Mission: Tackling Summer Learning

What the end of the school year means to me:  no more buses to miss, no more lunches to pack, and no more trying to get the kids to bed at a decent time, even though it’s still daylight out at 9 p.m.

As a mother, it means looser schedules and spending more time with my children.  As a teacher, it means that for a few weeks, I have the opportunity to reflect on what worked and didn’t work in my classroom and make changes or gather ideas for what I can do to meet the needs of my students next year. 

Year after year, many parents share the same concern—what can I do over summer to make sure my child doesn’t forget everything they learned?

All children, whether in high school or elementary school, will benefit from the following:

1.  Read, Read, Read! In Hillsborough, all students in grades five through 12 are required to read a selected title for a summer reading project.  This practice is relatively new and has become a surefire way to make sure that students do some kind of reading.  Surround them with books!  Take a field trip to the public library or Barnes and Noble.  Going on a long trip?  Borrow a book on tape!  Birthday coming up or special occasion?  Amazon can deliver the books right to your door!  Encourage your child to read anything and everything!  If you have a child that loves the movie and never the book, challenge her to read the book first and then watch the movie. See if there is a difference of opinion.  Believe it or not, a child is NEVER too old to be read to.  If you are reading something really good and a sentence or paragraph strikes you, ask your teen to listen to “a sentence” and ask him what he thinks about it.  Start a new tradition—try reading together as a family.  Everyone grabs a book, finds a comfy spot, turns off all digital devices, and reads.  It might feel weird or different at first, but by modeling it your child will see that reading really is important
2.  How much sleep does your child REALLY need?  Yes, it’s summer. And many parents are dreading the fact that their preteen or teenager will be sleeping until 10,11, even 12 in the morning!    It’s also a fact that many children are sleep deprived because of computers, and studying, and social networking, and cell phones. Try this – ask your child to pick a reasonable time to go and unplug everything. Then tell your teen to try keeping a sleep journal – how long does it take to fall asleep, what is the last time they saw on the clock, and what time did she naturally wake up? Do this for about a week or two, and watch to see what patterns start to develop.  Once their bodies have caught up, although they never really do “catch up” on sleep deprivation, a pattern will emerge that will give you a pretty good idea of just how much sleep she needs.  This can become a tool for college life in helping your child to determine how early their day can begin.  And remember, sleep is when that information consolidates in the brain. If he is reading about a subject that is related to something from the school year’s curriculum, and relating it to his prior knowledge, he is also retrieving it from his long term memory.  In doing so, the brain is assigning more neurons to that information so that it is remembered, reinforced, and relearned.
3. Summer Workbooks?  Sure!  Summer workbooks allow your child to practice information that was already taught, and hopefully learned.  The one thing parents like is that the information is laid out for the child. Workbooks provide just that.  Choose a time of the day that you child knows is workbook time - perhaps before activites for the day get started?  Set aside 10 minutes for the grade level your child has completed (10 minutes for first grade, 20 minutes for second grade) and workbook time should not exceed that.  For some children, even this will be a challenge.  But don't give up!

As you begin the lazy days of summer, keep in mind the things you can do to keep your child’s brain sharp.  My family and I have decided to have a designated family reading time (twice a week) to prevent readicide from occurring for our family.  Libraries and the Internet make it easy to access tools in assisting any of the above.  My goal is to prevent readicide, one page at a time.