Summer Learning Slump

We did the library book reading club, but we didn't do summer school. My DD has an opportunity to do a half day program in July through her school, so she will be getting a boost then. I just try to keep her reading and engaged. Her teachers say that reading is the best thing she can do this summer.

Summer is for fun. I think that it's sad when kids lose out on that. The schools spend the first month of school reviewing what was learned last year. If they knew it then it will come back.

I don't necessarily believe in the sitting down with a text book during summer. But we do do little things to keep their minds going. My 9 year old struggles with money in school. So when I'm at the store I'll have her check prices and compare. And if I'm paying with cash, I will have her help me get the right amount. She thinks this is fun but she's actually learning. We do all sorts of things just like that to keep it fresh in their minds. My children are a bit odd in the reading sense. Sometimes I have to tell them to put a book down and go outside. I can't complain about that but they would all love to sit and read more than being outside. When we have to go somewhere they typically have a book in the car. I love this about them, but I also think they need to use their imaginations and explore the outside a little bit!!

My kids are learning just not text book stuff. they are out learning how to tie their own fishing hooks and how to take the fish off their own poles. They are learning all about aquatic activities and learning how to perfect their hand eye coordination in their sports teams and on their bikes/rollerblades. They are learning social skills by finally being able to venture down the street since they are finally old enough to go a little further this year. They are learning how to be kids. That in my eyes is equally important. If they start to struggle in school I might revisit some occasional summer book learning opportunities (yuck) but as of now im going to let them be.

My summers sound a lot like yours. I was always encouraged to read, but that was the extent of "school work."

I understand what people are saying about facts being facts and there are studies to prove that summer regression is real. The thing is, studies show what is generally happening to many people in society. They show that there are many kids who face this problem. But this does not automatically mean it applies to every child. Some will have no trouble, some will struggle greatly and most will be somewhere in the middle.

I think it really boils down to meeting your kids' needs. My oldest just finished first grade and so far is doing very well. He will be reading this summer (I sometimes have to take away the electronics), and he will do some sports camps, art camps and VBS's. My youngest will be starting kindergarten, so academics is just beginning. He's going to need some extra help with speech, social skills and a few other things. So he's in a few programs to help him out. He will definitely go to at least one VBS!

National studies are very important, because they raise our awareness and help us to consider possible issues that might otherwise blindside us. But that doesn't necessarily mean they are issues that we personally face. We have to take the information we're presented with and look carefully to see if it applies to our situation.

I also think we have to make sure out kids have plenty of time for some good, relaxing fun!

Other learning is going on during the summer. I expose my kids to as much as I can during the summer. We work on projects around the house. We take short trips. We go to the drive-in. This is the time my influence is strongest. This is the time I spend with them, love them and share with them 24/7 w/ little outside influence. It's not school, but they are still learning.

i think worksheets and enforced drudgery 'school' sessions during the summer are just awful. i think lots and lots of reading (individual and family), lots of fun educational excursions to museums and galleries and festivals, and plenty of real-life opportunities to discuss math (through cooking, or measuring the field for fencing, or calculating square footage for new carpet or whatever) and history and government and social issues, are far better, more exciting and way more educational than making kids *study* over their precious time off.
khairete
S.

No learning slump for my kids. They just had summer fun. Would you want to bring work on your vacation? I think not lol.

We never did school work during the summer when I was a kid, nor did I make my kid do any. She did the summer reading program at the library because she wanted to. The Louisiana Arts and Science museum and the LSU Museum of Natural History were both close, and she loved going there.

For the first several years of our kids' elementary years we didn't worry too much about academics during the summers, but now we have one going into middle school and one going into 3rd. We need to do math facts and keep up with concepts just to keep them at the same level, so next year isn't so challenging. In our district, they test them in the fall for placement and we want to make sure they start out strong. We also read each night together and I have them read aloud every few days for fluency. I am also having them practice their writing skills, since they need to get a little more help in that area. So, I make up weekly homework that only takes them about 30-45 min a day. In a day that seems like endless fun and sunshine, 45 min isn't much to ask. Plus, I make the homework fun, like having them write their birthday wish list as an assignment to practice writing. Or, creating their own themed flash cards for math practice. That is perfect for my little artist, who thinks of it as more fun than work, as long as art is involved. Our plan is to make learning fun, but keep it up all summer.

I'm always a bit bemused to see questions asking if I 'believe' in a fact. Facts are irrefutable; whether or not I believe in them does not change their legitimacy.

Yes, some kids do lose some of their learning over the summer. This likely varies based on age, grade, the child themselves as well as socioeconomic factors.

It sounds like your summers as a kid are similar to our summers-- lots of movement/activity, fun reading/pursuit of information (I know lots of kids naturally select nonfiction titles as well as more entertaining reading).... we employ math and science through cooking, water play, Legos, gardening, measuring and drawing (esp drawing large-scale creatures) and some fun activities which involve observation/graphing and I encourage writing in fun ways, with less focus on exact spelling/composition and more on just keeping the writing going.

This summer we are exploring comic books-- Kiddo's choice. There are myriad opportunities for him to use observation, language, math (when making the finished books themselves), drawing, as well as any reference materials (for art or facts) which might add to his work. I should also add that this is a kid who regularly finds drawing references for art on his own-- this isn't so much leading the horse to water as much as making sure the water is very, very nourishing.

So, I leave some of this to him to organize as he likes. Other aspects of math will come into play via his own economics; he likes to earn money for toys and aside from his allowance and can keep track of that. Many games we have do involve planning and math concepts. He's seven, I supplement in fun ways without making it onerous for either of us. He's still going to judo, starting swim lessons, and biking around the neighborhood having fun with friends. Balance!

ETA: I'd have to also add that we had a similar experience to Leigh's in regard to summer tutoring. We chose to do a handful of two-hour tutoring sessions last summer just to help kiddo keep his skills sharp. Found that returning to school for first grade was far more pleasant and Kiddo felt competent. Not what everyone would do, and we did see some real benefits.

I don't believe in it.
There's no slump if you're always learning something.
In the summer you get to explore things that schools don't necessarily cover.
Learning doesn't mean drilling the same stuff you do in the classroom out side the classroom.
You take the summer as a break from 'inside the box' thinking and do your best to think outside the box.
Try building water bottle rockets.
They are great fun (playing with water always is) and there are some great designs to try (find an open field to launch them).
Approach it sideways and there's a lot of building and playing that is also great learning.

My kids are learning all summer. There are no math sheets, but we do go on lots of zoo trips, museum trips, to art galleries, concerts, library programs, nature hikes etc. They learn practical things like how to get around the neighbourhood on their bikes, how to manage money when they go for ice cream, how to care for and harvest a garden, how to pick berries in the wild, how to manage their social lives, how to build a fort in the woods, how to catch a fish etc. I would rather provide my kids with fun, practical enriching activities than have them sit and do lessons. They do that 10 months a year and our summers are too short!

Whether or not I believe in it, there is such a thing as a summer learning slump -- plenty of studies have shown that kids, generally speaking, do lose some of what they learn and have to catch up when fall comes. And catching up can be stressful for kids. So why wouldn't anyone encourage some practice over the summer to reduce their kids' need to play catch-up in the fall?

This is from Cornell University (so the source is NOT some company trying to sell workbooks!):

"A systematic review of 39 studies published in 1996 found summer loss equaled about one month of classroom learning, and students tended to regress more in math skills compared to reading skills....Since then, additional studies and reviews have found similar results. A 2007 study by researchers at Johns Hopkins University examined data from a nationally-representative sample. They found the achievement gap at ninth grade mainly traces to differences in summer learning during the elementary school years. And a 2004 study found that all achievement gaps among students tend to be exacerbated by summer breaks."

So it doesn't matter what we think about it, there is plenty of data that there is learning loss, and certainly by high school that loss really shows up when kids are back at school in the fall.

I know your son is still very young, so of course his summers should be at the playground and the beach! I also am sure you'll keep reading to him and pointing out words and going to library story times and museums and more. Those things go on all year long for younger kids like yours.

As a parent of a middle schooler, I have to say that as kids get into middle elementary years (around 3rd grade), things change.

School itself is just not like what we experienced as kids, and parents of younger children haven't found that out quite yet, I think, based on a lot of what I read on MP (not just your post here, but many posts over years). Kindergarten? Much higher expectations of what they should know by the end of K than when we were in K! And that means there's more for them to forget between K and 1, and 1 and 2 and so on...Where the need for some summer "maintenance" academics really seems to kick in is between 2nd and third, or 3rd and 4th, depending on the kid, the curriculum and the school -- and the family's own philosophy.

We sent our daughter to a math tutoring place (very mellow, rewards given, we set our own schedule there, she went around twice a week) starting the summer after second grade so she could get a bit ahead on learning times tables and basic multiplication, which helped her be a little ahead at the start of third grade, and made the transition to multiplication easier for her. She's gotten this tutoring each summer since then, because as my husband says, "Math is a muscle and has to be exercised or it gets weak." She likes it, and actually asks to go, and now is old enough she really sees the benefit of just practicing math through the summer months. She also happens to love to write so she does a summer writing program for a week that she loves (third year). But she also does Girl Scout camp and dance lessons and sits in the back yard for hours reading. So it's not all academics, all the time. She still gets to "be a kid" but being a kid does not mean doing zero math for three months.

I too remember summers of being home, reading a lot, watching some TV, and roaming the neighborhood and going on family trips. But times are different and certainly in our area, schools are demanding and the expectations for kids to move faster into math and reading and comprehension are not at all what the expectations were when we were kids. Keeping up basics during the summer actually can reduce the child's stress at the start of school in the fall. I know that it reduces my kid's stress over math, and I have seen the same happen with a number of other kids we know -- a little academics over the summer, usually in fun settings or casually at home with some rewards involved, can help cut down stress later.

I do believe in the summer learning slump. I also had laid back summers. I didn't have an adult at home, we went swimming, recreation at the park, and prbably watched way too much TV.
Things are much different for my kids than they were for me-both in school and at home (and in comparison to their peers). Screen time isn't something I was aware of-but as a parent I am very aware. I allow them to have equal amounts of educational and free time when they have screen time. So, if I allow 1 hour 30 mins must be raz readers, iXL, read write think, etc and 30 mins of their choice. We go to recreation at the park (arts, crafts, sports-same as when I was a kid), bowling (kidsbowlfree.com), the library, and VBS as well. I have also allowed them to ride their bikes in the street this summer. It's tentative-but shows that they have earned a little trust and responsibility.
I won't be printing out math worksheets either. There are much more fun ways to use math skills.

Studies have proven that kids experience learning losses in the summer. Kids typically lose more math than reading. We do lots of hands on learning (at the beach, zoo, playground...like you mentioned) and we do paper/pencil. We'll go on a walk in the woods and then I'll make the kids write about it. We work on math fluency (multiplication facts for my soon-to-be 4th grader and addition/subtraction for my soon-to-be 1st grader). We read a lot too.

My kids are up about 14 hours a day in the summer (6:30am-8:30pm). I don't feel doing paper/pencil work for 15-20 minutes a day is too much to ask.

Barnes and Noble has a lot of great workbooks, if you're looking for some.

**My background is education, so I love 'school stuff'!

As a reading teacher I see first hand summer slide. Kids who don't read over the summer can have as much as a three month slide. I even see it happen to a lesser extent with higher level students. I'm not as familiar with summer slide as far as math goes, but I know from my own experience as a kid, math always felt harder in the fall. I encourage my students to read for 30 minutes every day during the summer. Yes, we spend the first few weeks reviewing, but that is because of summer slide. I know teachers who teach in a year round school (45 days in school, 15 days off with a little longer for summer.). They don't need to soend time reviewing after breaks.

One of the big problems I see is that kids aren't going out and doing things. Many of them spend all day doing screen time. I work with a lot of kids who come from families that really struggle financially. Several of them are homeless. Many are home alone all day. They don't have the opportunities to go to camp, take trips, visit zoos and museums. They have to stay inside all day because that is what is safe when all the adults are at work. They aren't getting practical, everyday learning experiences that some others mentioned in their responses.

My daughter going into 2nd grade reads for at least 1/2 hour almost every day. (We took a few days off when on vacation, but our travel days she read as much as 1-1/2 hours.) We don't necessarily spend time on math, but she does play some math games on the iPad. She also went to a nature camp and this week is at an inventors' camp. She also does lots of science activities at home.