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How To Keep Your Kids Learning This Summer

When school lets out each summer, most kids have one thought: No more learning until fall. While they can get a break from the routine of grades and late-night homework, it is detrimental to kids to spend the whole summer doing nothing educational. For parents, it is key to maintain the momentum of the previous school year in order to build success in the next one.
If it sounds like a tough sell for parents to try with kids, it is, but you have a couple of tools to help. First, there are no grades in educational summertime activities. Kids can focus on learning without sweating over scores. This leads us to the other strategy, which is to remind kids that they are free to direct themselves in learning. There is no set curriculum; everything they do is entirely determined by their choices and interests.

With that said, here are some suggestions on how to make sure your kids maintain their progress this summer instead of losing ground.

Encourage Writing
Most teachers agree that many students struggle to write effectively. With the freedoms we’ve mentioned already, your kids are able to write about whatever they choose, building experience and quality without being held down on deadlines, grades, topics, or page minimums. Their free-rein writing this summer will develop their abilities to write within a structured environment when school starts back.

Create Real-Life Lessons
Every math and science class points toward real-life applications whenever it’s possible, but has it occurred to you to include your kids in those applications during the summer? Math and geometry are especially easy. Set up a checkbook register for your child’s allowance. Get a drawing compass and involve the kids in designing a new flower garden. In short, show them how you are using your education every day.


Keep Them Reading
Many kids complain about what they have to read in school, sometimes with the statement that they don’t mind to read, they just don’t want to read that. Let them prove it! Go to the library or a bookstore and let them choose whatever they want. Give them a time frame for completion and then have them talk about their books. They will surprise you with what they are into by August. This is a trick that many teachers at BrightPath suggest to make sure that the child either gets into the habit of reading or retains that.

Take Field Trips
Travel is a time-honored summer tradition, but you can increase its value by making it educational. That doesn’t mean substituting a museum for the beach, but rather adding it to your coastal agenda. There are historic sites, fine arts venues, and countless other opportunities near popular tourist sites that will give you the chance to enrich your vacation–and your children’s learning.

Summer is a time to slow down for kids. That’s not a problem. But when it comes to learning, you just don’t want them to stop. Your kids can learn this summer while still having fun, and they’ll be better prepared when the first bell rings this fall.

 

Author Bio: Paige Jirsa- I work with Top10.Today, a shopping comparison site, where we strive to help consumers find the best quality and priced products.

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