Summer vacation has officially arrived. I barely survived my first week! Here’s an interesting tidbit I read about. According to a study by Dr. Harris Cooper, a professor of psychology at the University of Missouri-Columbia, students lose one to three months worth of learning when they return to school after the summer break.
According to Cooper, this loss is greatest in math skills. He claims that all students lose math skills over the summer. The study also found that income had an impact on how much a student lost or gained in the area of reading. Middle-class students gained in reading over the summer, while students from lower income homes lost. Cooper speculated that the middle-class students gained because of “enrichment activities” like camps and trips.
If you want to make sure that your kids retain the skills that they have learned, Cooper offers these suggestions:
(1) Make sure you have a lot of books around and take your kids to the library often. If your local branch has a summer reading program, make sure your kids sign up.
(2) If possible, coordinate your family’s vacation to coincide with things your kids will be learning about next year. For instance, Cooper notes that if you know one of your kids will be studying the civil war, plan a trip to Gettysburg. Or take a trip to a national park to study geology.
(3) Since kids lose more in math skills than any other subject, try to find as many math-related activities as you can.
(4) Send your kids to summer school or arrange tutoring. Look for summer enrichment programs at local colleges and sign your kids up for some of these classes.
Our kids definitely need a break from the many hours spent in the classroom. But we also want to make sure learning does not stop- or worse, reverse- over the summer months. With Tyler, I always try to make learning fun. Sometimes he’s learning, even when he does not realize it. I think one of the great advantages of having homeschooled him most of his life is he expects me to teach him. In fact, he looks forward to it. Because he wants to learn, it makes my job as teacher (although I am no longer his primary teacher) a lot easier.
See also:
Keep Your Kids Busy This Summer by Starting an Activities Co-Op