I hate to be the Debbie downer of your summer fun but the facts are the facts. According to the Children’s Aid Society, children lose on average 2 months of grade level equivalency in math and reading during the summer. That can cause serious issues when school starts back up. You don’t want your child to fall behind but you are not trying to audition for world’s biggest villain either. Destroying the fun of summer will not win you any admiration.
So what can you do to prevent summer learning loss without causing a mutiny and cries of Moooooooommmm you are soooooo not fair!!!
As a former teacher, I have some advice that will help stop summer learning loss without stopping the fun. It involves a little bit of trickery and a lot of coffee (for you not them) but it will work. Two for the price of one: these tips can also help combat boredom.
Sign up for the Summer Reading Program at your Local Library.
This program is free, fun, and your child gets to experience books they might not normally choose. Also included are special hands on learning events related to the theme. For instance this year our theme is “In your backyard” and one event includes an interactive meet n greet with local wildlife like turtles, lizards, and frogs.
Take Field Trips to Museums, Historic Sites, or Parks.
I like to research the places ahead of time and come up with a scavenger hunt. For my 4year old I keep it easy but for Miss Smarty Pants (she knows everything at 7) I make it challenging.
Play Board Games.
Bring back family game night and work in some learning while you are at it. From Candyland all the way to Scrabble and Yahtzee, there is a game for every age. Remember it’s not who wins or loses overly competitive parent… it’s about the learning.Just saying!
Embrace your Inner Chef.
Not only is this a great idea for learning moments it is also shown to have a positive effect on picky eaters. Dust off your cookbook or have the kids pick one out at the library and choose a recipe to try. I get my kids involved in every aspect of the meal. They help me shop for things at the grocery store where my youngest spots the colors and helps me count how many of each item we need. Once in the kitchen my oldest will help measure the ingredients and both of them like to taste test. I fully endorse licking the spoon!
Host a Quiz Bowl.
Everything is more fun as a game. Focus on areas they struggle with or let them choose the topic. My daughter loves to quiz me on math and spelling. Albeit early in the morning before I’ve had time to drink my coffee. If you mess up wink wink they love the idea of being able to correct you. Why is that?
10 Free Learning Websites:
- PBS Kids –learning games featuring your favorite characters from PBS.
- Math Manipulatives– Math Playground offers a variety of math games for older children
- National Geographic Kids – all the education you would expect of National Geographic but presented in a fun way
- Into The Book– Reading games for children and resources for teachers and parents. Offers tools for reading comprehension such as inferring, evaluating, questioning, and summarizing
- Fun brain – perfect for grades K-8th, offers math, reading, games, and more.
- Switcheroo Zoo– learn about geography, environment, and wildlife while creating your own animals and habitats.
- Seussville– learn alongside your favorite Dr. Seuss characters with games, activites, videos, and more
- Starfall– reading resources for children beginning to those who can read on their own
- ABCya– educational games for grades K-5th Grade
- Fun Brain– education games, books, and comics for PreSchool thru 8th Grade
Above all Make it Fun.
I don’t want to be chain to a desk reciting times tables any more than they do! We as parents are not out to ruin their summer vacations. They deserve a break from homework and the rigors of a classroom schedule. But they do still need to be engaging their minds. My hope is that these ideas will help you and your children have a productive and awesome summer vacation!
You are SOO right. I actually make my kids read each nite, and our library actually has giveaways for logging your reading! (Including Kindle Fires!)
I also try to have them play on some educational websites as well – they hate it, but they’ll love me in Sept. when they go back to school and their brain isn’t like DUHHH =)
What great tips! Since my daughter has Down syndrome, this is critical – she only has a teeny bit of “work” time at camp this summer, and the school always drops the ball on this. So it’s always in my hands – and I’m NOT good at homeschooling. Thank you so much for sharing.
Definitely some awesome reminders. And I have to love you more for referencing Debbie Downer. 🙂
Great tips! My son thankfully gets to participate in a summer school program 2 days a week as an extension of his IEP. We also frequent the library and he loves to work in his workbook at home. I’m not really a good or patient teacher, so I’m glad to have these resources available to me.
You are so not a Debbie Downer. There are great ways to engage to keep those minds working and not lose those math/engineering skills. I love this list and we are library fans for sure.
I love to keep my kids brains working over the summer. These are awesome tips 🙂
My kids read all summer. This summer I plan to actually keep teaching them. We homeschooled this year and to make sure they are ready to return I plan to keep it going!
Thankfully my kids love to read and are dying to do the summer library reading challenge. We have game nite once a week for the family too. Great list of things to do!
We are big believers in Learning whether it’s during the summer school break or not. My kids attend summer school which keeps them engaged with a routine of learning and seeing friends. We also make sure to fill our summer days with trips to museusm, the library, and other activities to ward off summer learning loss!
I’m a big fan of summer learning and you have listed out some great options here. Definitely a big fan of museums and really local historical and cultural attractions.
We homeschool and plan to do an hour a day or so throughout the summer. Why stop?! 🙂
This a really informative post! Summer Slide is real and with all this great info kids should receieve a summer loss!
These are awesome tips. My son is taking a virtual college course to help hi keep focused.
To prevent this I went to Summer School and I was given the challenge of reading one of my literature books for the new school year. Also , apart from playing outside , my siblings had print outs that we had to complete throughout the days
You have so many great tips here. We’ve done a few already. The kids signed up for the summer reading program on Friday. 🙂
Great tips! So important to keep those little minds engaged and constantly learning.
A quiz bowl would be so much fun for the summer. These ideas would be helpful for staying sharp over the summer.
I always really liked having the kids sign up for summer reading programs. I like all these websites too!
Great ideas. I think fun educational activities does so much.
These are great ideas. I’m doing Fun Fridays with my kids this summer and you’re right, not all the fun things to do have to come with a huge price tag.
When I was a kid, I remember forgetting a lot of stuff I was taught while on summer vacation. I think making it fun is always a good way to teach things to kids.
What a great list of websites. I totally think you are right about going on trips to museums. Always a great learning experience.
We LOVE the Starfall apps – perfect for my pre-reader and early-reader.
Gosh, I never thought about summer learning loss before. I suppose this is a real issue and it is great to have the spotlight on it. Ty for sharing!
This is why we homeschool all year long. Definitely taking advantage of the reading programs too.
I love your list of free websites! Summer learning is so important to make sure they’re ready for school again in the fall!
This is something that I’ve been concerned about because school ends this week. Thanks for the recommendations!
These are great tips. There’s a real risk of kids forgetting (or getting into bad habits) over the long summer break.
Great tips to make srue that Summer Slide does not happen! Will need to remember these!