Lots of parents at the end of the school year buy curriculum workbooks so their child can keep up with his learning skills over the summer months. They try to pick ones that have pictures and look like fun (to them) but look like a method of torture to the child. Most kids feel that summer holidays should be that a "holiday" for the brain. Kids do lose some knowledge over the summer but all good teachers, when school resumes, start with reviewing last year's work and building up to the new curriculum. So how can a well-intentioned parent get their kids to progress with language/math etc. without sucking the joy out of summertime?
You must keep things simple, fun and stimulating. Things should not be presented like an assignment, an extension of the classroom learning, by boring rote, or you're dead in the water. It is sometimes called "stealth learning" - getting your child involved with learning without them even knowing it.
Reading is the foundation of all learning so try to concentrate on reading whenever you can. Studies show that kids who read as few as six books over the summer will maintain the reading skills they have mastered during the previous school year. Reading more than six leads to even greater success.
Check out your local library, get your child a library card, enrol her in some library programmes to keep her motivated. The lazy days of summer free kids up to have more choices in what they can read. They are not bound by school curriculum choices so let them choose the reading material that they are interested in. Interest-driven books are always a hit and the kids are sure to sit down and read through them.
Do not discounts the Kindle e-books or iPad versions. Online access is wonderful for the kids and these e-books are so easy to pack and go.
Tomorrow we will explore more ways to get your child into fun and fantastic ways to explore summer books for his/her reading pleasure. Read on.
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