5 Ideas to Keep Your Child Learning Over the Summer

Teachers hate the summer slide. This is where a student does nothing academically over the summer and comes back to school the next year knowing less than they did the year before. A hot topic with teachers these days is not giving students permission to forget. This trend will lead to less beginning of the year review work. The students are expected to know what they learned last year. Therefore, especially now, it is so important for parents to work with their kids at home to help them retain their knowledge and skills. It does not have to feel like work to your son or daughter because there are many fun ways to avoid the summer slide.

Check out the public library

When checking out books, allow your child to pick out a variety of levels. Some books may have a high interest level for him but may be above his reading level. Check out some of these and read to him. It cannot be stressed enough, how important it is to read to and with your child. Parents model good attitudes toward reading for their child. Make sure some books that get checked out are below your child's frustration or challenge level, in other words, easy to read books. This is important for his self-esteem, stumbling over every other word does not make a child feel like a successful reader. Feeling like a capable reader will bring him to more challenging levels in his own time. Libraries are not just for books. Check out summer programs that encourage reading at your local library.

Play games

There are many games that help kids review spelling and word structure. You may already have some of these at home. Here are some examples, Yahtzee, Scrabble, Banangrams and Boggle. Many of these games also have a junior version that might be better for young kids. If not, simplify the rules yourself. Kids love to make up their own rules for games. Use your computer to make a Bingo boards with sight words (maybe from a list from your child's school) and paper calling cards. Use pennies for markers. You can make it different every time. Here are 2 sites that will generate Bingo boards for you: teAchnology and tools for educators. . You can also use Bingo to help children recognize numbers or create a board with addition or subtraction and call out sums or differences. Let her figure out if she can put her penny on a square. Another great game to review math skills is math war. Take out the picture cards from an ordinary deck of cards and you can play greater than or less than war, addition war or subtraction war. Jane Felling, Joanne Currah and Marilyn Burns have written many wonderful books with hundreds of games that use cards, dice or dominoes. These games are so fun, kids don't even realize they're learning.

Write letters

Those just coming out of kindergarten or first grade especially enjoy showing off their new writing skills to everyone. Have your child write a letter to grandma and grandpa, even if they live in town, they'll probably write back. Does your child have a summer birthday? Make sure to write thank you notes for all those gifts. Does anyone else you know have a summer birthday? Have your child write a birthday message for him or her. Do you have relatives that live in another town? Your child can write a letter to them telling them all about the fun activities he is doing this summer. She can even write a letter to a friend to give to her on their next play-date together.

Cook in the kitchen

Kids love to help mom or dad in the kitchen. This can be turned into a science lesson. Where does food come from? What healthy foods does your body need to grow big and strong? Measuring cups and spoons are a great way to reinforce fractions. When a recipe calls for a quarter of a cup, ask your child, “How many of these would you need to make one cup?”. See if your child can help you double or halve a recipe.

Help with a home improvement project

Kids also love to help outside, in the garage or maybe on an indoor home improvement project. It's something you probably have to do anyway and it's nice to have company. Show your child the various tools you use for measuring and have them help you with it. This is such an important skill and it's really not as easy as it looks. Especially in those real life situations like measuring in tight spaces, around corners or uneven surfaces. Discuss exact measurements vs. estimated measurements with your child. Add or multiply measurements as needed. These types of projects can also be very good to learn goal setting, planning and hand eye coordination. Utilize these same skills to work on craft projects, such as building a dollhouse or a bird feeder.

Use these ideas to get started and hopefully, your child will come back to school in August or September, feeling refreshed and ready to begin learning new material.