Lose of Academic Skills over The Summer Vacation

The resurge says that all children loose their academic skills over the course of summer vacation. Summer loss for all students is estimated to be equal to about 1 month (Cooper 1996), but this varies across subject matter:

Reading - Varies across SES. Low income students generally lose about 2 months of reading achievement. Middle income students experience slight gains in reading performances.
Mathematics - 2.6 months of grade-level equivalency loss

More information is available at

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Summer_learning_loss

http://www.studydog.com/parents/summer-reading/

http://www.wallacefoundation.org/knowledge-center/summer-and-extended-learning-time/Pages/default.aspx

http://family.go.com/parenting/pkg-tween/article-787102-math-during-summer-vacation--t/

Summer Reading Routine

Experts stress the importance of keeping kids reading and using the summer as the perfect time to instill a love of reading that will last a lifetime.

Raising A Reader, a national nonprofit organization, gives parents the following tips for getting children excited about books and into a regular reading routine during the summer vacation:

Schedule a regular time to share books with your child and establish a regular routine to ensure reading doesn't become a low priority and has the same importance as other activities.
If your child wants to see a movie that is based on a book, read the book with your child first and then let them see the movie as a reward. Engage your child in discussions about differences or similarities between the book and the movie.
Create an outdoor reading area so the whole family can enjoy the summer weather and not feel stuck inside. Children generally read indoors, so being outdoors will create a new environment for enjoying a book and boost a child's enthusiasm for reading.
Find books that are centered on summer activities he or she enjoys. If your child likes to go horseback riding, for example, find books about horses or stories with horses as an integral part of the plot. This will give a child a welcome change from the types of books read during the school year and better complement their summer.
If you are taking a trip, read books about your destination with your child before you leave. Do some "research" with them on the location and find things in the area they want to do while visiting.
If you are taking your kids somewhere for the day, such as a pool, the beach, a picnic or the zoo, pack a book to share and have a reading break or two during day. After an hour or so in the water, your child may enjoy 30 minutes of reading on a comfortable chair or even floating on a raft.
Create a summer reading challenge with rewards every time a certain number of books is read, or at the completion of a long book. Engage your child in a discussion about the book, talk about what they liked and ask thought-provoking questions such as coming up with a different ending or a new character.

"Many children associate books with school and view reading as work instead of being a source of fun and enjoyment," said Gabrielle Miller, Ed.D., national executive director of Raising A Reader. "It is important to instill a love of books in children at an early age and introduce reading as a pleasurable experience. One way to do this is to establish a regular home-based literacy program that is independent of school, and the summer is a perfect time to start."

More information is available at

http://www.rif.org/kids/readingplanet/6938.htm

http://www.readingrockets.org/books/summer

Summer Math Opportunities

There are many ways for your children to practice math over the summer. Kids will not even realize they are practicing math when they count steps, build patterns with rocks or plant seeds in the garden.

Summer Math Ideas for Smaller Children

Count and sort seeds and measure spacing for planting the seeds and plants.
Weighing and measuring products as things are harvested. E.g. One watermelon seed grows pounds of produce, while leafy greens are lighter weight. Kids can measure stems, vines and vegetables also.
In a pool, children can count how many strokes it takes for them to swim the length of the pool or estimate how deep they can swim.
Give a child a tape measure to measure thing around the house or outside.
Give a child a sidewalk chalk to write numbers or play math games.
If the weather gets too hot, hands-on, math-centric indoor activities include counting pennies and loose change, playing a dice game or baking cookies.
Another activity is to clip coupons for grocery shopping. After the shopping trip, kids can calculate how much money was saved with the coupons.
Cooking is an activity filled with math. From measuring for a recipe to the length of time it takes to cook in the oven.

Summer math ideas for older children

On the family vacation, children can plot the mileage between destinations and let each child be in charge of one activity on the trip, and also calculate how much the activity will cost the family.
Give older children an allowance and have them pay for some of their activities with that allowance. They will learn to budget their money.
Make them responsible for some grocery shopping and even cooking a meal. They will experience the expense of purchasing food and also by cooking a meal they will have to learn how much to make for their whole family to eat.