Kids and Summer Slide

Every year a handoff from teacher to parent leaves a child with a powerful chance. They can either play their parents and teachers as fools or they can continue learning. Most kids want to laze away summer vacation on the couch playing video games or watching cartoons. If parents are lucky outside play time can be unforced. Still, this doesn't help the child retain what they learned while in school.

With that in mind I form a game plan for my daughter every year. Let me break it down as follows:

Summer Slide

Most parents and every teacher has heard of, dreads and honestly expects summer slide. This happens when children take long time periods off school, such as the two and a half months of summer. Lots of information slides right out of the child's mind as they "take it easy," AKA don't do any educational things over summer.

Some school combat this with year round schooling and hopefully the schools around my family will be able to switch to year round soon.

Until then I get to combat the summer slide. Math and reading are the two biggest areas for my rising 5th grader this year.

Math

My daughter hates math and I don't blame her. I hate it too, but I learned how to do it and have to use it daily. So, this summer she'll be doing math daily too.

The first step is flash cards. My girl refuses to memorize her times tables. She can find the answer, but it takes a bit. I'm going to be throwing out the flash cards at least a few minutes every day. Want that extra frozen treat? Go through ten flash cards and answer as quickly as you can.

Second, she's going to have a little fun with a few math apps. She has limited time to play on a phone or tablet. If she wants extra time she's going to earn it by completing math levels.

Reading

We've always done summer reading together. It's not changing this year. She'll read daily to earn her rewards from the public library. At the end of summer they hold a big celebration at the lake for all the kids that completed the challenge.

Last year she lost the spark for the reading rewards. It just wasn't enough, but she is a very giving child. Scholastic is holding a summer read challenge too. Once so many collective minutes have been read they'll donate lots of books to children in need. This has caught her interest and I'm letting it roll along.

Other Subjects

Science, social studies, and other subjects are important too and we'll be touching on them throughout the summer.

There are free community events that take place near us that help, such as Nature Night on main street and STEM events at the library.

Some of these subjects will also click with her reading. I found some great home school style books at the Dollar Tree on history, nature, space, and other topics.

Complaints

Yeah, my daughter complains about learning over summer, but never as much as adults who think summer slide is a load of... nothing. Dealing with family members who tall me I'm forcing too much on my child is maddening.

"Let her be a kid."

"It's summer. She should be kicking back and enjoying time off."

"You're too hard on her. She's smart enough."

My personal favorite... "She's a girl. She doesn't need to be that smart."

That last one drove me to keep my child from being alone with that relative.

The point is, my girl does take a lot of time to kick back and have fun. Throughout the day we spend maybe an hour or two on reading and math. I slide it in instead of making her sit down for hours poring over the books.

Biting my tongue with family and others can be hard, but I stick to my guns.

If my child goes back to school in August without retaining something from this past year it will stresses her out. This leads to hard days and disappointment on her head. For me it leads to worry.

Conclusion

I try to make summer learning fun and most of the time it ends up that way. Parents who have the time should spend the time helping their children invest in retaining knowledge. Those who work hectic hours should do what they can when they can.

Remember every child is different. Some need more help in one subject over another. Some may just need quick refresher here and there. The best way to combat summer slide is by forming a plan around the child's needs and sticking to it.

Good luck and have a great summer!