I’ve been meaning to upload this blog post all summer but some how I’m just not getting around to it.
It’s almost summer which means (some) of our children will be out of school for 2-3 months! It’s well understood that on average students lose academic foundation often times referred to as “summer learning loss” or “summer slide.” There are some inconsistent results from the studies that I’ve seen but I know that a lot of times teachers will have to re-teach students old skills before continuing on with the regular scheduled academic courses which may be a part of the regular courses.. I don’t know. As a parent, I really like the idea of year-round school where kids are able to take breaks intermittently throughout the year instead of having the long summer break but the regular public school is something that I’ve always grown up in and there isn’t an option for that where I’m from sadly..
Getting Kids Excited about Learning
I feel like as a child I loved doing hands on things. I was very intrigued about the world around me and I was constantly outside. It’s important to find your child’s niche and work around it. My daughter loves animals and has the desire to know everything about them. So I try to incorporate that by taking her to our local natural science center, the zoo, doing crafts and purchasing books that are animal based. She’s also currently obsessed with glitter and rainbows and all things girl so I use that to my advantage as well.
Non-Worldly Things
So that covers most science, reading and art but what about math and trying to get her interested in history. Well again she loves glitter and fairies so I just use animal or fair stickers or even mini toys to help with addition and subtraction problems and I’ll form word problems that she will be interested in. I use her favorite things to help get her more intrigued with learning. My daughter takes so much pride in being smart and having knowledge so it’s really easy to get her involved in learning.
Workbooks!
My daughter loves work books! We purchase one recently from Walmart for first grade and she loves it! It’s full of fun and educational activities that she can do while she with me in the kitchen or just hanging out at the house. She really enjoys sitting down and playing the mind games that make her think!
Educational Websites.
Last year I got a list of learning websites. I think kids really enjoy working on a computer. There are so many skills they can learn while playing games. If you have internet access at home here are several good websites that have educational games for children.
And thats just a few ways that I have persuaded my little one to learn while not in school! I hope you parents found this helpful!
with love,
c.p
with love, c.p 