It’s almost time for summer break and kids are ready to trade school bags for beach bags. Should they be transferring some of their school books to their beach bags? Chasing your kids to do their homework during the school year can be exhausting and frustrating. Do you have the strength to do that over the summer? How important is it for kids to do some work over the summer?
Kids do need time to be kids, to be carefree and worry free. And summer is the time for that. This is also essential for our kids’ development. However, studies show that there is a learning loss that happens to kids over the summer. When they lose information that they have spent so much time learning during the school year.
Summer break can influence your kids’ education
The National Summer Learning Association (NSLA) conducted a survey. And according to it, teachers spend a month at the start of the new school year materials from previous years. Another study gave students a standardized test before summer break, and the same one after. The results were that scores are higher before summer break, and lower after it.
In addition, according to John Hopkins School of Education, kids who don’t learn and practice essential skills fall behind. This is on measures of academic achievement over the summer months. That fact is nothing new. There is research dating back over 100 years that confirms the phenomenon often referred to as “summer slide”. Most children lose about two months of grade level equivalency in mathematical computation skills over the summer months.
Assign simple and fun educational chores to your kids
While nobody wants to chase their kids to do homework over the summer. It is highly recommended that they do some work focusing only on math and reading. Even if it is just half an hour.
Reading is essential. Give your kids at least three books for the whole summer break. This will give them something to do by the pool, beach, on a flight or train, or before bedtime. For math, there are several great websites to revise what children learnt during the year. You can ask your kids’ teacher to recommend some. Moreover, you can use a math workbook that can cover the same won’t seem so daunting a task.
Going back to school with their knowledge intact will be a great achievement for them and a satisfying one.
Have a great summer from Team Mumzworld!
