As summer approaches, many students look forward to a well-deserved break. However, this extended time away from structured learning can lead to the “summer slide”—a phenomenon where students lose some of the academic gains they’ve made during the school year. Research indicates that students can lose up to two months of reading and math skills over the summer if they don’t engage in educational activities .
The good news? The summer slide is preventable. With intentional planning and engaging activities, you can help your child maintain and even enhance their academic skills during the break. In the following video, our Executive Director shares seven effective strategies to keep your child’s mind active and ready for the upcoming school year. You can download the handout from the webinar here as well.
Here are the 7 Ways to Prevent the Summer Slide:
- Target Trouble Spots – Summer can be prime time to fill learning gaps. The bar of expectation that steadily rises throughout the school year is paused, students do not have to balance homework on top of this additional support and learners will gain a new level of confidence to begin the upcoming school year.
- Interest-Based Camps – Continue to stretch your student’s abilities and continue learning momentum by enrolling in interest-based camps. We all love to learn more about topics that we are interested in, meaning students will be naturally motivated to attend and participate in the activities.
- Allow Opportunities for Creative Writing – Using funny picture prompts, controversial topics, or no prompt or guidance at all, allow your writer’s to fall back in love with just expressing themselves through written words.
- Reward Daily Reading – Reading needs to be a non-negotiable and here are some ways to avoid resistance: read aloud to your child, allow them to re-read favorites (this supports reading fluency), offer interest-based stories and audio books are just as effective if you have a struggling reader.
- Give the Answer – They Create the Problem – Working a situation backwards, such as giving the learner the math problem and asking them to create the word problem, not only gives a fresh vibe, but it allows a deeper understanding of the concept.
- Take Learning Outside – There are many benefits of outdoor learning, including mood improvement and increased concentration. This could look like building tallies with sticks and practicing spelling with a paintbrush and water on a safe sidewalk.
- 21/90 – It takes 21 days to form a habit and 90 days to create a permanent lifestyle change. Use the summer to develop executive functioning habits that will turn into permanent, positive lifestyle changes.
Looking for support in implementing any of the above suggestions? La Jolla Learning can help! Book a FREE consultation with Kayla, today. We are now scheduling summer sessions.
