By: Jim Heus
As I write this column in early January, it feels strange to think of summer. In many ways, this school year feels as though it’s just begun, as educators around the country (including those of us at Eagle Hill Greenwich) continue to adapt our education programs to meet the needs of our students during what has proved to be a challenging year. Still, as a parent, I know that plans for the summer break begin to form now – with the winter holidays behind us.
I know many of us are hopeful for a more “normal” summer, possibly one that includes a family vacation or time with extended family and friends we haven’t seen in-person for months. But even though students deserve a break from a stressful school year, it’s important to maintain their academic skills during the summer. Research shows that, without support, students can lose a significant amount of academic progress over the ten weeks of summer break. With this dip in academics, students and teachers begin the new school year at a disadvantage – spending time working to get students back to their pre-summer reading, writing, and math levels.
There are a number of ways to help prevent this “summer slide” for students. Many students benefit greatly from a summer academic program – like the one offered every year at Eagle Hill. Our program focuses on the individual academic needs of each child and is for four weeks, allowing plenty of time for other summer plans. The Eagle Hill faculty focus on reading, math, study skills, and writing – the subjects that need the most reinforcement during the summer months.
Even without enrolling your student in a summer academic program, there are fun and exciting ways to retain student academic progress over the summer months:
• Read. Keep in mind – student choice plays a key role in how students learn, so talk to your child about what they enjoy reading. Comic books and graphic novels can be great entries to learning to love reading – and may be something that your child wants to read! Other ways to incorporate reading into your summer include listening to audiobooks in the car on your road trip, visiting your local library for a new best-seller or old classic, or reading aloud as a family. Consider establishing a time each day when all screens are off and everyone in the family reads.
• Find time to write. As you explore your child’s reading preferences, talk to them about what they’re interested in writing. Perhaps they want to try writing poems, or short stories, or writing about their summer in a daily journal. Your child may not want to write essays or do homework all summer, but writing a short script for a superhero movie or comic book might have more appeal. Online tools could even help make their story come to life.
• Make time for math. As we often say at Eagle Hill, math can be fun. And math during the summer doesn’t require a stereotypical packet of problems to solve. Encourage your child to participate in activities that interest them that also involve math – robotics, computer coding, science, etc. There are also websites (such as mathsnacks.com or prodigygame.com) where math feels like a game and less like “practicing” math.
• Teach (or learn) life-skills. If you and your child work together on a recipe, you’ll be not only helping them learn to cook, but working on math and reading comprehension skills as well. All “chores” – such as doing laundry or packing the dishwasher –require thought and problem-solving which strengthens a child’s ability to be independent. Building independence and confidence will transfer to school and a child’s ability to take on classroom challenges.
After a year of processing the COVID-19 pandemic, our students certainly deserve time to rest and recuperate from the school year. However, it’s important to set our students up for success in the next school year by reinforcing academic skills in a way that works for them and for you.
