Beyond the Books:
Learning All Summer Long ... Yes It Can Be Fun!
Summer vacation is around the corner, and the school year is coming to an end, but that doesn't mean the learning has too. Studies show the extended time out of the classroom during summer vacation results in learning loss. By the end of summer chunks of knowledge acquired during the school year are forgotten, resulting in teachers having to spend a great deal of time reteaching material to counteract the summer learning slide.
I've always felt summer vacation didn't mean my kids' brains went on vacation. It was pretty easy to find ways to incorporate summer learning in daily activities and play when my kids were younger. But when my kids hit their tweens and teens, it became much more challenging and required a "thinking outside the books" approach. I found I needed to focus on things my kids were interested in and passionate about. In a post I wrote for PTPA I put together a few suggestions to try, or spark ideas to keep your kids summer filled with learning.
"I know it's summer but that doesn't mean learning has to stop. Studies show kids lose a chunk of what they have learned over the summer break, but it doesn't have to be this way. It means you need to get creative and find ways to make your tweens and teens want to learn. No small feat I know, but I have a few ideas that might work for you.
As a Mom, I often find myself lost in the jargon of the young. I call a kick flip a flip kick or a fishing reel a spinny thing. Same goes for a whole slew of other topics my kids are interested in."
Something else to think about: often it's the summer activities and learning that tells potential employers and school admissions those interesting parts about a person that grades alone can't tell.
Summer learning with a forecast of a bright future!
Yep, just me Cathy thinking out loud about summer learning.
Great post, Cathy! Love your ideas in your PTPA post. I left a cimment there, too! Thanks, Cathy!
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