same. For The Boy, I purchased 180 Days of High Frequency Words for Kindergarten and for Sunshine, Brain Quest Grade 3 Workbook. I can’t speak to the success of these books yet because we haven’t started, but in glancing through them, I think they will be just right.
Let me know what your are doing to keep your kids from experiencing the summer education slide! I would love to hear from you.
PS. This post contains a couple of affiliate links (not the museums, we just love them!). If you click the link and make a purchase, we make just a little bit of money and this helps to keep The Semiconservative Granola Girl up and running and we thank you for it!
