 |
How to Make Learning Part of your Summer Routine
|
Sunny days, swimming pools, Crocs,
staying up past bedtime, and no homework!
That’s what kids think of when June arrives and school lets out. For most kids the time off is a delight, a
much needed respite from the intensity of the school year and the mastery of a
year’s curriculum.
Have you noticed that when your kids
return to school they spend September and the first part of October reviewing everything
they learned in April and May? Have you
wondered why that is? Well, two to three
months off from learning is a long time and memory for newly learned material
tends to decay quickly, so by the time kids get back to school after a summer
of duly earned fun and play, many of their skills have deteriorated. They need review to get back to the skill
level they demonstrated in June.
Children with learning disabilities
such as dyslexia can’t afford to take so much time off from learning, the cost
is too great. Your child worked hard to
acquire the skills she learned this year—you saw how hard it was. She put in sustained effort, practiced,
worked with specialists and tutors, and even with that support has to strive to
hold onto every bit of skill she acquired.
The learning curve for children who
have dyslexia differs from that of a typical learner. While another child may retain a word after
seeing it 2-5 times, your child may need to see it 40-50 times, even more to be
able to read it fluently or spell it.
The repetition provided by specialized teachers and the practice you
support every night through word rings, Wilson homework, read alouds, and
flashcards is designed to provide the exposure, rehearsal, and application that
a dyslexic child needs to retain essential foundation knowledge. The consequence of the summer break for that
child is much greater loss of knowledge and skill than is typical of most. Catch up in the fall is thus insufficient to
get him back to where he was in June. He has lost too much ground and it will
take too long to regain his traction.
Here are some activities you can use
over the summer at home to reinforce this year’s progress. The goal is not to gain ground or learn more,
but rather to maintain hard earned footing:
Keep reading! During the year your
child reads to herself and you read to her (I hope). Daily reading activities shouldn’t change,
except perhaps to increase as there is more flexibility in scheduling. In addition to selecting high interest books,
it can also be helpful to read aloud some of the books she will encounter in
next year’s curriculum, so that she will be familiar with the material.
Practice math facts: Road trips,
family dinners, and during a game of catch are great times to practice basic math
facts. You may think these have been
mastered, but they tend to decay without use and next year’s math will require
more efficient recall of math facts for higher level calculations.
Find fun ways to use math everyday:
For
example, have a lemonade stand. Bake:
reading a recipe and measuring ingredients uses knowledge of fractions and
working memory. Visit the local dollar
general store and have your child calculate how much money they need for items
(don’t forget the tax) and how much change they should expect. Do a construction or sewing project; these
involve measurement, planning, and checking one’s work. Have your child calculate the tip when you
eat in a restaurant.
Visit
museums, historical sites, or other venues that build on subject matter that
your child learned about last year or will learn about next year: Hands-on and visual experiences are so
very valuable to a child’s understanding of an historical period, place, or
series of events. For example, if your
child studied the Civil War, a visit to Gettysburg may be in order. If they learned about the prehistoric period, visit a natural
history museum. Finally, for geology go to a natural park.
Keep a summer journal: You and your child could even coauthor a journal.
A summer academic program or tutoring
may be in order: This keeps your child's mind in the game and can both enrich and
solidify learning in areas of particular need (or strength) for your child.
Don’t forget about technology: We
know our children love their screens so find a few good educational apps that
they can use on the way to the beach or during downtime at home. Summer is also a good time for older children
to practice typing using a web-based program, get used to audiobooks, and master
the use of voice to text technology.
Making learning a part of your summer routine
keeps your child’s mind engaged and will make fall a much more pleasant time as
he enters next year’s classroom feeling confident and ready to learn.
Enjoy
summer!
Jennifer
Jennifer Jackson Holden, Psy.D. is managing director of the Paoli, Pennsylvania office of the Center for Psychological Services.
No comments:
Post a Comment